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Now I’m curious. Just how big would you say she looked?

I think the markings my turtles had were very lovely. They were very different from each other; Nikita had a slight touch of yellow in the stripes on her head, while Nemo’s were whiter. Nemo’s red ‘ears’ were a much darker shade than Nikita’s light red ones. And the patterns and colorations on their shells and skin though similar were very different. Nemo’s plastron (stomach shell) was much darker than Nikita’s, which was almost yellow, while Nemo’s was yellow with much very dark gray. I could see any part of them and easily tell which turtle it was. I knew every single marking they had and the patterns of their shells.


That depends on the species. Nikita and Nemo were red-eared sliders, and they can live for 30-40 years, depending on the source. Little is known about the lifespan of sea turtles; estimates go from 50 years to 80 or even 100. Giant tortoises probably hold the record, as they can live from somewhere between 100 and 200 years. When Charles Darwin went to Galapagos in 1835 he brought a tortoise back with him. She is estimated to have been around 5 at the time and was named Harriet. She died in Australia Zoo in 2006, ca 175 years old.


Again, it depends on the species. Sliders can reach a length of up to 12 inches. Nemo weighed more than a kilo at the most. The largest turtle species that is still around (but hanging on by a thread) is the leatherback sea turtle. On average they measure 1–1.75 m (3.3–5.7 ft) in curved carapace length, 1.83–2.2 m (6.0–7.2 ft) in total length, and weigh 250 to 700 kg (550 to 1,540 lb). The largest Galapagos tortoises have reached weights of over 400 kilo (880 lb) and lengths of 1.87 meters (6.1 ft).
On the other side of the scale, the smallest tortoise species is the speckled cape tortoise, whose males are about 6-8 cm and the females around 10 cm.


It can be very difficult for a turtle to turn around when they fall over. Nemo was pretty good at it, while Nikita would usually struggle (unless she was in water, of course). Sometimes she tried so hard, she urinated and laid there gasping. I had heard the claim that they were supposed to be able to turn around by themselves, so I let her try before I helped her by steadying her so she wouldn’t fall back again.

Turtles turn around by kicking with their legs. The turtle will stretch its legs on one side so the forepaw will touch the ground/floor almost behind its head while the hind-paw hits the ground/floor almost behind its tail. The turtle will stretch its neck as far as it can and push its head towards the ground, almost back over the carapace. The two legs not pushed against the ground will flail trying to get leverage until it succeeds and the turtle turns over. The rounder the shell, the harder it is for the turtle to turn over, which is why it was harder for Nikita than it was for Nemo.




No, they never shed like a snake, as in shedding the entire shell in one go. But they do shed individual scute flakes. I have kept the ones my turtles shed. They’re mostly one by one, sometimes smaller pieces, and sometimes a couple of scutes together, but only rarely.


In USA it seems to be common to call ocean dwellers sea turtles, while those who live on land and in fresh water are often just called turtles, although some Americans distinguish between them and call fresh water specimen turtles and land living non-swimming tortoises.
In British English the distinction is clear:
Turtles: live in the oceans
Terrapins: live (mostly) in fresh water. I say mostly as they will leave water to bask, lay eggs and sometimes even to find water during drought.
Tortoises: land living (not aquatic)

It’s easy to distinguish between them. Sea turtles have flippers and flat shells. Tortoises have round shells and sturdy legs. Terrapins have legs with webbed feet and flatter shells.



Oh! Is that where it’s from! I’ve seen the term used, but I didn’t know it was a catch-phrase.

