The boringest place in the world

And look, Herman has to live there. :-(

It's only for a couple of weeks, and he gets to be in the tank for a few hours every day. But it's sooo boring. I'm pretty sure he's slept all day today, till I came home. What can I do, I have to put him through it, it's for his health. :-(

To bring or not to bring ...

... a turtle on one's Christmas vacation. That is indeed the question. I'm going to my parents' tomorrow for five days, and I am so torn about whether or not to bring Raphael. I brought him last year ... but that was for his health, because he was so strongly affected by the severe cold we had last winter - what was it, the coldest November for 104 years? - and I was seriously concerned that if I left him at home he would hide himself away somewhere as soon as I walked out the door and sleep for 120 hours ... underneath the carpet, or wherever he'd end up. (That's not a joke about the carpet.)

It's not good for him to be on dry land for that long, so I wasn't too thrilled about that idea ... and ended up taking him with me on vacation, which he wasn't too thrilled about. It was very confusing for him to be in a totally new place like that, even though he had his pond and basking spot and everything. (My mother also wasn't too happy with him being there, she has ophidiophobia and is repulsed by his supposedly snakelike head. :-D But his presence did not adversely affect her health.)

This year it hasn't been anywhere near that cold ... November was extremely mild, in fact, and it's only over the past few days that December's gotten really cold. So I don't have the same worry as last year. But I'm still thinking about taking him with me. He'd probably be fine at home alone, but I know that he's only really interested in one of the two. He'd much rather stay home than go anywhere else, obviously - turtles like familiar places - but he definitely doesn't want to be alone. He wants to be with me ... ideally in physical contact with me, and ideally all the time. I may have mentioned this before; he is rather oversocialized now and overly interested in human contact. Well, at least contact with me. Reptiles supposedly dislike that, but Raphael seems to have missed the memo on that one.

The past couple of weeks I haven't had much time to spend with him, for obvious reasons ... Christmas preparations and all that that entails ... and I can tell that he's not too happy with that. He wants my attention --> is not getting my attention --> is not happy turtle. Five days' vacation would make it possible to spend a lot of time with him, but then of course he would have to be there with me. So I'd have to bring him, even though he won't be happy about going there. But he would be happy about spending lots of time with his precious twolegs. So what to do? To bring or not to bring?

If only turtles could talk ... :-)

Turtle attack

The camera strap will be defeated ... !!

Turtle from above

I took this picture of Raphael on Saturday. I really like it, because it shows his 'turtleneck' so well ... the fold of skin around a turtle's neck that appears and disappears when they retract and extend their heads. It's as soft as velvet ... which you can actually kind of tell from this photo. :-) It also shows the long claws on his front feet, which look like enormous monster claws in this picture. I like that. :-D

You can also tell very easily from this picture why these animals have some issues with depth perception.

Aw, his little face. :-) Look at his precious little squishy nose. :-)

Turtles in a puddle

The other day the weather was nice enough that I took the turtles out after work ... or at least it seemed to be nice enough, but it turned out that the lawn was incredibly wet, just about soaked through. It's been raining a lot lately. :-) There was so much water that I couldn't sit down even though I had brought something to sit on. (Sitteunderlag - what on earth is that in English??) I walked around ... but took my sandals off because I was walking in water anyway, so I might as well be barefoot. :-)

The guys aren't really used to being out in the wet ... getting natural sunlight is one of the reasons for taking them outside, so they only go out in nice weather. They're used to the outdoors being dry. :-) So this was a little odd for them. The little guys eventually found a puddle, and hey, this was fun! Strange-smelling water, but fun. It was fun for me too to watch them. As soon as they were in water Herman started trying to eat things. :-D

All the things

If you spend too much time at ICHC and Memebase and so on, you can easily get a little confused ... you tend to start thinking that everybody knows what goes on there, everybody recognizes the memes and so on. This is not the case. Yesterday it turned out that Anne Ida and Tanumine absolutely don't recognize ALL THE THINGS. Alas. My bad, really ... I've been planning to blog about Hyperbole And A Half since forever, just never got around to it. I will soon, I promise. ;-)

In the meantime, I've made my own LOL based on that very meme, using a picture which is absolutely perfect. Those of you who know Raphael will see what I mean instantly. ;-)

I swear on Isaac Newton's grave that he got up there on his own.

Sleeping turtle FTW!!

