q&a turtle talk

So remember this post where I announced our new arrivals and how Maribel named the little one Mae from one of her favourite movie, My Neighbor Totoro**?
Well...........Mae is actually a Ray.
Yup.
We had them sexed and it turns out that Ray is a teenage boy in turtle years. Go figure.

Ray

Even though we asked for all females, we are going to keep him. I mean, come on. Just look at that face. He's even picked up some of Moody's suave moves and tested them on our other ladies. Yeah...still needs to mature a little before any of that happens.

And of course I cannot forget about our nameless one. She's been giving Moody the cold shoulder lately but I have caught a glimpse of a spark between those two so she now has a name.

Moxy The Foxy Box Turtle of Terrapin Revisited Part II.

Well okay, okay, Moxy for short.

One Foxy Turtle from Jennifer Carlberg on Vimeo.

I still have suspicions that she's a he but I'm not a vet nor a super turtle expert. Moody doesn't seem to care so we're leaning towards that she's a girl. We'll see if we get any eggs or not. Our fingers are crossed.

I thought I would also take this time to answer your questions from the earlier turt post.
So here goes...

Hollee asked: Ok - those are some seriously adorable amphibians! Just cuz I'm curios...what happens if Bachelor doesn't connect with Bachelorette??

A: Well, that's simple. Moody will just have to do with out. We've reached our legal limit so we can't say we didn't try.

Kim asked: How fun is this!! Are they affectionate at all? Do you let them wander through the house or are they in a restricted area? And do they spend time outside with you? I would imagine it would be a bit challenging to put a leash on them... *heehee*

A: I wouldn't call them affectionate like a cat or a dog but they do have personality. Moody and April will follow me across the cage when I walk by if they see their food dish coming and they let me stroke their heads where most turtles would hide from that. I still go to my furballs when I want a cuddle.

As for their living quarters we have a 65g tank we keep them in filled with special turf called Country Critter. It's specially designed to break down if wet and is made from a source of fibre that won't hurt their digestion if they eat a pellet or two. (I'll insert a photo when I have a chance with better light.) We don't let them wander around the house too much because of the cats and Maribel, but we do bath out turtles because they can carry Salmonella so we like to be extra cautious. We buy Purell by the gallon.

We let them play outside as much as possible so they can get the natural sunlight and stuff. But after awhile they just end up hiding inside their little outdoor house so we bring them back in.

Pam says: I have no experience with turtle but these are soooo cute. Love the photos. PS - what do turtles eat?

A: Their favourite food is meal worms, night crawlers and crickets-anything protein but they also like a good fruit salad. We purchase a canned fruit mix specially designed for Box Turtles and they tend to like it.

April

But nothing says "Please sir, may I have some more?" like a good fat and juicy worm. Mmm Mmmm

Elloise and April sharing a night crawler dinner

I hope I answered your questions okay and give you a little insight to our turtle loving home. Thanks for reading and watching and stay tuned for some upcoming tutorials I've been working on.
If you can sew a straight stitch, you can make these!

**Edited to add in the correct movie. Thanks to the ever watchful sister that is always there to keep me on track.
>^..^<