Do you have endangered Roof Turtles on your property? If you have areas of washed gravel areas around your home, like in the picture below, your property may be home to the endangered and rarely seen Roof Turtle (so named for there propensity for building their nests under roof overhangs. This is especially problematic for homeowners, as the turtle's protected status prevents homeowners from removing or destroying their nests and thus the value of the property could be negatively impacted. These turtles have a strong homing instinct and tend to return season after season to the same property and even to the same exact nests. Left to do their thing, the Roof Turtle’s nesting habits have been known to result in damage to siding and to undermine house foundations----resulting in rotted siding, foundation collapse and flooded crawl spaces. So what is the solution? The only lasting solution, that I know of, is the infamous, “middle of the night” solution. This solution, I hear, has also been tried with underground oil tanks and with those nasty (possibly) asbestos ridden ceiling tiles----but you DID NOT READ THAT HERE----and seems like an utterly foolish course of action to me! Without a steady source of “cascading” water, these turtles have no interest in nesting near your home. So if you correct the gutter and downspout issues that keep dumping water at these locations the turtles will find a better place to build their nests. Sometimes, depending on the types of ground cover you have around your home, the nests may not be as “obvious” as that in the picture, so another thing that homeowners can do is put on their raincoats and walk around the house in the pouring rain and look for waterfalls from their gutters. And remember, the harder it is raining the better! OK----so tonight----grab your flashlight-----you know what you have to do! PS: These nests are very similar to, and often confused with, the illusive "Land Salmon"----but the solution is still the same. Charles Buell Seattle Home Inspectors, ASHI Home Inspector, Structural Pest Inspector, Charles Buell Inspections Inc, Seattle, WA
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PS, for those of you that are new to my blog (or for some other "unexplained" reason have never noticed)all pictures and smiley-face inserts (emoticons) (when I use them) have messages that show up when you point at them with your cursor.
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Roof turtle huh? Good thing you gave the reason for the name because I was wondering how the heck these guys get up on the roof!
The middle of the night solution huh? Hmmm... interesting. And I had to use my secret decoder ring to read the remarks there. I have eaten the evidence by the way. No amount of torture will make me fess up, I swear.
We have turtles, they walk from the pond across the street, up the driveway, rest by the barn, then walk to the other pond on another corner. Life would be easier for them if they just walked diagonally across the street from one pond to the next. But there are no signs directing them. :(
Andrea you know you are in trouble when you have turtles on your roof:) Sounds like you need to install some signs for those turtles.
Fascinating. We have "bog" turtles that are protected in my area and we have snapping turtles which can be lethal and often are for the goslings born in the spring. I've seen some fairly large ones come out of the pond where I live.
Janice---well hopefully you don't have any Roof Turtles in your area:)
Where I live, the problem is otters, and they keep coming back to the same places, too.
The very presence of SQUIRRELS creates a similar problem on the internet. Web Squirrels, known for spamming, are a real nuisance. Like otters, they continue to return.
Join Ms. Barbara and me to stamp out Web Squirrels. Ms. Kate Ford
Li, there are lots of things that tend to return to the nest----like kids:)
Kate----that is a devious web you spin---but I like it.
I hope everyone is aware of the "tongue-in-cheek" nature of this post:)
Tongue in cheek? Maybe for you but I am quite serious. Web squirrels given the opportunity will continue to pollute our blogs with spam.
Ms. Kate, Co-Founder of SWSS (Stop Web Squirrel Spam)
Donations to the Cause gratefully accepted.
Wow, I had never knew about roof turtles, are they indigenous to only certain regions Charles?
Mr Charles,
I have actually seen, while walking power lines, roof turtles. I find that many of my human friends find them very palatable if served along with spam.
Nutsy W
Very kindly,
Croakster
I have heard of the other Endangered Species action - the old ShShSh.
Shoot.
Shovel.
Shut up.
