I Have A New Pet!

Coming home from school yesterday, I saw a turtle crossing the road (a two lane-highway) heading for an area that didn't look turtle friendly (a huge parking lot and open paved road with more parking lot on the other side) so I stopped and turned around to go get it and bring it home.

I had to wait on a truck to pass coming the other way before I could turn and I watched as the truck missed running over the turtle by a half inch or less.
I put it out in an overgrown area of the front yard where I know there are plenty of grub worms and other turtle yummies for it to feast on (for now).

Motivation to clean up the pond a bit since I've neglected doing it without KHaN's help and yet another critter to add to the menagerie. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Its not flat enough to really look like a water turtle and not boxy enough to really look like a box turtle so I am going to have to find out exactly what I have so that one day it doesn't take off one of my fingers LOL (if it IS a snapping turtle, it's getting taken back to the general area where I found it)
That is...if I can find it again LOL...it has a lot of area to hide in and a lot of covering...vines and plants thickly overgrown. It disappeared rather quickly after I set it in that area and its good-sized with a shell about 6 inches wide/long.
Texans apparantly call it "a land turtle" which tells me nothing lol.
I'll try to get a pic of it.

[ 09-20-2002, 10:48 PM: Message edited by: Moni ]

[Calaethis Dragonsbane]

"front yard..." might it not just wander off again? onto the road? just a thought...

The front yard is fenced off from the street...it would have to cross the yard, go down the sidewalk and then under the gate, so if it was really desperate to leave it could. We live on a fairly quiet street though and it could make it elsewhere to live but why when it has so much free yummy food, such fabulous shelter, a pond and a lot space to roam around safely in here?
The cats are scared to death of it LOL. It'll keep them out of that area which is good for me...I hate it when they play there and tear out all the plants.

[Beaumanoir]

WOW! Oh Thats So Cool! But Turtles Grow BIG... BIG BIG!
I'm Thinking of getting a Tortoise, But not A Turtle..

[Calaethis Dragonsbane]

lol, well... a turtle? an odd choice of a pet [img]tongue.gif[/img] still, I'm sure you'll take care of it. a new home for the thing? with a luxurcy pond etc? lol, it'd be mad NOT to stay

Originally posted by Calaethis Dragonsbane: lol, it'd be mad NOT to stay

I think so too
Yeah its an odd choice but it was bring it home or let it become road kill or parking lot kill. It should be happy here, there is really plenty for it to eat and if it runs low on grub worms out front, there is a side yard with almost twice as much greenery and privacy where there are more. It is one of those pets that as long as it has water and food will take care of itself too...my dogs ought to appreciate that lol...they haven't seen me all week because I've been so busy in school (KHaN takes care of them) and today I got lots of doggy hugs when I finally had time to visit and play with them.
I even got to give Sugar another kiss on the head "from Megabot" [img]smile.gif[/img]

[img]graemlins/happywave.gif[/img]
Hey Binky!
Nice to see you! I can see it now...I'll not see the turtle for a year or two and one day go out there and there'll be a monster turtle in the yard chasing the cats LOL! [img]tongue.gif[/img] They live long lives too so hopefully we can provide it with a happy life...if not, I'll make sure to find it an appropriate home where it can be safe from highway traffic. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[True_Moose]

Originally posted by Moni: The cats are scared to death of it LOL. It'll keep them out of that area which is good for me...I hate it when they play there and tear out all the plants.

LOL, I can SO imagine my cats being scared of a turtle. Probably my dogs too! Course we wouldn't have that problem cuz they have a bylaw where, within the city limits, a cat outdoors = 50$

Originally posted by True_Moose: LOL, I can SO imagine my cats being scared of a turtle. Probably my dogs too! Course we wouldn't have that problem cuz they have a bylaw where, within the city limits, a cat outdoors = 50$

Dang! That'd be 500 a pop for us! We have ten cats that spend most of their time outdoors...I don't see what the big deal is if they stay in your yard and if you get the males neutered they really don't go very far...ours never cross the yard of the house next door and no one lives there...it is Women's League Thrift Store (run out of a house) that is only open twice a week.

I had a small box turtle in Tucson that had only ever seen my full grown (anti-social) cat. When I brought a stray kitten home and set it in front of the turtle, the turtle got all excited and ran over to get a closer look...the kitten ran away backwards on its hind legs, batting the air with its front paws. It was just hilarious!
The turtle acted a bit hurt that the kitten didn't want anything to do with it lol but it didn't have to worry about making friends with it for very long...I found the kitten a home that afternoon. [img]smile.gif[/img]

[The Ornery One]

Had a lot of turtles when I was growing up because my dad is a rural route carrier for the post office, and he was always bringing home 1/2 the ones he saw on the road. A couple years ago a neighbor gave me some eggs that were just starting to hatch. They were beautiful colored Red-ears. Turtles more fun than some might think. Just like cats and dogs, turtles have different personalities.
What you have might be a kind of mud turtle. Try looking it up on this.
http://www.audubon.org/search/

Originally posted by The Ornery One: A couple years ago a neighbor gave me some eggs that were just starting to hatch. They were beautiful colored Red-ears.

That had to be an fantastic event to witness!
I agree about turtles and personalities...my ex and I (in Tucson) used to have about 50 box turtles of all ages and tempraments in his back yard...the oldest male whose arrival on the scene would have the females scattering and the younger males frozen in their tracks (Named "Big Red" for his red eyes) and the little female who got excited and looked like she was actually smiling when I laid a rock path from the yard to the porch (it had previously been just good sized rocks filling up a portion of his yard off that side of the porch and turtles were constantly getting caught in them)...I laid the path, setting the rocks into the ground and making it smooth and that one female just loved it...she looked like she had just been thrown a surprise party LOL. She and several other females more than likely still use the path as a way onto and around the porch. [img]smile.gif[/img]
Then I built them a house of rocks out under his orange tree and against the side of his shed....I dug it deep and huge with a gentle slanting floor coming back up to an open framed-rock doorway tall enough for even Big Red...they were crawling around, in, and out of it before I could even finish and it turned into a haven of some sort for the "no longer young but not yet old" crowd...at least 15 a day congregated there.

I forget how to tell the males from the females though so I don't know what the one I have is, other than it was pissed off at me and looked quite sad when I put it in its new place...I am going to look for it tomorrow and see if it is any happier (if it was that far away from its home lookingfor food it had to be). If it still appears distressed, I'm not sure what I'll do because it would have to have come quite a way to get where it was from any natural habitat it had and I have to wonder why it went so far.

I do know turtles are social animals...we brought a pair home from the woods when I was a kid, one at a time about a week apart from each other and they were thrilled to be reunited...you could see the recognition as they raced to be together and they stayed together at all times in their large pen, house, and pool that we built them. A kid from the neighborhood (for no apparent reason) decided he'd throw a rock at one of them one day a few years later and hit its shell in the perfect spot on its spine to crack the shell and kill it almost instantly...the other turtle was right there to see it happen and refused to eat afterwards, eventually starving to death.

I don't want my new turtle to be sad and I have been feeling terrible thinking I could have taken it away from a mate but why was it so far away from any natural habitat? I'll probably take it to the wildlife refuge near here if it doesn't like it here...or should I take it back to the same general area that I found it in, just off in the other direction where there are eventually natural places for it to live?

Thank you very much for the link! it probably is a mud turtle of some sort...I was able to find a picture of a Sonoran Mud Turtle and the shell is likt that but it is less muddy and shows color...its skin is colorful too....brilliant reds and browns and it has light eyes.