I love my turtles. I can hardly say this enough: They are SO CUTE. They do SO many adorable things. Their little faces!! Or lack thereof. Check this out. Right now, Herman is sleeping ... well, both of the little guys are sleeping, the light in their tank goes off at a quarter to eleven and they usually go to sleep pretty soon after that. Henrik is on the turtle dock, ie in a very dark corner, so he's all set. Herman on the other hand is lying on their bark island tonight - this isn't attached to anything and so floats around the tank. It's often next to the turtle dock, but right now it's sort of in the middle and more towards the 'outside corner', ie, in the lightest part of the tank. Which is still pretty dark, but, you know. I'm sitting in my chair with my reading light on. The tank is to my immediate right, I can reach out and touch it. Herman is sort of at my right shoulder, just a couple of feet up. And he's lying so that he's facing the room, not the back of the tank, which might have been smarter. The way he's positioned himself right now, the light from my lamp gets right in his eyes.

Well, that's what you think!! Ha! NO light is going to get into these eyes tonight!! :-D

The picture's blurry, sorry, it was hard to avoid. This was taken inside the tank just now. Is he the cutest thing ever or what. :-) Look at his tiny little nose there sticking out. This is hardcore R&R. :-D

A learning experience

Even turtles can have them.

Kinda crappy weather during the day today, but it cleared up towards the afternoon, so that by the time I got home it was actually really nice. I decided to take the guys out ... first time they've been out since Raphael's big scare on Saturday. Of course I was determined to keep an extremely close eye on them all. :-) But I was most of all really interested to see how Raphael would react. Does he remember anything of what happened or has he forgotten it already?

These are relatively primitive animals, with pretty simple brains, so I wouldn't have been surprised if it hadn't made any noticeable impact on him. But he definitely remembers. This little road that is almost just a footpath runs alongside the lawn on two sides. Normally Raphael mostly walks towards one of these two stretches of ... road, or whatever. The one by our building he wants to get across to burrow underneath these bushes that I mentioned. The other one he also wants to cross, mostly to get to a tall hedge that is on the far side of another bit of lawn there. Also to burrow underneath it. He likes to burrow underneath things. :-)

Normally I can't keep him away from these places ... he keeps going there and I'm always having to go bring him back from there. And when I let him go again he immediately heads back again. :-D Usually when I let them out of the cage I have to bring him back from one of these two directions in just a few minutes' time. But not today. It was really weird - I've never seen him act like that before. He stayed away from the footpaths almost completely. Instead of going there, he mostly went up to the tennis court (not as impressive as it sounds) and underneath the big wheeled trash cans that the janitors keep there for garden waste. He normally has little to no interest in going there at all. But today, he hardly wanted to go anywhere else. He did walk around on the lawn as well, but only on the parts of it that are 'away' from the footpath. It took him one hour to finally pick one of his normal routes towards the bushes by our building. I've never seen him act like that before. He specifically steered away from these places where he normally always goes ... but where this really scary thing also happened.

I actually hadn't really expected him to remember. But he does surprise me sometimes.

One inch from death

No, not me, but Raphael. He almost got run over by a car yesterday. I was so scared ... ! and I was so upset too, because I always keep such a close eye on them, and then when I didn't for just a few moments he was almost killed. I would never have forgiven myself. :-(

The weather was fantastic yesterday (unlike today, so I am glad that we went out, all things considered) so I took the guys out to hang on the lawn for a while. I was going out, so we couldn't stay however long we felt like it, I had to watch the clock. When it got to be so late that we really needed to get back in, I did what I usually do, put all my stuff back in the bag and gather up the little fellows and get them into the travel cage. I usually pick up Raphael last, partly because he's usually the furthest away from me (longer legs cover more distance :-) and partly because he hates being in the cage so much that I try to avoid making him stay in it any more than he absolutely has to. So, the usual routine.

I put all my things in the bag and looked around for Raphael. He was on the lawn, walking towards some bushes that are up against the side of our building - he really loves these bushes for some reason and is very often trying to go over to them and burrow in underneath them. To get to them he has to cross a narrow ... it's not even a road, it's really just for pedestrians and cyclists, but every so often there will be a car there, when someone needs to drive all the way up to somebody's front door for whatever reason. When I looked for him I didn't see a car, but there was one, coming along the front of our building. This tiny road is so narrow that there's only just room for one car. But I didn't see anything, and he wasn't that close to the road anyway. But he is soo fast ... !

