SWFeral Loc: SWNM

This is Amy, a red-eared slider who has made appearances here before, but they've been rare. She's not one to seek the spotlight. I've had her for 14 years (a year longer than I've had Ted), since she was a tiny baby not much larger than a quarter. It was an impulsive and poorly-thought-out move to take her on, but that's water under the bridge so to speak, and I enjoy having her in my life. She lives in a small enclosed pond in the back yard so I don't see much of her throughout the winter, though I did catch her basking a few times in February when the sun was particularly intense.

With all this time off I've been making "improvements" to her environment, or at least I consider them to be so. Amy is rather conservative and doesn't like changes, so when she knows I'm up to something she clambers up onto her basking log to keep an eye on me. She almost never approves of what I'm doing and will hide for a few days before venturing out to see what's different.

She's a funny animal and I get a kick out of her. When she's relaxed and in full basking mode she stretches her back legs out behind her in the air, soaking up all the sun she can get. When I first had her I didn't know that she needed either direct sunlight or a special lamp to allow her to metabolism to function, and she nearly starved. Once I got her outside in the sun and offered her her first baby grasshopper, she never looked back--she is now 11" long (the shell alone) and probably seven inches across. Every spring her shell cracks and she loses plates of it as she grows; she seems always to be growing.

A lot of you out there have these turtles, considered to be an incredibly invasive species, living in your waterways, but they are not native here in southwestern New Mexico and I can assure you I will never release her into the Gila River, nor the Rio Grande (though I understand there are already quite a few of them living along the latter). Please enjoy Amy's good looks.

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NMGal Loc: NE NM

Great photos, wonderful story.

Cany143 Loc: SE Utah

I don't know a great deal about turtles and their likes and dislikes, but one wonders whether your 'offering' of that grasshopper to Amy The Turtle was performed ritualistically (with drums and weird costumes [either on your part or on the part of the haatali --the shaman-- you called in?, not on Amy's part] and chanting and such) or didja just toss the 'hopper in to her where she could suck it down at her leisure. Doesn't affect the pix, of course --which if you're not careful might make Amy... oh.... just the slightest little bit more of a drama queen than she might ordinarily be-- at all, of course, but...……. oh, nevermind. Wut?

SWFeral Loc: SWNM

Thanks. I've learned a lot from Amy and wished she had a more natural life, but she doesn't.

SWFeral Loc: SWNM

Yeah, wut? You've read too much into this one. Her first meal on my behalf was neither ritual nor casual; when the light of the sun hit her she opened her wee little eyes for the first time and it was like a circuit connected. Not to anthropomorphize though I intend to, but it was as if she realized "I'm alive and I'm HUNGRY!" The Shaman I called in was a helpful person at a Petco 100 miles away, to whom I am still grateful.

Drama queen? Okay, a bit. Diva? Yes. That floating pelletized stuff they make for turtles amuses/repels her. She'll watch it float past and then shift her gaze to me like, Really?

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Very, very cool. I grew up with one, and my son has had one for at least ten years - they really do have quite a personality. I feed her (and the cats) when my son goes out of town, and she always gets so excited to see me. A good sized one appeared magically in my Koi pond, which caused me to build an island in the center so he/she (never decided which) could get sun. After years with no baby Koi (I’m sure Koi roe is turtle sushi), I relocated her to a major lake where I watched her swim out to a log and join about 6 more sunning themselves.

UTMike Loc: South Jordan, UT

Great set, even without Ted!

luvmypets Loc: Born & raised Texan living in Fayetteville NC

Very nice!! I think she has a very good good life especially since so many wind up in home aquariums. People don't research the needs of these creatures and they end up in 10 gallon aquariums all their lives which has been stunted due to lack of room. Amy has a wonderful outdoor place to live and grow (which she is obviously doing) and I bet she doesn't have to worry about many predators in your yard. She looks like a very happy camper!!!

Thanks for sharing her!!

Dodie

newtoyou Loc: Eastport

These are beautiful animals.
When kept in clear water conditions the dark, muddy old skin sheds to fresh, colorful skin.
If I may, some FYI on turtles.
To tell male from female, look at front claws on adults. Males have long, straight claws, used to tickle the females in courtship. An adult male will generally have a somewhat concave plastron. The female a flat one. Her front claws are usually shorter and curved.
A Male's tail tends to be longer and much thinner.
As adults females may be four or five times larger than male.
Enclosed are shots of a probably mating pair early last spring. The shells are stained from iron in the sandstone rocks.
The male is the smaller of the two. Thru 10X binocs showed the differences clearly.
I am in Maryland. They are widely and deeply spread here. I see no signs of them replacing our natives.
In the late 50's till early 70's these were in all the five and dime store pet sections. Along with anoles, Horned Lizards, alligators, and at Easter, in the shell dyed chicks and dyed white rabbits.
The turtles had colored enamel painted carapaces.
Few lived, many that did were released into the wild.
Now a pet shop turtle must be 4 inches or larger. Not likely to be put in a child's mouth, thereby preventing Salmonella. Turtles are a carrier.
Thanks for your post. Male and female size comparison follows.
Bill

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rmm0605 Loc: Atlanta GA

Nice set!

Curmudgeon Loc: SE Arizona

Nice shots of a very pretty lady

Hal81 Loc: Bucks County, Pa.

I too have them in my ponds. A few years back I found a large 10 inch across guy in my mack yard.

Baby snappers.

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A lot of these in my ponds.

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SWFeral Loc: SWNM

I would like your son I'm sure since he has some of the same pets as me. I wouldn't go so far as to say Amy is excited to see me, but she trusts me and likes to put her front feet on my hand and investigate it. I'm sure that magically appearing turtle enjoyed his Koi roe! I would occasionally get baby goldfish so that Amy could hunt live food, but she was lazy and two of them grew to be large adults. A raccoon entered my yard and caught one of the fish, leaving behind one scale, and Amy was too terrified to show herself for days.

SWFeral Loc: SWNM

He was lurking in the background. He thinks Amy's creepy, though I've seen him snap at her when she's on a walkabout (I long ago gave up on trying to confine her to the enclosure). The other dog in my household would try to kill her.

SWFeral Loc: SWNM

I think she's satisfied with her situation. I am guilty of not researching her needs either, though it didn't take me long to do so. She lived inside for maybe four or five years, in ever larger containers. I thought she was a male until I saw she had laid a (sterile) egg, which she proceeded to eat; that was when Amos became Amy.

I once tried to be a red-eared-slider advocate when I discovered that a man had set up a booth in a parking lot and was selling tiny baby turtles to clueless customers. I would approach them and ask if the guy had instructed them as to their new pets' care needs. No, he had not. All he told them was that if they kept them in the tiny plastic containers they came in, they wouldn't get very big.