This handsome fella (or gal) has broken out twice since we installed him/her in the shower (the spare shower...no toes getting nipped off here please). In the time it takes to haul out the uneaten food (last night it was a strawberry and a half-eaten minnow), s/he can get over the stall lip and 3/4 of the way out the bathroom. Gooooo Speedy!
Cute, eh? Yes, fabulously non-cuddly! A rather persnickity eater too. Doesn't like store-bought tomatoes and broccoli, but enjoys strawberries, worms, crickets (except for the hind legs...kinda creepy to find little cricket legs tossed about the shower floor) and...
minnows...*fish heads, fish heads, roly-poly fish heads*.... For some strange reason, s/he always starts with the head, then eats the rest of the body later. Icky, yes. but I kind of understand...I always hated eating fish that was staring back at me too [Sidenote: Yes, Second Mom, I still have nightmares of eating trout that was staring back at me from my plate...thank you for providing salad...the lettuce made a lovely cover...now if it could have just covered your son's mouth: "NOOOoooooo!!! Don't eat me!!!!!!" Good times, right?]
Ah, but the turtle/tortoise/terrapin is not the only Swamp Thing in the house...Pumpkin is the proud (very proud) caretaker of three lovely little tadpoles!
While we were unable to watch any hatch out of an egg, we have been able to watch the slow progression of itty-bitty tadpoles into rather large tadpoles (one in particular). The largest now has tiny little back legs which it does not yet use, but which cause the nomads to stare intently at the derrieres of the other two tadpoles in anticipation of their little back legs appearing. I'm sorry tadpoles, there is little privacy in this house.
We have captured terrapins on several occassions. At one point we rescued a cute three legged box turtle that was crossing a busy road. We had him or her for about two weeks before we let him out in the flower bed to forage unattended for just a couple minutes. Apparently he wasn't showing us how fast he could really move. We never found him. *sniff*
ReplyDeleteAnother time we collected a baby snapping that we had planned to observe for a few days before returning him to the great outdoors. Don't ask me what happened to him. He crawled out of his container, a magnificient feat by the way, and away he went. Never found him either.*another sniff*
Looking forward to reading your adventures! Blessings!:)
Tonya, lovely to have you! I have to admit, my aunt just let me know about your blog today, and I'm enthralled! I thought we lived the adventurous life, but wow!!!!
ReplyDeleteOh, those terrapins/turtles/tortoises (and yes, we've had to learn the difference between all three--go homeschooling!)...what a headache sometimes! I rigged up a "leash" for this one, a loop that goes around him, threaded between the upper and lower shells, dragging a bright, yet lightweight, toy. It seems to work well, but we still have to keep a close eye on it (made much easier by the bright toy). We've caught some before on our travels, and never manage more than a couple of weeks before they break out (even from the Fortress of Invincibility...chicken wire down on the ground, cinder blocks on top, making a rather large rectangle, with a mesh top, weighted down by bricks on the top. The crazy Houdinis simply vanished one night!). We're really hoping that this one sticks around at least for the turtle races.
Oooh, those snapping turtles! We keep running across Red Sliders here...a variety of the snappers...and they smell atrocious! And are incredibly fast. Although, with a smell like that, I'm not sure what would want to eat them!
As for looking forward to reading your adventures...likewise!