Very much so! Nemo and Nikita were both females of the species red-eared terrapin, they came from the same place, and they were very different from each other.
Nikita was more fearful than Nemo.
When Nemo came here she was pretty relaxed and within a week she slept soundly. I gave her a plastic house (a plastic basket with a hole cut in it for a door) that she could both hide in if she wanted to and crawl up on. She went straight in to investigate it.
When Nikita came she too was given a house. (They had separate aquariums. I didn’t know at the time if they were male or female, and I didn’t want up to 24 eggs to take care of. They couldn’t have stayed together at first anyway, because Nikita kept attacking Nemo when I put them together in either aquarium. She stopped it as they got reacquainted, though. Nemo didn’t fight back, she just pulled into her shell.) Anyway, Nik was afraid of her new house. She attacked it and stayed on the opposite side of the aquarium. I placed her on top of the roof and she jumped down in a hurry. When her filter malfunctioned she got another filter(water cleaner) that was very different from the first one. She was afraid of that too and attacked it. For comparison, Nemo loved to dig under hers and she would climb on it and move it about.
Nikita got used to the house and the filter, but she needed time.

Nikita tried numerous times to escape from her aquarium. She was very strong and as soon as she got a grip with her claws on the edge she was able to pull herself up. I had to put a rope around the lid and all the way around the aquarium. One day she was lying on top of her roof (she got used to it eventually) and she looked at the blue rope that held her lid safely in place. Her gaze followed it up and then she snapped after it through the glass. There’s no doubt that she got it, because she stopped trying to escape after that.

Nemo was over-all trusting while Nikita needed to get used to me. Nemo slept soundly in her aquarium after a week with me, while Nikita needed the better part of a year to tame and relax. But when she decided to trust me, she became much more eager to be petted and held than Nemo was until she (Nemo) was much older (despite Nemo being the older turtle).

When Nemo was crawling on the floor, she would go anywhere she could, and when I set up an obstacle for some reason, she was a master at getting past it in one way or the other. She’d go around, under, over or shove it in front of her or aside. Nikita usually wouldn’t try so hard.
Nemo loved open doors. Whenever a closed door opened she’d run up to it and wanted to go inside. If a door was almost closed but still slightly ajar she’d always manage to put a front leg between the door and the frame and managed to open it that way.
When they were outdoors, Nikita would lie in the sun as much as she could and be calm for the most part, while Nemo wanted to walk about and investigate. Of course, when they both wanted to go for a walk, you could be sure they went in different directions! You know, so it was easier for me to keep an eye on them, lol.

Nikita was a very skilled climber. The next sentence is 100% true but will still be hard to believe: She climbed the wall in the hallway. The wall paper there is textile so her claws got a good grip on it. She was very strong (and also small and light) and was able to pull herself up. She clawed the lower part of the paper to partial shreds. Nik could get far up the wall too; I would hold her so she wouldn’t fall down, but didn’t help her on. When she got to my neck height I stopped her and put her gently back to the floor. I’m small, only 152 cm, but that’s still a lot for a small turtle to climb vertically! I don’t have any pic of her climbing, I had more than enough just getting to her and hold her. Sometimes she fell down. I was afraid she’d have a claw stuck on the textile and have it pulled out. That never happened, but one day she hit off a small piece of her plastron, on the left side, right by her front flipper. I was afraid and called the vet. I was told as long as there was no blood or fluid she should be fine. I was told I should file down the shell there so she wouldn’t hurt her flipper. I held her while my father filed the sharp edge. Nikita was petrified. She avoided me the next days.
At that time Nemo would come up to me when she was out of the tank, but she never had the patience to stay for long before she wanted to crawl around some more. The next day when they were out on the floor, she climbed up to me and I stroked her. Nikita was the only one at the time who would come up to me and stay for a longer time. While Nemo was more generally trusting, Nik was the one who was cuddlier. Nemo stayed though. Nik saw it from the other side of the room. She came closer. Nemo stayed. Nik came closer yet. Finally she climbed up on my leg. The moment she did, Nemo crawled down. Don’t even tell me she didn’t pick up on anything.
Nemo was never able to climb the wall. She only got up on her legs and stood against it.

