TurtzInMyYard
Well-Known Member
I'm seeing less and less of my turtz in the yard. Over the last week and a half, I noticed a decline in their activity. Earlier this spring, there have been up to four of them in close proximity, foraging for snails and worms, and of course, hoping to find a slice of cantaloupe, watermelon or apple. As summer encroached and things began heating up, they came out in early morning. I was able to watch 'Drip' creeping on her belly, and she was snatching tiny snails from blades of grass, heavy with dew. It was almost a sure bet to see at least three turtles every morning, in various places around the yard. But, with the sun also creeping higher in the sky, the turtles would disappear to their cool burrows. Some ventured toward the magnolia grove in my backyard. The broad and 'shell-like' leaves provide a carpet under the deep shade of the trees. They travel through a twenty foot magnolia forest, leaving my yard, and from there it is deep hardwood forest. I don't know if they burrow under the magnolia leaves or if they have homes deeper into the woods. I lose sight of them before they get through the magnolias. Then as the sun slips lower into the horizon, they slip out from their burrows to forage again. They sleep ALL day. Now and then you might see a 'stray' that's doing something 'weird' that none of the others are doing, but I had no idea turtles could rest so much. They must have been born tired.
Those leaves are perfectly suited to their already amazing camouflage. I'm embarrassed the number of times I've been fooled, running to the fridge to grab an apple wedge to offer it to a......leaf. So disappointing. Leaves, dressed up like turtles. Not cool.
Anyway -- having nine backyard, free range turtles roaming about has been a bit of an unexpected, and surprisingly pleasant adventure. I'm going to miss seeing them as they go into brumation. I haven't seen Drip, now, in three days. Not even when it comes a good turtle rain. That's really unusual. T-Rex fell off on his visits too. When he did show up, you could tell he was just cruising through, to see if there were any last minute females to be had. He didn't linger more than a few minutes before heading off through the magnolias again. Normally, he would hang around a bit. He showed up yesterday to my surprise, as I had not seen any turtle in two or three days. He didn't seem to be in a big hurry, as before and even hung around to accept an apple wedge from me. He's a strange one. After he takes the apple from my hand, he will eat half of it, go hide under the hostas and he just hangs out.
I'm about to say something here which truly may prove I DO belong with those folks over at the NUTHOUSE. I think T-Rex takes part of that apple for himself, and uses the rest of it as 'bait'....I'm being serious... "Bait for what?", you might ask. I'm glad you did. Cuz', I'mma tell you. All of these turtles have met. But, T-Rex did not show up to this party until mid to late August. He's the new kid on the block. I've never seen him before....until the day...I saw him mating with 'Drop'. Sexes of both confirmed. I have seen him run off, and when I say, run off, I mean literally give chase to one of the turtles in my herd. I believe it is the one with the amputated right front foot. I do not know the sex of that turtle. I now wonder if that one is a male. It was reluctant to stay and with some speed, for a turtle I refuse to call 'Stumpy', urgently fled the scene into the woods. T-Rex followed just as urgently with his head at full extension to rival his legs. He was NOT crawling on his belly -- he was in full strut. It was impossible for me -- not to laugh, even if it was at poor Stumpy's expense.
I have witnessed T-Rex 'bait' on at least two other occasions, with success. These gladiator encounters occur in the foraging coliseum, underneath the black oil seed, squirrel proof bird feeder. There is a carpet of sunflower seeds that exceeds ten feet in its diameter. When it rains, just look out the window, and it is for certain you will see at least 25 new turtles emerging from the magnolia grove, headed to the coliseum to feed on worms that are rising to the surface, and snails feeding on small pieces of left over apple. But, then as you're looking through the binoculars, you realize, none of those turtles are actually moving. Fooled, yet once more.
But, then here they come. One by one, stealthily approaching 'the zone'. Surveying and looking carefully for any creature, so as to avoid it, and avoid being seen, if possible...unless it's a friend. Not all these turtles love each other...and some will even leave if they don't like 'the feel' of it. T-Rex has learned all of this. He knows it is a place of turtle action. I believe he eats what he wants of his apple and uses the rest as bait to see 'who' might show up. If it's that pirate turtle with a missing foot -- yep, he will be outta there for sure.
