Turtle Adventures
Oct
'07
My turtle seems to be trying to climb up his water filter to get out of the tank. It’s really funny but also really sad because he’ll get just high enough to sort of get out, but since his feet are so slippery from being in the water, he’ll just fall right back into the water, usually sideways. I’m pretty mean to my turtle, I know; I’m laughing at his struggles. Well now he’s moved onto his basking log and he’s making pretty good progress since it’s so much higher up in the tank, but he still keeps slipping. I can’t tell if this is because he hates his tank or because he hates us, specifically.
I’m putting the screen over his tank. This is something we previously didn’t think necessary because he really can’t get out, but he seems to be a pretty smart turtle. At first we thought he was just generally destructive, and knocking down his tank apparatus simply because he’s a huge jerk. Now I see that he uses these things as stepping stones to climbing out. He actually had his head over the edge for a moment and I don’t want to risk him finding a way to use his chin to lift his entire body out. I know that sounds pretty ridiculous, but as this is a turtle who we previously thought was an idiot, running directly into the glass and other solid, non-transparent objects, maybe this is a turtle who actually has magical powers or lazers, who will get out of his tank and shoot his lazer beams at us and then eat our rotting bodies.
The other day his namesake was visiting the apartment, meeting him for the first time. We let him out for imitation freedom, where we let him crawl around the apartment everywhere except under small enclosed areas, in the kitchen, outside, or on my yoga mat. (I told Richard that if I got salmonella and died from the turtle crawling on my yoga mat, that he wouldn’t get anything in my will.) He seemed to be really enjoying himself until he realized that he wasn’t allowed outside. In fact, I got the first hint of his intelligence when he went straight for the front door and walked into it repeatedly, as if to say, “I know this is the way out, but I can’t figure how to get to the other side. Let me try again.” Who has a turtle who knows where the front door is? He’s been outside on the balcony through the balcony door; why didn’t he try going that way?
In any case, when he realized he couldn’t escape our clutches, his next move was to find a nice hiding place. We didn’t want him crawling underneath anything we couldn’t reach, so we blocked all his passageways and offered him a box. He seemed very skeptical of the box, and I suppose rightly so, because eventually Richard just put the box on top of him and he pooped. Immediately. Great, my turtle is not afraid to go out into the world, which would be the bottom level of this apartment complex where any child could scoop him up and give him worse living conditions than he’s ever had, but he’s afraid of a box.
I hope that when I have kids and put them in boxes that they won’t poop immediately, because you can be sure I’ll be calling on Martin to come over and clean it up.
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Your turtle sounds sooo cute! They have such great personalities!
I assume he’s a red-eared slider or some other hard shelled turtle because he was exploring your apartment. I once had a soft shelled turtle who found a way to climb out of his tank while everyone was out of town. It did not end well because soft shelled turtles are very dependent on water.
So get that tank screen!
Oct
'07
Aww…
I want a turtle when I am older and can support pets of my own. I’m going to name him Donatello. XD
Oct
'07
We’ve decided that he’s Raphael, even though we named him Martin. He’s that much of a jerk.
Oct
'07
Your turtle sounds adorable! Haha. I could imagine him trying to use his chin to haul his whole body out of his tank…
Me and my youngest brother had two small turtles a couple of years ago that we kept in our fish pond. We never thought that they could ever escape (what with the height of the water in the pond relative to the height of the pond…), but they did! We caught them the first time, but the second time they did it, they were gone for good. ‘Twas a sad event. It still baffles me how they managed to climb out…
Oct
'07
turtle!! I really want one!! No I don’t actually… I probably wouldn’t look after the poor thing very well
you have a very smart turtle indeed.
Oct
'07