M
Maggie Cummings
Guest
About a week ago I thought I noticed that my RES Scruffie didn't eat but my son was having problems with his heart so that was kinda more important. Then two days later she refused her meal again and was swimming around in a circle with a lot of splashing...uh oh I know what that means but it's not spring. I have had Scruffie for 5 years, my sister rescued her she had been chewed up by a dog and really just wasn't very pretty. She was probably about a year old then. Well she grew to be a good sized turtle 10 inches now. Every spring she starts acting exactly this way and I put her in the box turtle pen and she makes her nests. 2 or 3 a year. But this is early and it's all frozen out there.
So I put a bunch of old substrate in a 175 gallon aquarium and wet it down. I wrap newspaper around the outside for privacy and I go get her. She lives in a dumpster bottom in a shed. I set her down in that tank and she starts digging right away. So for the next hour she's digging and the dirt is just falling back in the hole. So I pour some water in it and she's digging like crazy and it's just not holding. Then I remember I have bags of sand over the back wheels in my IROC for winter traction. So I put Scruffie into the bath tub and haul in a couple of buckets of sand, I mix it all up in that tank and throw Scruffie back in. Now mind you if this was happening this way to any other turtle being disturbed this way they would stop and just give up. But Scruffie trusts me and she starts digging again. She makes me a present of 9 kinda big eggs. I am so proud of her and without getting too mushy I think it's pretty neat that she trusts me enough to work with me while I try to get her set up for this nesting business...So here's Scruffie and her eggs...BTW...she has not been with a male in the 5 years I've had her and I really wish she would stop creating eggs...
So I put a bunch of old substrate in a 175 gallon aquarium and wet it down. I wrap newspaper around the outside for privacy and I go get her. She lives in a dumpster bottom in a shed. I set her down in that tank and she starts digging right away. So for the next hour she's digging and the dirt is just falling back in the hole. So I pour some water in it and she's digging like crazy and it's just not holding. Then I remember I have bags of sand over the back wheels in my IROC for winter traction. So I put Scruffie into the bath tub and haul in a couple of buckets of sand, I mix it all up in that tank and throw Scruffie back in. Now mind you if this was happening this way to any other turtle being disturbed this way they would stop and just give up. But Scruffie trusts me and she starts digging again. She makes me a present of 9 kinda big eggs. I am so proud of her and without getting too mushy I think it's pretty neat that she trusts me enough to work with me while I try to get her set up for this nesting business...So here's Scruffie and her eggs...BTW...she has not been with a male in the 5 years I've had her and I really wish she would stop creating eggs...