I guess T-Rex has established himself as THE dominant male. But...as I say...I do not know how many male turtles I have in my herd -- T-Rex may be the only one. I only saw two turtles yesterday. Drop and T-Rex. Although, they showed up at different times and never met up. Still-- T-Rex was hopeful as he waited underneath the hosta, keeping an eye on his apple.
I woke up to a turtle rain this morning, looked outside and saw Drop out there. She was alone and foraging. No sign of anybody else. I fed her an apple wedge and as usual she is excited when she sees it -- reluctant as she is to accept it. She has an unusual shell in that there are a couple of places on her shell with tiny rises on the surface, rather like ostrich skin boots. It's interesting how different her behavior is. When she initially sees me, her first inclination is to run for cover and if none is immediately available to her, she just opts to run...away. She appears to be more avoidant, than other members of the group. She's the ONLY one who accepts the apple from my hand and then CARRIES the apple to a place a bit more private and closer to cover. Once, I cut the apple wedge to weigh twice as much as the norm. I couldn't help but laugh in amusement. As she bit into it, I let go of it and the apple and her head experienced an immediate thud as the apple hit the ground. She didn't miss a beat. She picked that apple up, took a step and promptly tripped over it. She tried again. She actually was able to make about three steps with the apple still in her mouth. Unfortunately for her, after those three steps, she could only push the apple along instead of carry it. She was satisfied with that, except only a moment later, she pushed it into a rock and could go no further out of sight with it. She decided she wanted to eat it and so did not leave it for any other turtle who was bound to come along.
For most of them, I do not hang around after they have accepted the apple wedge. I leave them in peace to feel secure and enjoy their treasure. There is only one who really seems to have no fear of me and sometimes I do hang around and talk to her. She seems to be content to eat her goodies even though I am just inches from her. But, true to their natures, without fail, she takes pause and 'checks' me to see if I have moved or if there be another threat lurking. I have found squatting to be of particular advantage in calming what ever uneasiness they have. Even Drop will stop heading for an exit when I make myself smaller.
Their visits are becoming more infrequent and there are at least three that I have not seen in more than two weeks. I read someplace they will re-emerge again when temperatures consistently stay about 55-60 degrees F, or about there. Anyone else have backyard free-rangers in the deep south? If so, about when do yours begin to prepare for Brumation? I don't expect I've seen the last of them quite yet. We will have warm temps again, even though we have experienced a 'slight' cooling off. Is it correct that brumation is somewhere around Oct-Nov? Cheers!
Those leaves are perfectly suited to their already amazing camouflage. I'm embarrassed the number of times I've been fooled, running to the fridge to grab an apple wedge to offer it to a......leaf. So disappointing. Leaves, dressed up like turtles. Not cool.
Anyway -- having nine backyard, free range turtles roaming about has been a bit of an unexpected, and surprisingly pleasant adventure. I'm going to miss seeing them as they go into brumation. I haven't seen Drip, now, in three days. Not even when it comes a good turtle rain. That's really unusual. T-Rex fell off on his visits too. When he did show up, you could tell he was just cruising through, to see if there were any last minute females to be had. He didn't linger more than a few minutes before heading off through the magnolias again. Normally, he would hang around a bit. He showed up yesterday to my surprise, as I had not seen any turtle in two or three days. He didn't seem to be in a big hurry, as before and even hung around to accept an apple wedge from me. He's a strange one. After he takes the apple from my hand, he will eat half of it, go hide under the hostas and he just hangs out.
