New house / new turtle land

Oh hey there, blog friends.

♥

Phew. I just could not get myself in gear yesterday morning and get to a weekend recap. Actually, myself was in gear finishing up the weekend's laundry and preparing for a new cleaning lady to come later in the day to take care of our floors while Doug replaced my car battery. How's that for a Monday morning? So, no official weekend recap on Monday morning but I'll sum it up in one word for you: busy.

When we moved to our new house (tomorrow will mark three weeks!) we used a large 55-gallon plastic tub to hold our two box turtles until we could build a new habitat for them. I filled the bottom with a bag of shredded bark and said a heartfelt prayer for their safety and well-being.

Well, everything was going fine(-ish) with the temporary quarters until our baby turtle, Casper went missing. Doug was working out of town for a few days and I hadn't see Casper at all, so when he came home he was given the potentially bad-news-task of digging in the bark to find a baby turtle.

The good news is that Doug found her and she was just fine. Bad news is that we discovered the reason she was so hunkered down was an attempt to hide from Rex, our male turtle who is seriously in the mood for love. L.O.V.E. And in such cramped quarters there was no escaping him without burrowing to the bottom.

 So Doug and I set aside some time this weekend to work on building a turtle pen. I had some ideas for the design and material to use, and Doug made it happen. Seriously, my husband is a jewel! He's so accommodating to my requests and worked so hard to make this happen. I love the new turtle pen AND my sweet and awesome hubby!!!

This little hut had been a bird house until we moved and I dropped it and the whole thing broke apart. I salvaged the top of it and thought it would be cute in the turtle pen...



I was right. ;o)









Rexy and Casper really like it too. It was fun to put them in their new space and watch them exploring it. This space has so much potential, and I can't wait to get some grass and other plants growing in there. We also need a few more areas for them to hide, and a better water source, but at least they are out of the plastic tub! And Casper has some space to move around and hide if/when she wants to.

In other pet news, Lucky the dog is a bit obsessed with being able to see and smell the turtles in his backyard. Now prayers are for this new habitat to keep the turtles in, and one very curious pup out.


♥

PS: Casper is about three years old. Female box turtles typically begin producing eggs when they are five years old and/or 5-7" in length. I'm glad that Rex is in love with her, and I hope he still feels the same in a couple of years when she's ready to reciprocate. ;o)

Currently, in Turtle Land

We've had a fair amount of rain here over the past couple of weeks, and our turtles love it! Our atrium (their habitat) is thriving - like its own little ecosystem out there. Having the turtles out and about has afforded me with some photo ops, so that's what I'm sharing today.

Here's little Casper, coming out to greet me:





I've been coming home during my lunch hours to let Lucky inside for the afternoon and out of the Arizona heat {but that is coming to an end soon because fall is right around the corner!!!}. During the 30 minutes that I'm home, I've been tending to the atrium - watering the plants and entertaining our baby box turtle, Casper.

She totally digs the water hose! Check out this video I shot of her, running to play in the water - and eating a bug on the way:

So cool, right?

A couple of weeks ago we noticed a teeny-tiny lizard sunning himself on a rock in the atrium. He must have come through an opening at the top and either decided to stay or couldn't figure out an escape route. He has more than doubled in size since he came to stay! Anyway, he usually dashes into hiding when we enter the atrium, but the other day he sat still and allowed me to photograph him.

Doug has named him Leroy which adds a little more personality to him, causing me to worry. I have learned that box turtles eat lizards. Hide, Leroy! Hide!!!

And then, there's Rexy boy...

Rex is a bit more elusive than Casper and not nearly as curious. He did sit still for me last night, and I was happy to grab a photo of him to include in this post. Let's see, he's about 5 years old and Cas is about 2 now. We're hoping they'll mate one day, but according to the Internet it will be a few years before Cas starts producing eggs. So we patiently wait...

 

And here's one more video, of Cas just being cute:

Kind of makes you want a pet turtle, doesn't it?

♥

Turtles and Earth Day

This week our baby box turtle, Casper, was reunited with Planet Earth. After living in a {dry} aquarium for all her life {about 1 1/2 years} she has graduated to the atrium where she is free to roam {within reason} and feel the earth beneath her little turtle feet.

 

And this week our box turtle, Rexy was reunited with a turtle friend. When he came to live with us two years ago this month, he left the company of many turtle friends. Now that Casper is old enough to be outside, Rex has some company again.

Now, whether or not turtles really want company is something I don't know, but Rex was certainly not shy about his plans for Cas. He wants to be good friends. Real good friends.

Baby Cas seemed to take everything in stride.

Our turtle source {hi Dana!} brings their baby turtles in when they are hatched and keeps them safe inside through the first winter or two until she's comfortable that they'll survive hibernation. We knew that Cas would become an outdoor turtle this spring, and hopefully she'll be fine once winter rolls around.

 So far she seems pretty happy with her new living arrangements.

♥
Though not officially an Earth Day post, I do want to remind
us to be kind to our dear planet. Read about ways you can help
by clicking here.

Hey, Deb, what's up with the turtles?

