Reptile & Amphibian Forums

While we were gone my vet had to send a couple of her guys over to sit for me because my regular pet sitter went to the same event we did.
I'm not sure if my outdoor turtles got regular feedings from these guys because the turtle girls wouldn't recognize the voices of strangers so they wouldn't come to a stranger. I found food tucked into their little houses so I'm guessing that's all these guys could do to feed them, just leave food lying around.
Of course there are always bugs outdoors that they could have eaten when they found them.
They seemed to be a little hungry when I got home, Shell E & Janie came after me for food when they saw me.
Wallinda is the one who surprised me most. She'd been here 6 days when we left, 4 days later we're back & she seems to recognize me already.
She had no problem eating from my hand on day one but she seemed to recognize me yesterday before she got the food, I thought that was awesome.
I'm so glad she didn't wind up roadkill!
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PHRatz

Hehehe!
Most of mine appear out of nowhere when I'm putting their food out for them. They're funny creatures.

Funny they are!
This morning has been perfect box turtle weather. Low 70s, overcast, not too warm, not too cool so all of them were out & about.
When I brought out the food Shell E was first to come to me, then when I spotted Wallinda & she spotted me, she knew!
Then Janie saw me.. then Charity.

It's that coming out of the woodwork for food-it's one of the main things about them that I think attracts so many people around here into keeping them.
The vote is today on whether or not there will be a ban on commercial collection & whether or not people with more than 6 will be violating the law in this state.
We'll see what happens.

In the meantime I think it's almost time to allow the baby to stay outdoors full time. We've had an unusual amount of rain & cooler weather this month though & the weather channel is showing that more is coming.. so baby is still living inside for now.
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PHRatz

It sounds like you're still having a turtletastic time in Texas!

You'll have to keep an eye on the new little lady for nesting behavior. What a treat that would be! Would you allow them to incubate naturally, or take them indoors? Have you palpated her?

>>It sounds like you're still having a turtletastic time in Texas!
>>
>>You'll have to keep an eye on the new little lady for nesting behavior. What a treat that would be! Would you allow them to incubate naturally, or take them indoors? Have you palpated her?

Truth is I'm not sure she's old enough to breed just yet. She's awfully small but you know I hadn't even thought about that.
People who have more than 6 as pets have quite a bit of time to file paperwork and be grandfathered under this new ban.. I haven't heard what if any allowances will be made for eggs.
Now I don't know what to do if anyone does lay some eggs. I'm going to have to find out...
My vet does have the legal ability to keep a lot of animals since she's got the new non profit animal sanctuary.. maybe they can go to her incubator like the sulcata & ornate wood turtle eggs did.
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PHRatz

She just blows me away.. I am so in love with my girls lol.
It raind last night so this morning it's a beautiful day for them, overcast, cool, not too cool so they were all out when I took food out.
Today was Wallinda's first time to try vitamin/mineral coated lobster roaches. She took every one directly from the hemostats for me. (I have to kind of hurt the bugs or else they'll run away too quickly)
She looks at me the way the others do, as if she knows me & trusts me.
She follows my hands the way even the aquatic turtles do so I have to point at the food.
She's just adorable! They all are. Since they've been outside even Charity the most shy one doesn't have a problem coming to me for food.
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PHRatz