Once when I had Nemo outside I brought her to the little wooded area outdoors. It’s a very small area and calling it wood is generous. Anyway she crept around there and so on. She always liked walking around, whether it was when she was out or on the floor. Next I brought Nik out. I could only take them one by one if I was alone. (Think turtles are slow? They’re dang quick when they wish to and they always went their separate ways leaving me to wonder which one to chase down. Of course I could just pick up one and run after the other, but that meant I had to more or less permanently have a turtle on my arm. And they wriggled and scratched when they didn’t wanna be carried. So one by one it was.) Afterwards I had Nik out in the same area. She usually enjoyed lying on the rocks and sun herself more than crawl very actively around. But that day she put her nose to the ground and followed the exact same route Nemo had taken. I guess she followed her scent.

Once my mother and I had Nemo and Viggo with us to a cemetery nearby that at the time wasn’t finished, and was a great spot for dogs and turtles. I left her with my mother and Viggo and started towards the left path to check something out. Nemo started running after me as fast as her little legs could carry her. When she couldn’t catch up, she crawled under the low hanging branches of a tree and hid. My mother and Viggo being there didn’t seem to mean anything. It was me she came after. That warmed.

Once when Nemo and I visited my grandfather, Nemo insisted on trying to enter this fenced off and locked area. She had little problem crawling under the fence, while I had no easy way of getting in as the fence was taller than me. So I picked her up, took her away from the fence and set her down with her pointing away from the fence. She spun around and went back to the fence. I picked her up etc and she went back. This woman who had been watching Nemo in fascination laughed and said that it was just like young mothers herding their one-year-old. Nemo could be very persistent. The moment I tried to get her in another direction, she became determined to go nowhere but there. If anything was placed as obstacle, she’d try to climb over it or push herself past it.
When we went home from there, we followed the path so she could walk herself instead of being carried in a cage. She walked all the way and also over a lot she wanted to investigate. She was very curious. When we got home she ate and then she slept real well!

Nemo was very intelligent (or maybe I should say easily taught). Sometimes when I fed them things that were in little pieces, I fed them with spoon. Nikita never got the hang of it, she just bit at the spoon poor little one. But Nemo got the technique almost immediately. She positioned her mouth so that she bit over it and dragged the content with it. It was amazing how easy that was for her. It’s not like turtles are made for or used to spoons.

Nemo also learned 3 hand signals. When I came into my room and she was on her roof she always was started and ready to jump down into the water. I just did what came natural to me, held out my hands palms facing down and lowered them slowly. Somehow she understood and relaxed whenever I did that, whether she was on her roof or elsewhere.
Red-eared sliders need to eat in water in order to swallow. To avoid too much mess in their tanks I always fed them in a plastic container. When a piece of food sank, they didn’t always notice and just wanted more. I held up my right hand, fingers retracted except for the index finger pointing downwards and lowered it until it was behind the wall of the container, and out of view for Nemo. She then lowered her nose and found the food.
The final signal she picked up was one used when I fed them shrimp, fish, chicken, roast beef or squid, all of which they both enjoyed far more than the sticks that were their basic food. I always divided the pile in tow so each turtle would get half of it. When she either ran out of meat or ran out on her part of it, I’d hold up my hands, palms towards her, then turn the hands twice so she saw I had nothing more. Then she’d understand and wouldn’t get over exited about every move I made, hoping for more.
Nikita never showed any signs of understanding any of the signals, but Nemo always did.

Their favorite meal was shrimp followed by fish, squid and roast beef. Nemo never bit me intentionally but sometimes she could accidentally bite on my fingers when I hand fed her and she was very eager. Nikita did bite me on purpose before she got used to me and accepted me. Nemo seemed to feel like home here within a week. Nikita tried to bite me in the tank (but never outside of it), and once she bit my finger so it bled when I was adjusting her thermostat. She had been here 3 months at the time but was no closer to accepting me. It took her an entire 8 or 9 months before she calmed down. One the last days before she did, I felt so sad by her obvious discomfort. She didn’t seem to like me and she always tried to escape her aquarium and she just didn’t seem very happy. I was wondering what to do with her. I didn’t wish to give up but I didn’t want her to be miserable. I was at a loss. She must have been making a decision because a few days later she calmed down. She approached me and wanted to be with me and be stroked for upto hours. She stopped trying to bite me. It happened all of a sudden, it didn’t come gradually. One day she was sort of a wild animal, the next she was tame and mine.

