Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Time for another Turtle Tuesday!

I know it's been a while since I've posted about my turtles, but I thought I'd do a follow-up to show how big Herman and Cecil really are now.  They are currently in a 75 gallon tank that they have all but outgrown.

Here's a great pic of Herman that I like to call "Turtle Neck" - lol!


The second one is of Cecil.  I think he looks like he's smiling at the camera in this one :)


Here's a shot looking down into the tank.  You can see the filter with clean water flowing back into the tank in the upper right hand corner.  The thing that the turtles are sitting on is a type of ramp/platform where they can get out of the water and sunbathe under a special lamp.  Just to give you a reference for their size the platform is 11 inches wide.


This shot is from a few minutes later when Cecil had climbed completely on top of Herman.  If you ever see a tank full of baby RES at a pet store they all like to sit directly on top of one another.  I think it's some sort of comfort thing.


I think this last one is cute, but David actually thought I was being mean when I took the picture.  Herman was crawling off of the platform when he slipped and flipped upsidedown.  David panicked and kept saying, "flip him over, help him over!"  I tried to explain that I couldn't help because if it ever happens when I am not at home then Herman will have to be able to flip over on his own.  A turtle in the wild has to be able to do the same thing or they could possibly drown.  But not to worry, I think Cecil may have sensed Herman's distress because he swam over and actually put leverage on Herman's shell so that he could get his head out of the water.  Then after Herman calmed down for a second he used his neck to flip himself back over.


I hope everyone enjoyed the pics and I hope you have a happy Tuesday!

4 comments:

Kim said...

That is so sweet that they help each other out and that they sit on top of each other. It's so interesting to see animals bond- sometimes my parakeets love up on each other and then sometimes they each sit in separate corners of their aviary and yell at each other :) I love to see your turtles Jessie! Are you going up in tank size soon? Can you stop going up in tank size and they'll just stop growing?

Ojibwe Confessions said...

Great pictures of your turtles.
The inside patterns of turtles always have 13 panels. Like 13 moons in a year.

Ojibwe Confessions said...

Is it true that you can put turtles in the fridge when you go on a trip and they will sleep? Or will a bad thing happen to them.

beyondbaffled said...

@Kim - I will get a new tank as soon as I can afford one - they are expensive! As far as their growth they can grow up to 12-14 inches long and can live up to 40 years!

@Steve - I didn't know about the 13 pattern on turtles. And no I've never heard about putting a turtle in the fridge and I don't recommend it! I've read that in the colder months turtles in the wild will hibernate in the warmer mud at the bottom of ponds and can sleep for sometimes months!