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Frankie

Frankie

March 28, 2007

Baby in the Grass

All the turtles are outside full time. Today, I went out to give the box turtles a soak in water. While I had them soaking, I looked down by my foot and saw a baby turtle. Since we hadn't had any rain in over two weeks, I immediately put the baby turtle in water and he seemed to appreciate it.

I figure he is one of the hatchlings from last fall. He did well to survive the winter outdoors. As I understand it, sometimes young hatchlings will stay in their "egg hole" for a winter before digging out. That does mean that there may be other babies in the grass that I have not seen even though I took to time to look for other babies.

I've named him Dudley (at this point we will be able to tell what sex for some time). I will keep him indoors in his own enclosure and take him on daily "sun" visits for good UV exposure. Dudley will be put up for adoption as I do not want additional turtles. I am seriously considering putting my male box turtle up for adoptions as I really do not want breeding to occur.

Frankie had a blast in his "tub" today. He was flicking water over his back. I joined in by splashing water over his shell which only got him flicking even more.

March 20, 2007

Pounds to Consider

All the turtles are outside full time. Today, I went out to give the box turtles a soak in water. While I had them soaking, I looked down by my foot and saw a baby turtle. Since we hadn't had any rain in over two weeks, I immediately put the baby turtle in water and he seemed to appreciate it.

I figure he is one of the hatchlings from last fall. He did well to survive the winter outdoors. As I understand it, sometimes young hatchlings will stay in their "egg hole" for a winter before digging out. That does mean that there may be other babies in the grass that I have not seen even though I took to time to look for other babies.

I've named him Dudley (at this point we will be able to tell what sex for some time). I will keep him indoors in his own enclosure and take him on daily "sun" visits for good UV exposure. Dudley will be put up for adoption as I do not want additional turtles. I am seriously considering putting my male box turtle up for adoptions as I really do not want breeding to occur.

Frankie had a blast in his "tub" today. He was flicking water over his back. I joined in by splashing water over his shell which only got him flicking even more.

March 15, 2007

Spring is closer and closer...

Yesterday was a great day for turtles. All turtles went outside for a wonderful warm day filled with light breezes, great shade and warm sunlight.

Frankie seem particularly happy. He spend so much of the day wandering around his yard, occasionally eating grass and sitting in the shade. He has discovered the new space under the porch. I found him sitting in the soft dirt cooling off a bit. I also filled his pool for the first time this year and he spent time drinking fresh water.

Mama turtle and Brown Eyes are a bit restless and may be looking for places to lay eggs. Both spent time wandering around the enclosure and finally settled down at dusk. Neither started digging and I did bring them inside for the night.

I was actually thinking of leaving all the turtles outside for the night since temperatures were supposed to be in the 50's but predictions of rain caused me to change my mind. The day that all the turtles get stay out for the night is closer and closer each day.

March 10, 2007

Turtle Enclosure Ready

I spend this morning fixing up the outdoor box turtle enclosure. This entailed getting the wire fence under the porch anchored tightly. I had to dig into the dirt a bit so the fence had no gaps at the bottom. I filled in a hole that I had dug out last year into which I put a water dish. Water will be done differently this year. I set up two plastic enclosures that the turtles can get into for shelter. I inspected the rest of the fence for potential holes that turtles could escape. All seems ready.

All the box turtles (Mama Turtle, Big Turtle, Brown Eyes and Bama) are now outside. Mattie, the spider tortoise is outside. Nighttime temperatures are not expected to drop below 50. Now is the time to decide when to bring in or leave out the turtles at night based on forecast-ed night temperatures. I think I shall check some reference books. If I cannot find a good answer, I will go to the forum for other keeper's experience.

March 7, 2007

What A Turtle Needs

70 degrees outside today!! What could make a couple of torts happier! I took Frankie and Mattie outside early this morning so they could have lots of sun, grass and weeds. Frankie ran around so much that he had to take a nap around 1:00 pm.

No more worrying about picking food for Frankie: the warm weather is bringing up lots of dandelions and other favorite weeds. I think now that March is here, I shall have no problems.

The next big question is when do I put the box turtles out in their pen? I still need to work on their enclosure a bit. I pulled the fence around the underneath side of the porch and divided the area between the box turtles and Frankie. Now the box turtles have 1/2 of the shade of under the porch and Frankie gets the benefit of the other half. I haven't got the fence completely secure so I worry about putting out the box turtles until I do.

And about those box turtles -- they turned down strawberries today, again! And these were organic strawberries. What do these picky guys want?

March 5, 2007

Going's On

Mattie, our Madagascar spider tortoise, is being a picky eater. Yes to apples, no to banana, yes to corn, no to greens, yes to hibiscus flowers, no to strawberries. All of these items were eaten last year without problem but this year I just can't get her to eat. What do I need to do?

Tomorrow promises to be a very warm day outside so I am planning on putting her in the outside enclosure. Hopefully, besides getting some UV rays and nice basking, she will eat some grass or weeds.

She has been soaking every other day in water and seems to enjoy it very much. I hardly get to see her drink water but I believe she is hydrated.

Frankie, the box turtles and the rest of the gang is doing great. Frankie is getting some outdoor time. I have put the box turtles outside to bask as well.