Nikita never showed much interest in other animals, save from Nemo. In the beginning she would attack her, but then they’d get along well. I remember once though when they were both on the floor. Nemo had found a box she had climbed up on and was lying on. Nikita came over and wanted to climb up. Nemo pushed her down with her front leg. Guess she wanted to be there alone.
Nemo always showed interest in other animals. When she came here, the cage of my guinea pig Shalom was next to her aquarium. Nemo would be at that side of the aquarium looking at him. He on the other side didn’t appear to notice her at all. When Nikita came next door to Nemo so to speak, Nemo was very aware of Nik and was always looking for her at first, while Nik only looked for her a few times. Nik didn’t seem to notice Shalom at all.
Once Nikita was in the woods she saw a snail on a leaf. I thought she would snap at it, but she just sniffed at it and seemed curious.

Nemo loved climbing over shoes for whatever reason. She just couldn’t resist a good shoe. Sometimes she would climb up on the shoe shelf which was more than one turtle height above her. When she seemed to want to go back down on the floor I held an old rain boot out and she stepped on it and then just stood there while I lowered it to the floor. I can’t recall why I tried that the first time, but ever since she just walked on it and waited for the ‘elevator’ to go to its destination, I continued to do that. It was a fun sight to see a turtle on a boot elevator waiting patiently. I tried with Nikita but she didn’t see the point. She tried to climb down on her own from the boot.

A very strange thing: Both Nikita and Nemo were afraid of Viggo. They were on alert with him, keeping an eye on him, pulling into their shells when they say him. He was a very gentle dog and I was never afraid of him being around my turtles. I know all dog owners always say their dogs are the best, but Viggo was a gentle dog. Yet they were afraid of him and alert in his presence (although they got more used to him and at one point Nemo was so comfortable with him that she stepped on his paw). A cat we looked after for a neighbor was also that way around Viggo. But our first dog Sissi, who had a lot of hunting instinct and could be aggressive and couldn’t be trusted around small animals (or children), her they trusted. The turtles didn’t react to her despite her trying to chase them and bark at them. She even tried to chase the cat we looked after from his food the one time we made the mistake of bringing her inside when we fed the cat. Yet he didn’t fear her, but he did Viggo who never chased him, Viggo who safely greeted turtles, puppies, cats, guinea pigs, sheep, calves, and children. That was very weird.

Turtles aren’t playful. Mine weren’t, anyway. I tried to have them play with balls on the floor and in the water. In the water it was interesting until they had established that it wasn’t edible. On the floor Nemo was indifferent while Nikita pulled into her shell when she saw the ball roll.
When I was in NYC my mother took care of Nemo. She tried to feed her but she wasn’t interested. She was just calm in her water. The first thing I heard when I returned home was Nemo giving every sign of being interested in eating. My mother loves animals so I know she wasn’t neglecting her, but I guess Nemo preferred to wait for me.

heh, that was a long post. I just had to point out just how much soul are underneath their shells. Turtles are so underestimated

OMGoodness----any other time I see a wall of text like that, I just close the window, and move-on----but, I was ABSOLUTELY RAPT in reading it!!

Okay, so----wait..... How do these turtles have tanks----didn't you say they were like a foot across, in size? (BTW, I thought they looked like they were about TWO feet across / long----must've been the angle of the camera.) Also, the tanks are big enough for WATER, TOO? WOW!!

