Turtles as Family

Some family members are more unusual than others. Two lovely turtles have lived at my house for about 17 years. I first saw them being used as bumper cars in the sand by a couple of children in my neighborhood. A friendly discussion with the children’s mother, revealed they were being offered lettuce as a diet staple. I explained to her that these were turtles, not tortoises, and that their natural habitat is watery. In addition, lettuce was probably not something that they would eat. The next day she appeared at my doorstep asking me to adopt them. Noooooooo problem.

They were pathetically unhealthy, starving and seemed to have suffered permanent damage to their shells. A trip to the bird vet later proved that I had a couple of very sick animals on my hands. A round of antibiotics administered by injection (a real learning experience) cured them of  parasites. Next came a radical diet change: These turtles proved to be solely carnivorus and nothing green would ever be allowed to pass through their mouths unless cleverly disguised. Gimme meat! No stinking lettuce!

To make a long story short, I am not an expert on turtle raising, but they have lived a long time and been healthy (except for the time Telma got eggbound) and both are small from living in an aquarium all these years. The shell damage was happily not permanent. They are a blast to watch. They eat suppers of canned catfood from a spoon! I am proudly displaying their portraits below. Theodore first, Telma next. If you can identify their species, I would love to hear from. I thought they were Reeves turtles for a long time, but really, don’t you think they are quite different? The male has big dark eyes (all the girls love him) , while the female has color on her neck and through her eyes.