For
those of you who are not familiar with Big Mama yet, she is our 23
+/- year old red ear slider. Our son, when visiting his grandparents
at age 10, fished her out of a golf course pond and brought her home
when she was about the size of an old 50¢ piece.
Big
Mama with her posse.
I've
probably told this story before but here goes...
We
had no idea when he brought her home that 23 years later we would
still have her. In fact, he brought home two baby turtles but
the other one didn't survive the first night, having gotten flipped
over and drowned. This was back in 1989, long before any question
could be answered in minutes by typing it into a search engine.
We
got the surviving little turtle a ten gallon fish tank and when she
outgrew that we got her a 20 gallon tank and when she outgrew that
one we got her a 50 gallon tank and moved her outside. And when she
outgrew that one, she got a small kid's swimming pool with a fence
around it and when she outgrew that
one...well, you get the picture.
The pool got
bigger, someone donated a smaller red ear slider they no longer
wanted to care for and one day, the big turtle laid an egg on the
sunning stone and immediately smushed it.
I
guess that's when the Big Turtle, to distinguish it from the Little
Turtle, became Big Mama. Previously we just referred to them in
various forms of 'big' and 'little'. Cup Of Soup and Hors
d'oeuvre
come to mind.
Once the turtle
became a girl turtle we decided it would be cool to have little baby
turtles so we fenced off a section of the yard around the pond.
Well, first thing, Little Turtle made his escape.
Eventually we
moved the turtle compound from the back yard into the front right in
front of the house where there was a little porch (behind that porch
was our bedroom) and included a water garden for plants from an old
bathtub. We had the water circulating between the two 'ponds' with a
filter which had the added benefit of keeping Big Mama's water clean
and fertilizing the water plants. It was very pleasant to hear the
sound of the water at night in our bedroom.
Don't imagine
anything grand, it was a built-in cast iron bathtub and a small
waterlily kidney shaped pond and about 30 sq ft of roving space for
the turtle. But it was the source of a lot of fun and pleasure and a
pain in the ass every spring when we had to muck it all out. The
waterlily kidney shaped pond became her permanent pond, not very big
around but about 3 times deeper than the wading pools. She grew to
about 10” and laid many clutches of eggs over the years but we
never got baby turtles.
After we finally
made the transition to the country house, that first year Big Mama
still resided at the city house with my SIL taking care of her.
Big Mama's big
pond.
I wrote about
bringing her home to the country house to her new 8' diameter x 22”
deep pond in the Little Back Yard here. This is her second year out
here. The first year when the 'urge' came on her to dig and lay
eggs, I just took her out of the pond and let her roam for a couple
of hours, putting her back in the pond. She eventually laid three
eggs on her sunning stone and smushed them. Full circle.
This spring, I
rigged up a ramp so she could get out of the pond when she so
desired. The problem is that the dirt out here has a lot of clay and
is so hard. Last year my grandson went around loosening up the
ground for her with a garden claw whenever she started digging but
that just sent her off to another hard spot.
She has spent
the last several months, attempting to dig a hole. She learned how
to navigate the ramp into the yard without taking a nose dive into
the landscaping bricks but she has never understood that the same
ramp will take her back to the pond. Until this last weekend
apparently.
Five
days of rain and she was able to dig an adequate hole. Last
Thursday, she dug a hole and laid two eggs as near as I could tell,
but she missed the hole, smushed the eggs, and the ants made short
work of them. She seems to have successfully dug a hole, laid eggs,
and filled it back in again on Saturday. And made it back into her
pond. Hopefully by next spring we will have improved a ground area
for her.
The first hole,
those white things at 7 o'clock are the remains of the shells.
The second,
successful(?), lay.
I doubt any eggs
that might be in the ground are fertile since it's been many years
since we had a male. We have supplied her with several over the
years but she runs them off eventually. They are pretty single
minded in their intent and she tires of the attention.
Anyway, you
wouldn't think that turtles would be much of a pet, but she has been
very entertaining over the years. Different sources say they can
live anywhere from 25 to 50 years. That's why I was a little upset
to see that there was a vendor at the Freedom Fest here in Wharton
that was selling baby red ear sliders. He must have had 50 of them.
How sad, I thought, every one of those tiny turtles will probably be
dead within six months.
What a great story! I never knew anyone who kept one of those poor turtles alive. You have really accomplished something here. And I can see how she would be an entertaining pet.
ReplyDeleteyou have definitely done a lot more to keep her happy and comfortable all these years than most folks would have done. if anything, others would have released her into a pond after she outgrew the fish tanks. you've just continued to modify your yard(s) for her. :)
ReplyDeleteWow, I had no idea. Big Mama is lucky to be with you, who will always provide a pond and a yard and plenty of food.
ReplyDeleteHere in Oregon it is illegal to bring red sliders in b/c they are so successful at dominating the local turtles. Our neighbor just moved here from VA, where he had them in a pond. He misses them so much that he's building a pond in his yard to put some native species in. I can't wait to see it.
I enjoyed this post about Big Mama turtle so much!
ReplyDeleteAmazing story !!! Thanks for telling us about her.
ReplyDeleteBig Mama is a cool lady with a cool history and a wonderful home.
ReplyDeleteWhat a greqat tale. They have very good eyesight and are alerted to any presence close by easily.
ReplyDeleteIf you've told the story, I had forgotten. It's a beautiful story.
ReplyDeleteYou go Big Mama!
I love it that she runs off the males.
I had heard the story of Big Mama but didn't realise she once had a companion.
ReplyDeleteit's a wonderful story!!
ReplyDeleteactually, could you adopt me?
Big Mama has a fabulous life with you guys :)
For a turtle 23 yrs old is pretty much still a baby- We had a pacific tortoise for about 35 years, she laid eggs in the bathtub, I tried to incubate them , no luck. I really loved that tortoise, she was so sweet...I left her outside without water one day- forgot- so much going on at that time...I killed her.
ReplyDeleteThat's a lot of dedication for a turtle - but I can see where each new problem was a challenge to solve. And then of course she's part of the family now.
ReplyDeleteAw, you did better than I did with my reptiles--iguanas named Sparky and Scheister. I was, as most people are, ignorant about their care and they got skinny and sick (nothing sadder than a wrinkly iguana) and I had to put them down. It was my fault, wanting something exotic. I'll stick with my kitty. Indoors, of course.
ReplyDeleteNow, now...don't be so pessimistic. Yes, it's sad he is selling turtles to people that may know nothing, but imagine someone is as smart as you, seriously, as they get lucky and have a big Mama 23 years from now?
ReplyDeleteI love big Mama stories. Such a cool pet.
Oh my gosh, Ellen--all for the turtles! If this gets out to the rest of the turtle world, you find yourself inundated with these hard-shelled creatures. You're a very generous landlord. ;)
ReplyDeleteWow! I'm impressed with all you've done to build suitable turtle accommodations! I've never heard of a pet turtle living so long or so well.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a boy I had a pet turtle (a different variety, called a cooter) and it lived a couple of years in a small tray on my desk. I'm not sure it ever would have occurred to me to try to transfer it to larger quarters. Maybe if I had it would still be with us!
her dwellings are very creative, she must be a very happy turtle.
ReplyDelete