I turned away to get the little guys, got Henrik first and then Herman and put them in the cage. Picked it all up and started to walk towards Raphael. That's when I noticed the car, it had just turned the corner ... and that's also when I realized, in the same split second, just how far Raphael had gotten - almost out into the road. And he just kept moving. I was so scared ... !! He was too far away for me to reach him before the car would have already passed him. I just ran over there, and every second I expected to hear some awful crunching sound from his shell being run over and smashed. It was such a horrible feeling ... !!!

But he was fine - the car missed him, but it really can't have been by more than a couple of centimeters. I could hardly believe what a lucky escape he had. Of course he was really scared too ... but I think just as much by me as by the car. :-) He was frightened by the car - this was the closest he's ever been to a moving car except the few times he's been inside one - but then I scared him just as much by running over to him and snatching him up and turning him any which way to see if he was alright, touching his head all over, examining his feet and pulling his front legs out to see if he'd been hurt anywhere. But no, nothing. Not a scratch.

It didn't take long to calm him down either, so he really got away entirely scot free. But I was really shaken. Just a few centimeters and ... oh, I don't even want to think about it. I would seriously never ever have forgiven myself. My little grouch. :-) Next time maybe he will have to go in the cage first after all. :-)

Henrik in the grass

Some recent pictures of my precious little Henrik out and about.

Reptiles in Barcelona Zoo

Remember I went to Barcelona a couple of months ago? And I visited Barcelona Zoo. They have a pretty large reptile house that is supposed to be good - of course I had to see that. :-) And it was definitely well worth the visit. Of course I made a video. ;-)

This first one is from the reptile house ... like I said it was good, a lot of interesting species, very nice enclosures, the animals seemed to be very well taken care of. I posted some pictures from there already - you may remember the turtle trying to mate with a very uninterested female. He's in the video too, in living color. Enjoy. :-)


Widescreen here.

In addition to the reptile house, the Zoo also has a smallish group of Galapagos turtles. There were five or six of them. They have their own enclosure with a relatively roomy indoor area and a nice outdoor area as well. Some of them were outside when I arrived, so I really got to take a good look at them. Which of course I was thrilled about. Amazing animals. Watch the one that wades out into the water. Kind of slow, but very determined ... ;-)


Widescreen here.

Five years of turtle fun

Well, actually a little longer than that, since I got my very first turtle - who is now, sadly, no longer among us - in the summer of 2005. But as far as the current residents are concerned, this is a noteworthy day.

Today it's been five years since I got Raphael. I met him for the first time, and brought him home, on April 20th, 2006. That's pretty crazy. I can hardly believe it's five years ago. Almost half his life. :-) Here he is on their first outing this year, two days ago.

I've had the little guys for about the same length of time. I totally forgot that it was Herman's fifth anniversary with me this spring too. Shame on me. :-) I got him five years ago on March 4th. I remember that so vividly. My little fellow. :-)

Henrik's been here five years on ... I want to say July 12th. Thereabouts. That little clawbreaker ... ! :-D

The first time I met Raphael he wanted nothing to do with me. I tried holding him, but he wriggled free every time and hurried over to his then owner and climbed up on her lap instead. When he came here to live with me it took him a really long time to get used to his new surroundings, and to feel comfortable with me. It's gone up and down since then ... a few times when I've been away on longer trips, he's kind of forgotten about me and we've had to start over, so to speak. This winter I've been really working on socializing him, and I think I've succeeded a little too well. I may have damaged him a little mentally and emotionally. :-) He's rather obsessed with me now, he follows me around if he gets the chance and wants nothing more than to climb on me and get as close as he possibly can. Ideally as close as this, all the time. Click to enlarge.

It's not entirely normal ... like for instance, showing him things has gotten to be really impossible now. If I'm holding him I can't get him interested in anything, almost. It only works if it's something edible that he likes. Other than that, usually no. He used to show much more interest in objects that I showed him, he would sniff at them, maybe touch them, sometimes even try to bite at them. But not anymore. Now he just wants to look at me. :-D Seriously - he'll squirm around any which way to try to look at my face instead of whatever else I'm trying to get him interested in. It's weird. I've always noticed how these animals are so aware of it whenever they're getting human attention. Which makes sense, since captive turtles get their food from humans; they benefit from being aware of some basics of our behavior. But Raphael's really taking it to extremes. I've always said that he's a little weirdo, but now he's living up to that, big time. I literally can't go into the guest room - his room :-) - without him practically throwing himself out of the pond* and running after me. Twolegs twolegs twolegs!! Look at me twolegs!! I'm here twolegs!! Looklooklookatme!!

