Turtles

Text Box: In Spring of 2006 we learned, unexpectedly, about the turtle trade in Florida. Having made the mistake of ordering turtles off of the internet, when they kept arriving sick, dead, or died shortly after we received them, we had a little life lesson. We found these turtles were bred by the 100’s and sold to people with no means to raise them. Since we had a fish pond we thought they would be a nice addition. In the end, one lived, and we hope he will successfully hibernate over this mild winter. Look for an update this Spring! Don’t buy turtles on the Internet, especially from a place called “Turtleman”

Text Box: Red Eared Sliders & Other Turtles in Our Lives

Text Box: Good news! In Spring of 2007 we found a turtle in the pond. Now we have a new mystery on our hands. Is it one turtle? Or two? What do you think? First, you can see the amazing growth that has taken place over the winter. I have never seen two turtles together, but, within days of each other caught these (this) turtle and took pictures. You may notice the one on the right bottom has a small hole in its lower lip, while the other does not. Is this the same turtle? Or is it two turtles? Mystery at the pond!

Box Turtles

Text Box: We have a long time love affair with the turtles. Especially the box turtles, which, technically are tortoise. Last year, after our sad episode with many of our RES dying, we came across a lady in Petsmart who had a baby box turtle. We took her in, named her flower, and have had her for a year. She is a spoiled girl, and is very accustomed to being fed in her food bowl worms, mealy worms, and her personal favorite (and mine) slugs. A few days ago, some friends were over and they found another baby bitty box turtle. Now, we are having a hard time turning him back to nature...although, he is much more used to foraging and looking for his own food, so I suspect he will be turned out soon! For now, we are enjoying watching and feeding them.

Text Box: A few things we have observed over the last few days… New guy (who I’ve named Marvin) is darker in colour. We think maybe it is perhaps because Flower has an artificial light source, and gets regular 8 or more hours of full sunlight. Marvin’s shell seems thin, like a fingernail in the plates area. Again, we wonder if this is due to diet, and the fact that he spends lots of time under leaves and tree cover. Marvin is always walking around the cage looking for food. While Flower, is content to stay buried and allow us to get the worm, put it in the bowl and bring her to it.

Flower eats once a day in the summer usually one or two worms. Marvin eats much more, and more often.

Also this week

Text Box: Also this week we found this guy in our garden. He has been found by us multiple years...We can tell, because each year we use nail polish to make a symbol for that year on any turtle we find’s back. As you can see, his shell has been ordained with years of symbols and paints! This year we are trying sharpie and just writing ‘07 and making a paw print on them. Yes, the paw print was Audrey’s idea. Anyhow, here you can get and idea of how small Flower is compared to a full grown box tortoise!