NORTH COUNTY NEWS (Towson, Maryland) 21 August 06 Ernie turns 40 - Pet turtle enjoys life in the slow lane (Pat van den Beemt)
There haven't been many highlights in Ernie's life. In fact, he can count them on the claws of one of his green-striped paws.
The water in which Ernie the turtle swims day after day, month after month, year after year, has doubled in size from 10 to 20 gallons. He now suns himself on a new floating plastic rock. And his diet has been upgraded to include exotic foods like cantaloupe and grapes.
That's about it for excitement, but Ernie isn't complaining. He's just happy to be alive 40 some years after the Frack family bought him at a Baltimore Woolworth's store.
Most of his fellow hatchlings in 1966 didn't even live long enough to see the first television showing of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas."
Ernie, a red-eared slider, was the size of a quarter when Barbara Frack and her sons, then 5 and 4, picked him out from among hundreds of turtles. Like most dime-store turtles back then, Ernie wasn't intended to become a beloved family pet. He wasn't cuddly. He didn't sit on laps or lick faces. In fact, he wasn't even particularly friendly.
He was, however, just enough of a novelty to occupy two young boys. Most dime-store turtles didn't live very long under the care of youngsters who sometimes dropped them and always overfed them.
Watching generations go by
But Ernie thrived. As young Michael and Jimmy Frack Jr. grew up, moved away and got married, Ernie was satisfied to stay in his aquarium next to a window in the basement office of Barbara and Jim Frack's business, Manor Realty. He has even watched the Fracks' two grandchildren grow up.
"You know the way parents end up taking care of the pets their kids wanted?" Barbara Frack said. "I don't know many other parents who've been doing that for 40 years. Jim and I were in our 20s when we got Ernie, and now we're both getting Social Security. He'll probably outlive us both."
Nobody is really sure just how long Ernie will continue his daily routine of swimming, eating and sleeping. The 2006 Guinness World Records book has no listings for "oldest red-eared slider turtle." Maybe Ernie should send in his vital statistics.
"Red-eared sliders usually live to be 20 or 30," said Meredith Whitney, herpetology collection and conservation manager for the Maryland Zoo in Baltimore. "Turning 40 is not unheard of, but it's pretty unusual. Ninety-nine percent of those turtles you used to buy in a store died within the first year, so Ernie's owners must be doing something right. It's a true testament that they've looked after him for so long."
Looking after Ernie means Jim Frack can be often found outside after it rains, picking up live worms for Ernie snacks. Jim also catches crickets and grasshoppers, and scoops tadpoles off his swimming pool cover each spring to feed Ernie.
When Jim goes fishing and comes home with rockfish, he freezes the fish in small portions for Ernie. Before tossing the Chesapeake Bay's finest into the aquarium, Jim microwaves the fish so it's properly thawed.
"I figure Ernie would be living in a pond if he wasn't here, so most of what I give him is what he'd find in a pond," Jim said.
Barbara, however, figures Ernie is her third child.
"Hey Ernie, mommy's here," she said when she walked over to his aquarium. "He knows who I am, and he responds to me. He knows that when I hold up my finger, it means to wait, that I'll be back with his food," she said. "He really does have a personality. I guess you'd say he's laid back."
Feeding him right
In the fall of 1966, Barbara Frack convinced her young sons to set free a box turtle they had found. They were so distraught without the box turtle that she took them to a Woolworth's store, where they bought young Ernie.
Within a short time, Ernie's shell became soft. Barbara tucked little Ernie into her pocketbook and took off for the zoo where she got some great advice from Frank Groves, then-curator of reptiles and amphibians.
"He gave me some medicine and told me to stop feeding Ernie commercial turtle food. He said to give him dog food," Barbara recalled. "He must have known what he was talking about because Ernie's still here."
For years, Barbara made teeny meatballs out of canned dog food and froze them. In the early days, a can would last Ernie the better part of a year.
A few years ago, Barbara decided that preservatives and additives in canned dog food weren't good for Ernie, so she switched to additive-free, dry dog food.
Today, Ernie still weighs less than a pound. His growth is dependent on the size of his home, so he would be larger if he lived in a pond. His shell is about 4 inches long, and he lives up to his red-eared slider name with bright red stripes that radiate out from behind his eyes.
When her sons were little, they took Ernie out and let him play on the lawn.
One time, a cousin took Ernie to the Gunpowder Falls and built a swimming pool for him out of river rocks.
But these days, he's out of his aquarium only when it's being cleaned. Then, his temporary home is a white plastic bowl.
"Sometimes I feel sad for Ernie because he's all by himself," Barbara said. "Or maybe she's all by herself. We don't even know if he's a boy or a girl."
Ernie - or Ernestine - remains popular with the Frack family. They recently had a July 4 party for about 30 people.
"The first thing they asked when they got here was, 'Is Ernie still here? Is Ernie OK?' Barbara said. "He loves all the attention."
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