Turtles, Turtles, RAH RAH RAH

Turtles, turtles, HAH! They are beginning to remind me more of the “March Hare” (“mad as a march hare” pertains to the certain mating/leaping dance of that family as spring rolls in) than a quiet aquatic or semi-aquatic reptile. Gentle and shy by nature, our Red Eared Sliders are truly living up to their name – literally creating jumping posts and then jumping and sliding through the water – almost in a frenzy to see who can slide the farthest.

But let’s back up. Turtles are as varied a species as lizards – each type and subtype with its own distinctive physical requirements, physical shape, and more important, distinctive behaviour, or personality quirks. An excellent site for more of the pertinent details can be found here. Suffice it to say turtles have adapted well to their environments, with housing varying from a thin, flat, soft shell to ornate large round and domed shell. Most need a permanent source of water for swimming and a basking area heated by the proverbial heat lamp. Yes, the water should be heated to some degree – this does depend on the individual species.

Red eared sliders, our family’s choice, are common to the Southern States, around the Mississippi River. They get their name from the bright red stripe or streak that runs behind their eye and supposedly by the way they slide into the water when something frightens them. They do have the ability to totally “shut down” by pulling all limbs into their shell and, using their hinges and joints in the shell, to literally close the door behind them. Like most turtles, these ravenous reptiles are vegetarians but enjoy the odd cricket and seafood morsels. These gentle creatures are supposedly active during the day, and quiet at night. HAH! Since day 1 these lively reptiles have been re-arranging their tank environment at ANY time of day or night – to the point we started checking to see if we had a new strain of construction turtles. And it has now become worse.

They now build up a ramp from the very back their basking area (they take their plastic bushes and rocks and push them all together in a heap). If they could run up it I truly believe they would, but they do go at a fairly good clip – at the top they leap with all four legs spread out – almost as if they are trying to fly – and then somehow manage to delicately “slide” into the water without too much noise or splashing. One watches underneath the water, two wait their turn, and one has the fun of the tank pretty well to himself for the glorious moment. (Yes, you counted right, we have four). But that’s not all – it seems that the one watching somehow tells the others how far the “jumper/slider” went - and the next one seemingly tries to beat that…we’ve even watched when one does go further, and comes up and starts grinning and hissing at the others – almost in a mock!

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