Dar got her turtle fix

[smokeyoshi]

Meet Phil, as in Philbert from Rocko's Modern Life. It was that or Tudor, from Tennessee Tuxedo, which would be appropriate since we are in Tennessee. He's a Midland Painted. All of his markings are red, other than the yellow stripes on his head.





We have missed our Florida turtle gang so much we've been looking into building ponds, etc, but we are renting for now, so we have been looking for little terps. We found him (?) on craigslist. A couple claims to be redoing their house and he's not getting enough care and there is too much dirt and dust blah blah. He was very lively coming home and when introduced to his tank, but now he's settled down. He must have been handled a lot. as we haven't seen any real signs of panic. Dar was holding him in the car and his head was out looking around.
The lady we got him from says she got him from a herp rescue in the next town. She said she will send us his email. The girls we got his tank from said their friend has 4 ferrets.

He already eats from our hands

[huronna]

Wow a pet turtle. I bet that is better than the wild ones even though you did tame that quite a bit.

[furballlover]

He's cute!!

[dee517]

Such a cute tiny new addition to your family!

[smokeyoshi]

Some action shots

Levitating. With evil eye



Jumping

[huronna]

the first photo he looks like a flying saucer HA HA

[smokeyoshi]

We haven't talked about Philb much because as a terp he's pretty mellow and quiet. Over the winter he moved into a 40 gal tank with a much upgraded filter and river rock basking area.
He was really happy to have the extra space. We also re-purposed the ferrets' kiddie pool for the summer so he can get out on the deck and get some real sunlight. It has a submerged filter and a waterfall filter. He loves that too, as the artificial heat and UV lamps didn't seem to be doing enough for his shell. He's now shedding scutes and looks and acts healthy. He likes walking around on the deck, too.





The ferts will either get this kiddie pool back in fall or maybe a bigger one if we can catch them on sale at the end of the season.

[dee517]

Hi Phil. You look like one very happy turtle with your great new play area (home).

[smokeyoshi]

I guess the pool on the porch wasn't so safe after all. It's 4 ft off the ground at the low end, with a 3 ft high playpen around the perimeter, With a hardware cloth screen above to discourage birds. Phil was left out last night and this morning he was gone. We're kicking ourselves in the butt right now for being so careless and overconfident. It could have been that stupid fishercat, a coon or anything big enough and thirsty enough to risk coming on the porch for a drink. He was to the point where he's swim into our hands and enjoyed being handled.
We're sorry Phil... Bask in peace

[huronna]

Ah, that is a shame.
Maybe he climbed out and went wandering to find his friends?