My banties have been scratching hard in the fallen leaves around the oaks. Shallow craters like these surround all the "yard trees". They are doing this, because (A) I don't feed them and (B) the mulch is alive with pesky Asian cockroaches. These Asian exotics are small and seem to prefer living outside (Halleyooyah for that!) but they still tick me off, because they fly ... alot.
Laya tried a new nest in the confederate jasmine near the front porch, but Bear found it ... so, that one is a no-go. The chickens have evolved into two tribes ... Laya and two roosters form one group and two roosters form the other. They do not mix even though all the roosters are spawn of Laya.
The two outcasts keep their distance and if they come too close to the Laya tribe, the Laya's guards chase them away.
In other news ...
Two little turtles turned up on my classroom doorstep yesterday ... source unknown. This happens when you are a science teacher.
They seem a little different from the baby turtles I raised from eggs and which I have written about many times here on PF.
I haven't got my Florida reptile ID book down yet to figure out who they are, which makes me a little nervous.
Florida recently passed new and stringent wild turtle protection laws to help preserve our wild aquatic turtle populations, and I don't want to run afoul of that.
On the other hand, I don't want to release an exotic from the pet trade into our waters.
So, FWC, if you are reading this, my intentions are good, I just need to ID these little guys so I know what to do.
Pretty cute.
I think they will be easy to ID with these photos, for today they are in my turtle/cichlid tank out in the garden.
I won't have time to ID them until tomorrow, as I'm getting up from the kitchen table in a moment and heading to St. Augustine to help my parents decorate and operate the spookiest house on their street for Halloween.
I'm taking Bear, and Junior, and I may just take the slow way over ... that's usually good for a post or two.
Happy Halloween!!
Watch out for the little candy totin' spooks tonight.
17 comments:
Happy H'ween FC!
Sounds like you got your plate full for awhile.
The slow, scenic path is most nearly always the best one.
Enjoy!!
I feed my girls and they still dig everything up! I wouldn't mind if they would stick to the undergrowth, but they want to dig up all my pretty natives. Drives me crazy!
Hi FC,
I Just went back to your turtle hatching post. Very cool. Got into looking at some old posts. Some funny stuff!
Patti
I don't know what kind of turtle this is but he is adorable.
Nice turtles. Have a great time!
Hope that ID comes through for you. They sure are cute turtles. Happy Halloween!
Although my first instinct was Pseudemys (i.e. cooter), the yellow patch behind the eye and the dark spots at the anterior of the plastron are characteristic of hatchling yellow-bellied sliders, Trachemys scripta.
Those are gorgeous colors in that tiny turtle's carapace!
Very pretty!! Happy Halloween Papa!! Love you!
He/she looks just like the little turtles we used to buy as pets at the local Woolworth's or Kresge's stores in the 50's! They cost about 50 cents and they didn't ever live to maturity, not much info available at the time about proper turtle keeping. Retroactive guilt on that one.
yellowbelly slider, http://www.empireoftheturtle.com/Florida/trachemys_scripta.htm
WHoa...Mr. Steen is in the know...wow.
Happy Halloween to FC's Mama & Daddy
I was just going to say... these look like the little red ear sliders we got as children- minus the red ears. I think these guys are the little illegal ones they sell at flea markets. Very cute. Glad they found their way to you!
P.S. In NC that dog would be called "Bar". We were informed by our neighbors that that we had to spray the garbage bin with ammonia to keep the bars out. Lots of bar trouble. Bars all over the place. I looked up the black lab pup. He looks very sweet. I would love to have a dog but we are about 8 months from ready. McCloud is about 8 years from ready.
Would your rugged Cracker Pioneer ancestors have said " I refuse to use beets because I don't like them"? Nay!
Beet greens. Beets as dye. Beets in Red Velvet Cake. They'd have found a way to use them.
I once had a little yellow-bellied slider that I had rescued from a busy road and had in a tank in my classroom. It had thick green algae all over its shell. A mother said to me with true honesty, "I've never seen a turtle with green fur before!"
My thought was, "There's a reason I'm tutoring your child."
I'm with the majority here: Yellow-bellied Slider (which is the same species as Red-eared Slider, the pet shop turtle, just the southern version). Bartlett's "Guide and Reference" describes "large yellow cheek blotches and diagonal yellow lines from the snout to the chin....Juveniles, subadults, and young adults have prominent, dark, rounded markings on the lower surface of the marginals and on the anterior scutes of the plastron." All of which agrees with the little dude in the picture.
these turtles are beautiful and many people have them as pets at home or playground
must take into account that according to each species combenient this is not because it compromises the health of this and our
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