I've been lurking around here for a few weeks now and I guess it's time to introduce myself; I know how you guys like that.
My first turtle found me on a summer day in my home town of Salina Ks when I was about 4 years old. He was an ornate box that I named speedy. My parents let me keep him for the summer and then made me turn him loose that fall. I repeated this finding and releasing most summers until I was about 10 or 12. In high school I meet the love of my life Pycho.
He was not pretty and seemed to have a hard life. The back of his shell was cracked, he was missing two toes on his left front foot and most notable, the end of his nose had been clipped off. But he has a huge personality. At the end of my bio teacher let me give him a good home. Over the following 5 or 6 years people just kept bring me box turtles. I ended up with almost 15 I think (I know way to many but I just couldn't turn them away). Now looking back I did pretty good figuring out how to caring for them. This is the mid 80's and we didn't have the internet to fall back on. I still managed to figure out that a Tort table was the best way to keep them inside and my dad had a good sized garden to keep them all in in the summer. I did make bad choices for substrate and food, but everyone seemed happy.
A few years after high school I was offered a job in Boulder Co and decided it was the end of the summer and returned all but 3 of my favorite boxies back to the prairie. I kept a very large 3 toed box, a smallish male ornate and of course Pycho. Even though I lived in an apartment we did pretty good for about 2 years. Then I tragically lost Pycho. It was my fault and I still don't really like to talk about it all these years later. I decided that it was time to let the other boxies free. I drove back home to Kansas to set them free.
That was twenty years ago. I've decided it was time to get another companion shellhead. I decided on a Redfoot to start with. I built a new table that looks very similar to the Trash Mahal that I think everyone has seen. And this morning my Redfoot arrived. No name yet.
That's my story. This forum has been unbelievably useful. I've got several questions but I will post them in the appropriate areas over the next day or so. I think that's enough words for now.
RD->
My first turtle found me on a summer day in my home town of Salina Ks when I was about 4 years old. He was an ornate box that I named speedy. My parents let me keep him for the summer and then made me turn him loose that fall. I repeated this finding and releasing most summers until I was about 10 or 12. In high school I meet the love of my life Pycho.
He was not pretty and seemed to have a hard life. The back of his shell was cracked, he was missing two toes on his left front foot and most notable, the end of his nose had been clipped off. But he has a huge personality. At the end of my bio teacher let me give him a good home. Over the following 5 or 6 years people just kept bring me box turtles. I ended up with almost 15 I think (I know way to many but I just couldn't turn them away). Now looking back I did pretty good figuring out how to caring for them. This is the mid 80's and we didn't have the internet to fall back on. I still managed to figure out that a Tort table was the best way to keep them inside and my dad had a good sized garden to keep them all in in the summer. I did make bad choices for substrate and food, but everyone seemed happy.
A few years after high school I was offered a job in Boulder Co and decided it was the end of the summer and returned all but 3 of my favorite boxies back to the prairie. I kept a very large 3 toed box, a smallish male ornate and of course Pycho. Even though I lived in an apartment we did pretty good for about 2 years. Then I tragically lost Pycho. It was my fault and I still don't really like to talk about it all these years later. I decided that it was time to let the other boxies free. I drove back home to Kansas to set them free.
That was twenty years ago. I've decided it was time to get another companion shellhead. I decided on a Redfoot to start with. I built a new table that looks very similar to the Trash Mahal that I think everyone has seen. And this morning my Redfoot arrived. No name yet.
That's my story. This forum has been unbelievably useful. I've got several questions but I will post them in the appropriate areas over the next day or so. I think that's enough words for now.
RD->
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. The was a great story.