I've learned SOOOOO MUCH----THANKYOU!! For instance, I had NO IDEA that turtles could CLIMB----are you friggin' KIDDING me? (rhetorical)----and, to imagine one climbin'-up a WALL----OMG!! LOL That just fascinates me, no END!!

Also, I was incredibly fascinated with their personalities (I might get Nemo and Nikita mixed-up). I LOVE that Nemo was an explorer, and that Nikita was a "cuddler"----I just had never imagined a turtle cuddling! I also love that Nemo understood hand signals, and was interested in other animals----noticing the gerbil (or hamster, or whatever you said) "next-door" to her.

Also, you said that one of them (I forget which one) "ran" when there was an open door----I had no IDEA a turtle could even RUN!! LOL I'm tellin' ya, I just couldn't read your post fast-enough (meaning, I was chomping-at-the-bit [excited], for each new bit of information)! !

I LOVED the "elevator" (boot) story. I LOVE that that one (Nemo?) had such an understanding of things----she truly DOES sound intelligent.

I was extremely fascinated by the fact that they could only eat underwater. I also found their diet extremely interesting, because I dunno WHAT I though turtles ate, other than, like, leaves and grass, I guess----but, you fed them MEAT? I found that to be WILD (as in, unbelievable, because I had no idea).

Wow, I just could go on and on.....

Nemo makes me wanna have a turtle----but, besides the fact I can't even consider it, right now, because of lack of funds, I think I would have a HEART-ATTACK if one climbed-up, to me, cuz I just had NO IDEA they could climb!! At least, NOW I know, I guess I'd get used to it.....

Oh, that picture was SO COOL, of the turtle righting itself!!

WOW----I just don't know what to say!! I've always thought turtles were pretty cool, because they're so different----but, now I can see why you're so obsessed with them, because they're VERY cool!!

Thankyou, SO MUCH, for sharing your knowledge----you totally just BLEW ME AWAY (in a GOOD way)! !

Oh----I forgot----I found it interesting that you said that they wriggle, when they don't want to be held, and that that makes them hard to hold. I would think that their shell, being UN-pliable, and the center of gravity, would PREVENT their wriggling from being a problem. The only thing I can figure, is that if / when they're wriggling all their extremities at one time----including, maybe, their head----that THAT'S what would cause them to be hard to hold onto?

Oh, yeah..... Also, you seemed to be talking about them, in past-tense..... What happened to them? Where are they, NOW?

Oh, geez----I'm capable of a WALL, TOO!! LOL But, one more thing.....

How do they go to the bathroom? Do they look for a place to go, like a dog or cat----and, go in the same place, all-the-time? OR, do they just go, as they're moving, like a horse?

I have a pet starling named Lucky. He just turned two the beginning of May. He is a curious little bird and always has to being sharing with his "Momma", but sometimes I don't enjoy it when he tries to share the bugs he catches with me. Lol

lol the pillow pets are a nice touch

All of your animals are wonderful. Thanks for the compliments on my beasties.

That is so cool! I've never heard of a pet starling before. How did you get him? I'd love to hear more about him if you care to share.

Thanks!! That’s a compliment if ever I heard one I am very happy that you enjoyed it so much!
I’m not a fan of text walls myself. I’m fine with a longer text when it’s divided into paragraphs, but when it’s just one huge text wall…


They lived in two tanks (or aquariums), as terrapins are aquatic turtles. They also needed a space for them to dry off (to avoid fungus) and bask in UV light.


Both my turtles would climb up on me to cuddle, but only Nikita would stay for a longer time. Once I had her on my arm for 3 hours straight. The only reason I had to put her back was that I needed to go to sleep. I was in the living room watching TV part of the time. “Friends” was aired and I laughed. It caused Nikita to glance up at me as if it disturbed her cuddling that I laughed.
As Nemo became older she too became cuddlier. There were times then that I would be comfy on my bed with her in my arms, and feeling relaxed and nice I would fall asleep. More than once did she fall asleep too and I would wake up with her sleeping head resting on my chin/cheek. She would even stretch out her head to rest it if I was laying down (awake).
Turtles are just so great!