Kate, sorry about that
Suesan---I think they are pretty widespread----have seen them in every State that I have been to----basically anywhere it rains:)
Nutsy, squirrel is probably the main ingredient of spam
Croakster, I would imagine they do
S-P-A-M
Squirrel
Pate
Appetite
Manager
Hi Charlie,
They look pretty cute in the picture! Have you seen on the "Animal Channel" how pythons are invading Florida!
Charles, have you been drinking? I've never heard of a roof turtle. But that doesn't mean they don't exist. : )
We don't have any pesky turtles in KY. I did have a racoon sitting on my deck at 3AM picking off plastic grapes one by one off some decorative lights. That was pretty funny! It made my dog go crazy! Intruder alert!
Jay, how about Smith's Pathetic Assistant Malcontent
Leslie, I hadn't seen that---are they into aligator wrestling? Nice to see you back here in the rain----where you been hiding?
Barbara, I can't imagine how you could have gone this long without hearing about Roof Turtles:)
Lizette, I would be VERY surprised if your area did not have ANY Roof Turtles:)
Different direction, but great!
Mr Charles,
It is quite amazing that anyone could not have seen roof turtles. I know that you sometimes see them on commercial buildings in downtown Seattle when the two of us have been at the disco.
nutsy
Jay----there are probably less socially acceptable versions we could come with I am sure:)
Nutsy----or at least seen their spawning areas----because, after all, actually seeing a Roof Turtle would have to be VERY rare.
Mr Charles,
Not so rare when you can go where I can go, when I can go. Remember, I am a superior being when it comes to getting around. When is the last time you walked a Comcast cable over Aurora?
Nutsy
Well at least I don't WALK along Aurora----that outfit would work just fine for you there too.
Our monsoon season is here and this morning I saw three endangered roof turtles climbing near the eaves.
Kate, I can help you with recommendations for how to deal with their nests----but actually seeing Roof Turtles----I hear there are medications for that:)
Maybe she needs a shingles shot.
Well enough Shingle-shots and who cares?
Charles and Jay, neither of you are making any sense.
Kate then you are perhaps due for a Shingle shot:)
perhaps. :) But it might be due to the sponge bob marathon going on too.
Too much sugar can lead to bizarre results too.
No, it was a sleepover with grandchildren. I have slightly higher taste in TV viewing than they. :)
Kate, doesn't Nutsy kind of remind you of Roadrunner?
Kate - I had a silly post about shingles shots. Kind of an inside joke...
http://activerain.com/blogsview/1158287/get-your-shingles-shots-
Kate, here is the live link to Jays post about getting your shots
It's the shapely legs, Charles. Jay I've got it now. :)
Kate, You don't find Sponge Bob to be high brow entertainment? I sat through said marathon.
Charlie, You did not mention the elusive gutter beaver. Those buggers are responsible for attracting the turtles. Wouldn't you know there is a rodent at the root cause of this trouble.
James, I'll make an exception for the original Sponge Bobs. Like the one where he falls in love with his crabby patty and is oblivious to the odor. Sort of like Steven and Ms. Barbara with Nutsy.
Kate, I kind of think it is that "runoverbyatrucklook"
James, GUTTER BEAVERS are a whole nuther blog post:)
we used to have these same roof turtles nesting around different locations of our home. Although I never actually saw the turtles, I was painfully aware of their nests, and the fact that their nests often caused water to find its way into our basement.
Eventually we followed your "daytime" advice, and replaced our damaged 3 inch gutters, with brand-new seamless 4 inch gutters, much to the chagrin of the nesting turtles.
Within a matter of days, the basement issued ceased, the roof turtles disappeared, and we were eating turtle soup for dinner (a mere, coincidence, I assure you... )
Alan you are so right. Most people don't realize that many basement water issues can be aleviated by properly dealing with the roof turtles:)
Reliable sources are saying that your roof turtles, Alan, in actuality were gutter squirrels. If so, you may have been eating... EWWWWWWW!
Better pick up some BBQJimSauce for the next meal. btw, I am supposed to be a distributor so if I can have your account please, I'd appreciate the business. Kate, Distributor of the finest bbq sauce on the internet.