Watch For Turtles Crossing The Roads In Lubbock

Driving home the other day from work on a busy street near my home I saw this guy trapped in the turning lane.

I noticed something moving from quite a ways away, a car nearly hit it and it turned and ran the other direction, only to have a near miss from the other side.  When I got closer I realized it was a turtle and somehow he had made it to the middle after crossing  2 busy lanes.

I don't know how long he had been in the middle but it was around 5:45 and the streets were extremely busy.  As luck would  have it I was able to turn off down a street just past where the turtle was trapped.  I parked, ran over and managed to find a soft spot in the traffic to run to the middle and grab him.  Yes, I realize this was NOT the smartest move but my stupid conscience wouldn't have let me drive away.

My knowledge on turtles and tortoises is fairly limited so I'm not 100 percent sure what this little guy was. He seemed pretty young, probably too young to be crossing the road to find a place to lay eggs. I've heard you shouldn't move female turtles because they can't find their way back, but I was fairly certain if I didn't move this one he wasn't going to make it across the street.

I brought him back to the apartment for a little bit and my wife and I returned him to the nearest safe spot where I found him. Again, I'm not sure if I did the right thing or if he'll survive, but he didn't get squashed on that day at least.

By the way, that is watermelon on his chin, he didn't care for it much.