By run I mean move as fast as they can. It wasn’t like she could out run me. Their shells prevent them from running in the way a mammal would, but they can be far speedier than most people think. Their usual crawling is not their top speed.


In many ways it was like Nemo was hatched to become a pet, while Nikita was meant to be wild, as she has more typical turtle instinct. Nemo being so curious and overall friendly might have had a real hard time in the wild if she had acted the same there. Of course she may not have, there is no way for me to know. It could be her life as a pet that allowed her to be that way.


Terrapins and turtles eat meat, and greens when they feel like it (when they need something in it, or they prey escapes). Tortoises OTOH eat leaves, grasses and flowers, and other greens. Nemo and Nikita were given vitamin supplements so they had their basics covered. They weren’t happy about being given greens. Once I offered them lettuce. Nemo looked at me as if she was wondering if I had lost it or was kidding with her. I’m not kidding, that look was beyond belief. Then she threw herself at her floating sticks! Apparently everything beat lettuce!
They loved fresh fish (with innards), shrimps, roast beef (with spice and fat removed), squids… They even had their favorite parts of the squids I fed them. Nemo liked the bodies while Nikita preferred the arms. Nemo was less eager when given arms and the same for Nikita with the thorax.
They were also given chicken from time to time, but it wasn’t their favorite. Nemo was more particular about her food than Nikita was.

Oh, I can’t recall if I mentioned this, but it’s a cute little story. I was feeding Nemo, and had put floating sticks (turtle fodder) in the water. I got lost in thought when I suddenly noticed that Nemo wasn’t eating. I looked down to see if she needed more food. She had plenty of food in the water, but she was looking at me. Once I looked at her and paid attention, she started eating again. How on earth could she know that I was mentally preoccupied, and why did it matter to her… Turtles are just so wonderfully incredible animals!


Turtles make wonderful pets. They need quite a bit of looking after though. They need UV light, aquarium or terrarium specific for their species and type, and tortoises in particular need a lot of food that can be hard to get in winter (at least here in Norway; that could be very different where you live). And they can live a long time.
Another thing: Nemo was a wonderful turtle, and so was Nikita. Any turtle you would get would be itself, and your experience with it would be unique. No turtle you would get would be like any of them. It could be bright or cuddly or both or not that cuddly and unable to learn hand signals etc. But they are all loving animals who deserve to be loved and cherished. They are individuals.

I watched a YouTube video once about the Utila Sea Turtle Conservation Project. To help give turtles a head start and raise public awareness, the children helped take care of sea turtle hatchlings for a year, before they were released. At the end of the video the narrator says: “In more ways than I can describe, these little flippered characters will be greatly missed. To most folks, I supposed they all looked and behaved pretty much alike. To those of us who nursed them along the way from the first encounter with misfortune to handfeed, graduating them from washtub to pool to open sea coral, most all of them developed unique mannerisms and displays of intelligence and yes, wonderful personalities”.

Now you know they can climb, so you’d be prepared


Turtles are the 100% best thing about planet Earth and life! I love turtles so much I can’t even find words to describe it. They’re awesome and cool, and bright and simply the best
You are very welcome!
If you have more questions about turtles, don’t hesitate at all in asking me I love talking about turtles


Yes, that can make it hard to hold them too, and even more so when something they have eaten, like fish, makes their shells slippery (because they eat in the water).
But most of all they are very good at placing their claws so they dug into my skin or scratched me when they wanted to be let go. I learned to hold them in such a way that their claws wouldn’t reach in such a way that it hurt. I had to stress though that they only wriggled like that when they wanted to be set down. They could be very impatient once they wanted to go on doing something else. A bit like cats can be really.


Nikita became sick and died too young in April 2000. Nemo reached the expected age for a red-ear in captivity (not that it made the grief any less), and she died in 2010. I miss them terribly and wish I things were different so I could have more turtles.


