Comments

This is so awesome! If you are not careful Terez, Kurt Sassmanshaus is going to steal your turtle for his "Virtuous Moments" practicing method!

I really like reptiles...a lizard lives on the deck here. I named him "Bob". If I get too close, he puffs out his throat into a bright orange ball.

>I really like reptiles...a lizard lives on the deck here. I named him "Bob". If I get too close, he puffs out his throat into a bright orange ball.

Oh, this is so cute! Of course I'm sure the lizard would like to say, "You're not supposed to think I'm CUTE, doing this, dammit!"

Terez - Can I borrow your turtle so I can focus on my scale practices better than I do today? Mendy, LOL! Hey, I thought of you last Friday - the family and I went to Loch Lomond, took at paddle boat out to the island, had lunch, puttered, took a hike. It was really nice - I was surprised at how uncrowded it was. And so very very pretty. My hub had never been there before and I'd only been once. Anyway, thought of you as we drove through Lompico. Just for the record, I leave Bob alone. The first time I saw him (her? Bobbette?), I did approach him carefully, and he did his mighty orange puff-out, so I got the message. Now I just watch him skittle around. Or sunbathe. I don't want to leave anyone with the impression that I needlessly torment wild reptiles. Bob does his thing, and he is welcome to his own peace.

Turtles are so interesting. I would get one, but I am afraid that the felines might be a little too fascinated. I bet Jake adds a lot of joy to your family!

Anne - we have a feline, too. Pretty entertaining encounter the first few times the two pets met (very very carefully supervised), but actually now we can leave them alone in a room together. Box turtles have such a good defense - they can completely close up, but I must say, early on when we got the turtle, I had a dream that the cat leapt out and attacked and that was the end of the turtle. I felt just terrible, even after I woke up. Our cat is older and relatively mellow - I think if the turtle outlived him (which he probably will) and we got a new cat, we'd have to put an end to the turtle's living room wandering time.

My son is a HUGE fan of lizards. We just have the plain western fence lizards out here - less than six inches for the most part - but he just loves trying to catch them. In fact, it was his sorrow a few years ago over our insistence that he release it that made me say, "Okay, we'll get you a pet lizard." Then I heard they were hard to keep healthy. So I got him an "indestructible" turtle. Ha. The joke is on me, yes?

Frankly, I'm a big fan of "nature's pets." They're so much easier to take care of. : )

Nature's Pets = The Best.

They are free. No vet bills. And if their feet get moldy (ew) it is not your problem.

Bob is a Carolina, or Green Anole.

I am not sure if I would trust my felines with a reptile, box turtle or otherwise. I once found an Anole tail on the living room floor. That's right, just a tail. The felines didn't share their hunting story. Which I suppose is good, because it would probably be more boring than a fishing story. :)

Speaking of Nature's Pets, a couple of wrens built a nest on the deck this summer, in a bucket. After the Peeps were born (on The 4th of July, AKA American Impudence Day), they left. I don't think the deck is big enough for people, Bob, and The Wren Family Complainers! The felines stay inside, so they weren't part of the equation, but I do believe that if they could, they would vote for "Dove Under Glass".

>I once found an Anole tail on the living room floor. That's right, just a tail.

Oh, soooo funny!

>Speaking of Nature's Pets, a couple of wrens built a nest on the deck this summer, in a bucket. After the Peeps were born (on The 4th of July, AKA American Impudence Day), they left. I don't think the deck is big enough for people, Bob, and The Wren Family Complainers!

We once had starlings build a nest in the eaves of a balcony overhang (I'm sure I'm using all the wrong terms.) Boy, oh boy. Noisy. Not fun in the least. As soon as they all flew away, we stuffed the crevasse with aluminum foil so we wouldn't get any nesters again in that spot.

"My friend Jake has black and orange scales down his arms, like miniaturized saucers, that grow more distinct toward his claws before tapering off into ordinary reptilian skin."

To bad about his not being able to wander around. If he scaled the fence who knows what colors they would turn out to be.

>If he scaled the fence who knows what colors they would turn out to be.

Roelof, I like this image. : )