It’s actually winter here but I came across some pictures taken last summer when the turtles spent most of their time outside in a kiddy pool.
28 Nov
For a while now Charlotte has been trying to convince me to buy her a new dock – apparently the old dock does not match her feng-shui aquarium. How does she persuade me? By starting to eat it. She had a Zoo Med Floating Turtle Dock which seemed sturdy enough to me, but apparently it’s made of some sort of coated polystyrene that wasn’t strong enough to withstand a turtle’s rage. By the time I took it out of her tank, the dock bore only a slight resemblance to the one I originally bough from the store. The ramp was completely gone and she couldn’t climb on the dock anymore because of it.
I ignored her weird behaviour for a about a week but it got on my nerves because the aquarium soon became filled with tiny floating pieces of dock. I had to scoop them out every few days and,on top of that, my filter got clogged and stopped working. Fortunately it didn’t break, and after cleaning it everything was fine. I decided I had enough and went on the Internet looking for other types of turtle docks, preferable plastic ones that couldn’t be eaten. I found that there only a few turtle docks/platforms commercially available, and only one big and sturdy enough that I could use. It’s the Kordon Turtle Ramp that is made of hard plastic and comes in different sizes. I was ready to buy it when I realized I would be paying almost $40 for a piece of plastic. I decided to take on the challenge of building Charlotte a dock myself which would give me the satisfaction of having built it and also save me a few dollars. I ended up spending $0 because all the materials I used for the project I already had in the house. I used a rectangular lid from a storage container, some thick wire, and a piece of a non-slippery rubber mat. I modified the lid a little to make a slopped side that would act like a ramp, I stapled the rubber mat to the platform and the ramp, attached the wire to the sides and the back of the platform, and hung the platform from the sides of the tank using the wires.This whole project took me about 2 minutes.
I introduced the new platform in Charlotte’s tank 3 days ago and so far she hasn’t basked on it. I’ve seen her get up and walk around on it and soon return in the water. I will give her a few more days before increasing the basking temperature a little to encourage her to come out. During these three days she’s been bitting it almost constantly but so far the dock is still intact.
Update Dec 1: She’s finally using the new dock to bask. After about a week of bitting it, bumping into it, and basically doing her best to destroy it, she concluded that the dock was sturdy enough and gave it a try.
I could only snap one quick picture before she jumped in the water.
And here’s a picture of just the new dock. You can see the large container lid with the rubber mat attached to it, and the wires that hang it from the sides of the tank.
3 Sep
Charlie and Charlotte have recently celebrated their birthdays, he’s 1 year old and she’s 2 years old. To this extent, I’ve decided to go all out and buy them some “presents”. And what would be a better present for a turtle, than FOOD? I purchased one pound of live worms, red wriggler worms to be exact. I shouldn’t even have to mention that they loved them. Charlie is a bit clumsy and often drops them at the bottom of the tank and then can’t find them among the rocks and plants, but Charlotte is the funny one because she eats them like spaghetti. I feed them about 2-3 worms every other day, and on the day when they don’t get worms I feed them very few turtle pellets and a leaf of lettuce (for Charlie, because Charlotte still refuses to eat veggies). At this rate, the worms are probably going to last for…ever.
I also use the worms for composting, and now all the vegetable bits that used to be thrown in the garbage go in the worm bin. You wouldn’t believe how much a pound of worms eats. So it’s a win-win situation for me and the turtles. Not so much for the worms that get eaten. 🙂
24 Apr
In the last few weeks, Charlie’s tail has grown quite a lot, confirming my original suspicion (or rather feeling) that he is a boy. He looks a little bit funny now that the tail is as big as his paws and has become the first thing you see when you look at him. No significant growth is evident in his front nails yet but I’m expecting them to start growing soon. I’m guessing that the big tail is the first sign of manhood.
Charlotte was a bad turtle a few days ago. While on a walk around my room, she went underneath my office chair and started scratching her shell against the chair. It is a usual recurrence except that this time the scratching went on for about 15 minutes. I finally stopped her and saw that there were a lot of broken scutes under my chair and that her carapace was bleeding in two small places. Since she’s in the process of shedding, she scratches her shell quite a lot, even in her tank, but she’s never done it this roughly before. I immediately put her in a potassium permanganate solution to disinfect the wound and dry-docked her for a few hours under a heat lamp. I didn’t want to risk an infection by putting her directly back in her tank. The good news is that she’s fine now and both wounds are healed. Hopefully this will be a lesson for her.
11 Mar
I’ve finally decided on a name for the new turtle. After about a week of calling her a different name everyday I eventually settled on Charlotte. I really like the name and I think it suits her, but also it is the female version of Charlie’s name so it seems like it’s a nice coincidence.
So, now, a little update on Charlotte. A week after I got her, she finally started basking (she was a little nervous at first) and managed to shed 3 scutes that were retained for a long time. She still has a lot more to shed until she even gets close to having a smooth shell. I tried feeding her vegetables, fruits, especially blueberries because they help with shedding but she doesn`t take to them at all. It`s probably because she wasn`t used to eating something other than pellets and fish so it`s going to take a while before she puts a vegetable or a fruit in her mouth. For sure it is the high in protein diet that she`s had all her life that let to the retention of scutes and a beginning of shell pyramiding.
I feed her every other day about a head-size amount of pellets and offer fruits and/or veggies on the days when she doesn’t get pellets.
I take her on a walk around the house about 3 days a week and, unlike with Charlie, it`s not a stressful time for me since she doesn`t normally try to get into places where she might get stuck and will not be able to get out. I don`t know if it`s the age difference between them, but Charlotte seems to have a totally different personality compared to Charlie. He acts more like a kid (which I guess he is), always tries to get into trouble, goes absolutely crazy when you get close to the tank and thinks you`re going to feed him, and he`s overall a jumpy and energetic turtle but also funny to watch. Charlotte, on the other hand, is more relaxed, mellow, doesn`t mind that much when I pick her up, she has a different attitude when she`s allowed to walk around the house, and I can approach her when she`s on the basking dock without her dashing into the water. I`m glad of this difference in personalities; i guess it makes my life a little more interesting.