So, maybe you've been wondering what our turtles are up to lately.

Or maybe you haven't wondered but now that I mention it, you're curious.

Hm?

♥

If you were around here last winter you might remember that our four-year old box turtle Rexy never really hibernated. It was his first winter with us, and Doug and I were really concerned about him. Our turtle source {hi Dana!} said that all of her turtles had dug themselves under and were down for the count, but we continued to see Rex every couple of weeks throughout the entire winter. And it was cold! Well, by box turtle standards it was cold enough that he should have hibernated.

Rexy didn't hibernate, but he was definitely not himself for the winter. He ate nothing for a few months, and moved in e x t r e m e S L O W m o t i o n when he did come out - and so we worried. Come spring time last year, he was out and about and back to his ol’ normal self.

But this year he has decided to officially hibernate. And you’d think that’s a good thing, right? Nope! Because there is a possibility that we will be moving from this house at the end of February and what do we do about a turtle that is in the middle of his winter sleep? {Dana, I may have to call you!}

♥

Turtle number two is our baby box turtle, Casper. Now that we're fairly sure she's a female, and if everything goes according to plan, she and Mr. Rex will be really good friends one day, and we’ll change her name to Mama Cas. :o) {Oh my gosh you guys, how cool would that be if I could blog about a brand new baby turtle?!?!}

These photos were taken a couple of weeks ago after Doug constructed a new hut because Cas had outgrown the last one. We’re thinking that she may be big enough to become an outside turtle once we move, but that will depend on what kind of habitat we can come up with in the new house. {Again… Dana?}

Here’s a photo that was taken right after we adopted Casper, back in November 2012. {Little turtle at the top didn’t make it. So sad.} It’s crazy to see how much she’s grown since we brought her home. She's as wide as her turtle pond now.

It’s funny to think about choosing a new home and how we’ll accommodate box turtles – it’s a first for us. But I trust that we’ll figure it out.

And that’s what’s up with our turtle friends.

Thanks for asking. ;o)

♥

Our Four Pets

We ♥ our pets.

I've had a few questions about how Whiskers Jay is handling the addition of a dog to our household, so I thought I would give you a little update on his kitty-attitude, and also share a bit about the rest of our critters.



The look on his face in the photo above pretty much sums it up. Whiskers has been slightly annoyed about having a dog as a roommate, but we've actually seen glimpses of a possible friendship being fostered. Lucky the Dog is curious and playful, Whiskers the Cat is cautious and bossy. It will be interesting to see how these two critters do in the long run. Lucky is here to stay.

And then there's our Rexy boy - the box turtle who refused to completely hibernate this past winter. Either that, or he's a sleep-walker! We adopted Rex last spring and grew quite fond of him as the months passed. Then, when winter approached, we watched and waited {and worried} as he refused to burrow and go to sleep. His original turtle-mom reported that all of her turtles were down for the winter. Not Rex. We actually saw him out and about on NEW YEAR'S EVE!!! ~sigh~ Anyway, we hadn't seen him for a while, but last weekend he was out with a vengeance. And, he gobbled down a big chunk of hard-boiled-egg like he hadn't eaten in...well...months!

When we adopted two baby turtles back in November, Doug suggested that we name this one Casper because we never saw "him" {get it? like Casper the ghost?} This one always burrowed and hid anytime we had to do anything with their environment. We've since determined that this one is a female, and I have visions hopes of her and Rexy mating one day and then we'll change her name to Mama Cas. :o) Cute. No?

Anyway, our other baby turtle died {I think in December?} and I didn't mention it on my blog because... really? My mom. And my cat. And a baby turtle? It was all too much loss for one little blog! We have no idea how he/she died - just went into the food bowl one day and never came out. Sad!

Then, when you're sad, what makes you super happy? A dog. Lucky is doing well after his first couple of weeks of residence. Turns out that this pup loves to dig which is not conducive to growing basil or pretty flowers, so we'll need to figure that one out. Any helpful tips on how to train a dog not to dig?

And that's the rundown.

Four pets in our house.

{five if you count Douglas} ;o) 

How many in yours?

♥

Just a Quote for Friday

{Casper, our baby turtle}

 

"You can't stay in your corner of the forest

waiting for others to come to you.

You have to go to them sometimes."

~ Winnie the Pooh

Tiny Turtles in Our House!

♥ ♥

When I asked my "turtle connection" {hi Dana!} if she had a female turtle we could

adopt, she responded with a suggestion that I take a couple of babies to raise.

Hm...let me think...

 OK!!!

So last night I headed over and picked up these two scooters. We won't know if they are male or female until they are considerably older, so I'm keeping an open mind about names for them at this point.

They will live indoors in this little habitat for the first two

years, and will eventually join Rexy in the atrium.

These little guys are about three months old,

and they are box turtles {like Rexy}.

Here's hoping one of them is a female ~ Rexy needs a friend.

Oh, and by the way, not everyone in the

house is thrilled about the new arrivals.

~

PS: Rod, the table is perfect for this! Thanks so much! ♥