My turtles would go wherever they happened to be, moving or not.
Heh, once I saw Nemo through the aquarium glass and noticed her tail wagging. Then I noticed something leaving said tail.

I've never really been up close and personal with a pet turtle. When I was 12, there was a box turtle that was next to a tree in my yard for multiple weeks in a row during the summer. I thought it was dead or dying. Then one day when I went to check on it and it was nowhere to be found. I've always wondered what happened to it/why it stayed there for so long.

^ Hard to know. Maybe it was just comfy there. Let's hope that was it. It may not have stayed put all the time either, it might have moved about and eaten and such and happened to be by the tree at the times when you saw it? It's a possibility.

Edit: Someone I knew on another forum used to have box turtles stay in their garden. The turtles were wild but seemed to like it there.

I would love to share about him. In 2013, I live in an apartment complex and notices a bunch of grass hanging out of a vent on the second story. I was showing my mom that Starlings were nesting in there when I heard a baby crying near the ground. I found his sibling, who was injured, sick or just weakened right under the vent, but found Lucky a few feet away. His eyes were still shut, but he must have seen my figure approach because he lifted his head up, opened his mouth and kept chirping at me.

I couldn't put them back and they were to young to leave in a box on the ground, so I took them inside and started looking up how to care for them. Unfortunately, Lucky's sibling died three days later even though I tried to feed and give the poor little guy drops of Gatorade. Lucky, however was lucky. We suspect his parents knew his sibling was sick and kicked it out and poor Lucky went with it.

He has changed the opinions of everyone he has met. They assumed starlings were dumb pests, when they are really smart little birds! I tried to keep him out of the kitchen with a curtain, but he figured out he could fly to the ground and use his little head as a lever to let himself in.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/133473342 ... 064072421/
This was Lucky and his sibling. He is the more robust one at the top.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/133473342 ... 876941999/
This is early September 2013 when he was molting into his adult feathers. His head still has baby feathers.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/133473342 ... 441945614/
He listens intently when I talk to him and he loves having photo shoots!

https://www.flickr.com/photos/133473342 ... otostream/
He was trying to share his bug with me lol

My boyfriend had boxturtles live in his backyard growing up. It's a bit marshy, especially after it rains and they had a vegetable garden so I'm sure the turtles were right at home.

I just set up my Flickr account last week so I can share my lovely photos! Hear is a box turtle I found out in the woods in a tire.
https://www.flickr.com/photos/133473342 ... 989238670/

Thank you for sharing that, Niko_Oeyes. Poor little guys! It's wonderful that you were able to save Lucky.
I didn't know people saw starlings as pests? Many birds are very smart and can even be manipulative too. I listened to a popular science radio show some years ago. Once they talked about how a small bird fooled bigger birds into thinking they'd found food somewhere and the bigger bird chased it and looked where it had been, while the little bird flew to the place where the food really was. I don't recall which species they were, it's been too long.

I loved the pics in your link! Lucky is really beautiful!

Thanks for posting those pictures of the lovely box turtle as well! And the frog and snake! I really enjoyed watching your photos

For cat owners dissatisfied with their litter, I think Dr. Elsey's Precious Cat Ultra Premium scoopable litter is really good. It is 99.9% dust free. Dr. Elsey's has many kinds of litter to choose from including a litter for kitties that tend to go outside the box. I have found it sold at Petco and Amazon.

I really enjoy this thread and reading about everyone's pets and outdoor visitors.

So, I'm thinking of getting mice soon. This will be the first time in years, and all the fancy mice of old from years past died horribly, for one shocking reason or one of countless others.
But it will be different this time! I'm smart now!

OMG! A lassie dog! The offspring of those breeds are so cool. They don't even look like puppies! They pretty much look exactly like the adult version after getting hit by a shrink ray.

Kitties are happy I have returned home again from vacation.