I was just thinking about my all time favorite childhood pet. Timmy the Turtle. I know now that the poor thing was horribly kept, but he (really likely a she I think now), always seemed happy and healthy. She was very socialized, never bit me, and would stretch out her neck for me to scratch under her chin when I picked her up.
She lived in a tiny aquarium some of the time, no basking light, just a HOT ROCK buried in the gravel substrate at one end. Mostly she ate bananas. On the plus side she got frequent baths, I remember how much she loved to swim. I remember frequently wetting down the gravel, and I doubt the pet store suggested that, hot rocks in water! oh my! I'm not sure where I got the idea to do that, but obviously that made for a nice humid environment. There was also a budgie cage nearby, and they'd frequently knock seed into her gravel, which sprouted nicely giving her some fresh greens, lol. Some happy accidents may have made her existance not quite so awful.
The only UVB she'd have gotten would be the little bit from windows during the summer. We'd frequently let her wander around the house, another big nono. She'd wander a day or two, then be found basking by a window, get a bath and some food back in her tank.
Eventually, she never popped back up after a house roam. We searched the house high and low. She was never found. Our best guess is that one of my younger brothers let her out to play in the grass. I've talked to my parents as an adult about it, so no it wasn't one of those, "oh crap, his turtle died, make it disappear" deals. No trace of her was ever found. Was it not for that I'd like to think I'd still have her to this day, but in reality she was doomed from improper care and would have not likely lasted long enough for her owner to get smart enough to care for her properly.
Here she is, the only picture I have of her. Yes this is a digital pic of an old Kodachrome. Really no way to ID her from it. In looking at pictures of different turtles, Ornata strikes me as the most similiar to my memory, but I recall her having a more yellowish plastron, not the blackish I see in most pics. I also recall her having 1 less toe on one hind leg, like a half 3-Toe.
My parents replaced Timmy with Bettina (who was likely a He, and now I think of an entirely different species) but he didn't last long. Very unhappy, inactive, never made the adaption. (no wonder, I just got lucky with Timmy!) We gave up after that. I never owned another chelonian until we got Rocky. As an adult I had thought to try again, but after properly researching care, felt awful about what my Turtles had endured. Aside from the difficulty of proper care, by that time Box Turtles were unobtanium around here anyways.
She lived in a tiny aquarium some of the time, no basking light, just a HOT ROCK buried in the gravel substrate at one end. Mostly she ate bananas. On the plus side she got frequent baths, I remember how much she loved to swim. I remember frequently wetting down the gravel, and I doubt the pet store suggested that, hot rocks in water! oh my! I'm not sure where I got the idea to do that, but obviously that made for a nice humid environment. There was also a budgie cage nearby, and they'd frequently knock seed into her gravel, which sprouted nicely giving her some fresh greens, lol. Some happy accidents may have made her existance not quite so awful.
The only UVB she'd have gotten would be the little bit from windows during the summer. We'd frequently let her wander around the house, another big nono. She'd wander a day or two, then be found basking by a window, get a bath and some food back in her tank.
Eventually, she never popped back up after a house roam. We searched the house high and low. She was never found. Our best guess is that one of my younger brothers let her out to play in the grass. I've talked to my parents as an adult about it, so no it wasn't one of those, "oh crap, his turtle died, make it disappear" deals. No trace of her was ever found. Was it not for that I'd like to think I'd still have her to this day, but in reality she was doomed from improper care and would have not likely lasted long enough for her owner to get smart enough to care for her properly.
Here she is, the only picture I have of her. Yes this is a digital pic of an old Kodachrome. Really no way to ID her from it. In looking at pictures of different turtles, Ornata strikes me as the most similiar to my memory, but I recall her having a more yellowish plastron, not the blackish I see in most pics. I also recall her having 1 less toe on one hind leg, like a half 3-Toe.
My parents replaced Timmy with Bettina (who was likely a He, and now I think of an entirely different species) but he didn't last long. Very unhappy, inactive, never made the adaption. (no wonder, I just got lucky with Timmy!) We gave up after that. I never owned another chelonian until we got Rocky. As an adult I had thought to try again, but after properly researching care, felt awful about what my Turtles had endured. Aside from the difficulty of proper care, by that time Box Turtles were unobtanium around here anyways.
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