Turtle walkies

The weather was fantastic here last week, so Anne Ida and I thought we'd make the most of it and try to combine two semi-irreconcilable concepts - a picnic and turtle walkies. It went pretty well, just with more walking than you'd expect at a picnic. It was fascinating to observe the different behavior the four little guys exhibited ... this was Anton's first time meeting other turtles since he was separated from his siblings when he was a little dime-sized critter. We thought it might be fun for him, but it seemed to be awful. Raphael, unsurprisingly, was awfullest.

Since it was a picnic, of course we had food, and as a natural result of this, Herman didn't wander very far. He generally sticks pretty close to me when we're out anyway, but this time he can't have walked more than a fourth of the distance Henrik did. As for Anton, sheesh, he managed a turtle marathon. :-) Herman was quite enamored of this tomato, since it was the same color as the feeding tub, but alas, it resisted his attempts to devour it. I wish I'd gotten a shot of him actually biting at it, but no such luck.

Henrik turns away from the camera a lot, which is usually annoying ... but at least here it shows off some of the layers of pollen he collected in his turtleneck ;-) and on his face as he was walking around.

Anton seems to hate having his picture taken ... he's forever squirming away from the camera. I took a number of crappy shots of him, but look at this one, it's adorable! Although you will notice that he was being physically restrained.

Spot the turtle. Raphael likes to burrow underneath things and, ideally, tip them over.

Anton the adorable

So, does everyone remember Anne Ida's little turtle Anton that I, ahem, procured for her a couple months back? I posted some pictures back then, to show you what a cutie he is. :-) Now here's Anton again, doing lots of totally adorable turtle things like begging for food and eating scallops and sniffing at laundry. :-) Enjoy. :-)

Anne Ida posted a fun shot of him on her blog recently - peeping out of the window! :-D - and here's another one.

Speaking of them pulling their heads into their bodies and so on ... :-)

Anton in living color

Remember Anne Ida's little turtle Anton who came to live with her two weeks ago? He's doing fine - somewhat skeptical of his new owner still, but settling in well. And of course totally adorable. :-) Like most freshwater turtles he is strong and agile and quick on his feet, and an excellent climber. Apart from the entirely aquatic ones - the softshells - these animals are both good at and fond of climbing. It's their instinct to seek out the highest spot, to get the best view of their surroundings ... and they're curious too, and want to see what's going on. :-)

Here's Anton climbing up the back of Anne Ida's living room couch. Bet you didn't think a turtle could do that. ;-)

Welcome home, Anton!!

Quote of the Week:
A house is not a home without a pet.
Anonymous

Well, I'm back home after the trip to Hurum, which went perfectly, exactly as planned, without a hitch. :-) The little guy wasn't too happy to see us at first, but he turned out to be quite confident and sociable, and very quickly asserted his presence. :-) He was also strong and healthy; a bit overweight, IMO - not fat, but chubby - but that can be sorted out. So there was no reason for him not to come with us ... and into the travel cage he went. With the heating pad, which I'm afraid was malfunctioning to some extent, and an insulating blanket.

He burrowed into the towel that I keep on the bottom of the travel cage. Much more than this, too. When we got home we had trouble digging him out of the folds of the towel, he was hard to find. :-D

We just had to let him out of the cage a little as soon as we got on the bus. Isn't he just too cute?? :-) I know he has quite a lot of algae on his carapace, but that's going to be scrubbed away very soon. :-)

Crispin, if you read this, beware - your toothbrush is in grave danger ... !!!

Are you lookin' at me?!

And here he is - little Anton - with his new twolegs, Anne Ida. Aw, precious. :-) Good luck to the two of you, I'm sure it'll go great. And you know where to find me if you have any questions about anything at all. :-) Thanks for the road trip and for dinner!!

More pictures here.