Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Newly Hatched Box Turtle...
Oh the joys of Spring! Every day is punctuated with new discoveries! A few days ago, Rayna rescued a baby bird that didn't quite yet have the hang of flying from her three very interested dogs. Today, I noticed a box turtle hatchling in the yard. The tiny baby box turtle's shell is smaller in diameter than a quarter. This is only the third one we have found in six years of living here in the middle of the woods. We see scads of adult turtles...some rainy days we will notice as many a four or five of them trekking across our lawn...but the hatchlings are so tiny and the underbrush so thick that it is rare to spot one of them, even though I am sure we have dozens of them hatching out in our yard every Spring.
In our back yard we have a 'turtle garden'. It is a circular enclosure we built out of flat, upright stones from our land. There is a windchime above the turtle garden and we have a 'pond' inside the garden as well as an assortment of plants...plenty of hiding places for our tiny guests. When we find a hatchling, we put them in the turtle garden and supply them with mealy worms and other treats until they are big enough to climb out of the garden. Then away they go...out on their own once more. In the meantime, the turtle is a living 'Where's Waldo'...REALLY challenging to spot as she noses about in her little garden. We have had two guests in the garden in the past six years...and this Spring we have another! This one is a little girl. You can tell the gender of a box turtle by the color of its eyes. The males have red eyes. The females have golden brown eyes. (The males are generally a lot more irritable, too!)
There were no hatchlings in our garden the past two summers...so the garden has been really neglected...but the kids and I are working on getting it back into suitable shape for our newest little guest. (Meanwhile she is hanging out inside our house in the 'surfer frog'habitat that the Darcy had for tadpoles she raised years ago.) She likes the little hut on the beach to hole up in, but it isn't a very good place for her long-term because it is small and there is nothing she can burrow down into and no REAL plants to taste...just a beach with a giant plastic wave and some water in the tub beneath the wave...a very plastic environment. But, I think we will have the garden ready for her tomorrow...so she won't have to spend a second day on the plastic sea shore.
Among other updates, little Rivendell got spayed yesterday so she is temporarily spending most of her time hanging out inside our house recouperating. The kids think this is great and Rivie seems to like it, too! Poor pup...she is still awfully wiped out from her surgery--but that makes for a calm, quiet house-puppy!
(To see the turtle more clearly, double click on this photo and it will enlarge!)
¶ 5/17/2006 03:35:00 PM
Oh the joys of Spring! Every day is punctuated with new discoveries! A few days ago, Rayna rescued a baby bird that didn't quite yet have the hang of flying from her three very interested dogs. Today, I noticed a box turtle hatchling in the yard. The tiny baby box turtle's shell is smaller in diameter than a quarter. This is only the third one we have found in six years of living here in the middle of the woods. We see scads of adult turtles...some rainy days we will notice as many a four or five of them trekking across our lawn...but the hatchlings are so tiny and the underbrush so thick that it is rare to spot one of them, even though I am sure we have dozens of them hatching out in our yard every Spring.
In our back yard we have a 'turtle garden'. It is a circular enclosure we built out of flat, upright stones from our land. There is a windchime above the turtle garden and we have a 'pond' inside the garden as well as an assortment of plants...plenty of hiding places for our tiny guests. When we find a hatchling, we put them in the turtle garden and supply them with mealy worms and other treats until they are big enough to climb out of the garden. Then away they go...out on their own once more. In the meantime, the turtle is a living 'Where's Waldo'...REALLY challenging to spot as she noses about in her little garden. We have had two guests in the garden in the past six years...and this Spring we have another! This one is a little girl. You can tell the gender of a box turtle by the color of its eyes. The males have red eyes. The females have golden brown eyes. (The males are generally a lot more irritable, too!)
There were no hatchlings in our garden the past two summers...so the garden has been really neglected...but the kids and I are working on getting it back into suitable shape for our newest little guest. (Meanwhile she is hanging out inside our house in the 'surfer frog'habitat that the Darcy had for tadpoles she raised years ago.) She likes the little hut on the beach to hole up in, but it isn't a very good place for her long-term because it is small and there is nothing she can burrow down into and no REAL plants to taste...just a beach with a giant plastic wave and some water in the tub beneath the wave...a very plastic environment. But, I think we will have the garden ready for her tomorrow...so she won't have to spend a second day on the plastic sea shore.
Among other updates, little Rivendell got spayed yesterday so she is temporarily spending most of her time hanging out inside our house recouperating. The kids think this is great and Rivie seems to like it, too! Poor pup...she is still awfully wiped out from her surgery--but that makes for a calm, quiet house-puppy!
(To see the turtle more clearly, double click on this photo and it will enlarge!)
¶ 5/17/2006 03:35:00 PM