I'm really glad turtles don't have vocal chords.

*That is, if he's even in the pond, and not waiting just inside the door as he has gotten into the habit of doing pretty much every single day when I get home. o_O

Adorable postcard

... that I received yesterday when I got home from work, and that actually managed to put a smile on my face for a little while, despite everything.

Sent by Verena in Switzerland.

And belated happy birthday to my dear friend Calyx. :-) It was actually yesterday, but I forgot it ... for which I am very sorry, but she's forgiven me. It's kind of a tradition with us, actually. Calyx: Hugs to you and N. and baby!!! :-)

More turtle fury

I posted some pictures of an angry Raphael a few weeks ago ... and then some more the day before yesterday. As you may recall. :-) He is just so cute when he's angry. Now here he is again - this time in moving pictures! :-D I mentioned that he gets angry with inanimate objects sometimes, like the camera ... which he is seen here attacking. Aww, what a cutie. ;-)



Widescreen here.

Moods of the red eared slider: Annoyance

I really wish you wouldn't stick that thing in my face right now ...

You're starting to piss me off ...

I said stop it ... !!

GET LOST!!!

A turtle book

But at the same time so much more.

I just finished this book today. It's pretty short, only about 195 pages plus notes and bibliography, but still so informative. An easy read, it's a popular science book, but it's wonderful, I love it. The story of Lonesome George is just amazing. Read it and weep.

Turtle fury!!

Check out my angry turtle!! :-D It's been a dream of mine for a while - I may have mentioned this - to take a picture of a yawning turtle. I caught Herman yawning this summer, on video ... that's one down, two to go. Today I kind of managed it with Raphael. Check it out - the second picture especially. What a set of jaws! He could almost fit his own head in there. :-D I really like the second shot, it really shows how their jaws aren't hinged like ours, but just attached with skin and muscle, like snakes' jaws. This lets them swallow large pieces of food, a necessity since they don't have teeth, only beaks. Also I really like it because he is so cute when he's mad. ;-)

OK, so he's not yawning, he's just gaping ... but it's almost the same thing. :-) Mouth open. :-) How can I tell he's not yawning? Because when he yawns, he fully extends his head. And he was gaping a lot just then too, he was really angry. Angryturt!! :-D

Click to enlarge the second one if you want to get a really good look. :-)

The gaping is a threatening behavior that they exhibit when they're angry and/or frightened. Why he was angry? Because he's such a little weirdo ... or at least that's partly why. Partly I guess he thought I was getting too fiddly with him. Touching his turtleneck too much. (But it's just so soft and cute ... !) And not letting him climb around exactly where he wanted and breathe in my eye. I don't know whether you've ever had a reptile breathe in your eye, but it's actually pretty uncomfortable. Their breath is cold, so it feels really weird and really not pleasant. But it wasn't all my fault, he is a weirdo too. :-) He got mad at the camera - the strap was dangling in front of him and this was apparently an extreme provocation on the camera's part. He gets those moods sometimes where he suddenly gets furious with an inanimate object that he has previously never shown any interest in whatsoever. He is a weirdo. :-)

Turtle cuteness

Freshwater turtles do a lot of cute things, but the perhaps cutest thing of all is when they yawn. They are beyond adorable when they yawn. :-) It's a dream of mine to get a picture of one of my little guys yawning - maybe one day I will achieve this, but it's far from easy. They never do it when I have the camera ready. At least, almost never. Hah! It's not quite what I wanted - it's not a still image - but at least it's a yawn, on camera. Look how cute he is. Aw.



Fullscreen here.

I want one ... !!

Emys orbicularis, the European pond turtle. Cuteness!! I want one ... !



From this year's trip to the Nordic Ark, obviously. :-) Widescreen here.

What's in a name

A quote from this article: Blant de rike skulle det forundre meg mye om ikke navn som Preben og Henrik fortsatt holder stand. Henrik er det mest stabile overklassenavnet, sier Tangen.

The article is about names, naming trends and how names are markers of social background. This Tangen fellow is a teacher at the Oslo School of Management, he teaches human geography. What he said in English, my translation: Among the wealthy, I would be very surprised if names like Preben and Henrik don't continue on strong. Henrik is the most stable upper class name.

Aww ... !! Upper class. I don't know much about upper class people, but apparently upper class turtles like to bite people's fingers. :-)