I'm about to say something here which truly may prove I DO belong with those folks over at the NUTHOUSE. I think T-Rex takes part of that apple for himself, and uses the rest of it as 'bait'....I'm being serious... "Bait for what?", you might ask. I'm glad you did. Cuz', I'mma tell you. All of these turtles have met. But, T-Rex did not show up to this party until mid to late August. He's the new kid on the block. I've never seen him before....until the day...I saw him mating with 'Drop'. Sexes of both confirmed. I have seen him run off, and when I say, run off, I mean literally give chase to one of the turtles in my herd. I believe it is the one with the amputated right front foot. I do not know the sex of that turtle. I now wonder if that one is a male. It was reluctant to stay and with some speed, for a turtle I refuse to call 'Stumpy', urgently fled the scene into the woods. T-Rex followed just as urgently with his head at full extension to rival his legs. He was NOT crawling on his belly -- he was in full strut. It was impossible for me -- not to laugh, even if it was at poor Stumpy's expense.
I have witnessed T-Rex 'bait' on at least two other occasions, with success. These gladiator encounters occur in the foraging coliseum, underneath the black oil seed, squirrel proof bird feeder. There is a carpet of sunflower seeds that exceeds ten feet in its diameter. When it rains, just look out the window, and it is for certain you will see at least 25 new turtles emerging from the magnolia grove, headed to the coliseum to feed on worms that are rising to the surface, and snails feeding on small pieces of left over apple. But, then as you're looking through the binoculars, you realize, none of those turtles are actually moving. Fooled, yet once more.
But, then here they come. One by one, stealthily approaching 'the zone'. Surveying and looking carefully for any creature, so as to avoid it, and avoid being seen, if possible...unless it's a friend. Not all these turtles love each other...and some will even leave if they don't like 'the feel' of it. T-Rex has learned all of this. He knows it is a place of turtle action. I believe he eats what he wants of his apple and uses the rest as bait to see 'who' might show up. If it's that pirate turtle with a missing foot -- yep, he will be outta there for sure.
I guess T-Rex has established himself as THE dominant male. But...as I say...I do not know how many male turtles I have in my herd -- T-Rex may be the only one. I only saw two turtles yesterday. Drop and T-Rex. Although, they showed up at different times and never met up. Still-- T-Rex was hopeful as he waited underneath the hosta, keeping an eye on his apple.
I woke up to a turtle rain this morning, looked outside and saw Drop out there. She was alone and foraging. No sign of anybody else. I fed her an apple wedge and as usual she is excited when she sees it -- reluctant as she is to accept it. She has an unusual shell in that there are a couple of places on her shell with tiny rises on the surface, rather like ostrich skin boots. It's interesting how different her behavior is. When she initially sees me, her first inclination is to run for cover and if none is immediately available to her, she just opts to run...away. She appears to be more avoidant, than other members of the group. She's the ONLY one who accepts the apple from my hand and then CARRIES the apple to a place a bit more private and closer to cover. Once, I cut the apple wedge to weigh twice as much as the norm. I couldn't help but laugh in amusement. As she bit into it, I let go of it and the apple and her head experienced an immediate thud as the apple hit the ground. She didn't miss a beat. She picked that apple up, took a step and promptly tripped over it. She tried again. She actually was able to make about three steps with the apple still in her mouth. Unfortunately for her, after those three steps, she could only push the apple along instead of carry it. She was satisfied with that, except only a moment later, she pushed it into a rock and could go no further out of sight with it. She decided she wanted to eat it and so did not leave it for any other turtle who was bound to come along.
For most of them, I do not hang around after they have accepted the apple wedge. I leave them in peace to feel secure and enjoy their treasure. There is only one who really seems to have no fear of me and sometimes I do hang around and talk to her. She seems to be content to eat her goodies even though I am just inches from her. But, true to their natures, without fail, she takes pause and 'checks' me to see if I have moved or if there be another threat lurking. I have found squatting to be of particular advantage in calming what ever uneasiness they have. Even Drop will stop heading for an exit when I make myself smaller.
Their visits are becoming more infrequent and there are at least three that I have not seen in more than two weeks. I read someplace they will re-emerge again when temperatures consistently stay about 55-60 degrees F, or about there. Anyone else have backyard free-rangers in the deep south? If so, about when do yours begin to prepare for Brumation? I don't expect I've seen the last of them quite yet. We will have warm temps again, even though we have experienced a 'slight' cooling off. Is it correct that brumation is somewhere around Oct-Nov? Cheers!