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Back in 1994 we purchased a box turtle at a Santa Clara pet shop. We still have it. It must have been fully grown then because I am pretty sure it hasn't chan

by downut 4y ago

Back in 1994 we purchased a box turtle at a Santa Clara pet shop. We still have it. It must have been fully grown then because I am pretty sure it hasn't changed in size at all. I don't think we have noticed any behavioral changes, either. Appetite seems the same. Still gets pissed off and bangs its shell against the terrarium glass when it's hungry. So that would be something like 27 years without noticeable change. Anyway we're close to retiring and I suppose it will transition to my daughter eventually. Maybe it will outlive her too.

202206241203 4y ago
Sounds like the beginning of a clan dedicated to serving a totem beast.
- downut 4y ago
  I have resisted naming our turtle 'Om'.
  - justinpowers 4y ago
    Resistance won’t be needed if you name it 'Ohm'.
  - noir_lord 4y ago
    Pratchett?
    - sn41 4y ago
      Small Gods
nonameiguess 4y ago
I found a box turtle once, in the middle of the street in Long Beach, CA, and despite all of the Internet advice not to mess with box turtles, I didn't want it to get run over, so I brought it inside, went to the vet, and ended up keeping her for a few years until the Army was supposed to send me to Hawaii, where you're not allowed to bring reptiles. So I gave her to a family at Fort Lawton that built a huge enclosure in their back yard, and they took her to another vet to try and get an age estimate, and they guessed she was at least 70 years old. She definitely did not behave in any obviously elder manner. Same as any other box turtle I've ever met.
ocdtrekkie 4y ago
We have a turtle that was found somewhere around 30 years ago, so full age largely unknown, but... like old.
hkon 4y ago
The idea that a turtle gets pissed off and starts banging the glass made me laugh. Feed your turtle!
- downut 4y ago
  Our box turtle in winter goes as long as several months w/o eating. In fact some years it hibernates from a few weeks to a couple of months. This is inside at room temperature. During the active months it usually wants to eat turtle food every 2 or 3 days, and it will not touch food unless it is hungry. Ah, so here I have to admit that I let it train me to add a little water to the dry food, and the turtle hates dirty food, so I just have to give it new food when it's hungry. It is always hungry for crickets, roaches, grubs, big grasshoppers, earthworms, big green hornworm caterpillars[1], etc., but those are a lot of trouble to maintain a constant supply. The turtle's terrarium (a big aquarium tank) is parallel to my path to the office, so I also know it's hungry, aside from the banging, when it sees me coming and races me the length of the tank. Did I mention that it appears to differentiate between me and other people? [1] A favorite story I like to retell (and Grandpa starts in with...) is when our daughter was oh 11ish and we had a bunch of her classmates over I liked to drop a big tomato hornworm into the turtle tank with the kids all gathered round. When the cabal got packed in tight and a bunch of eeewwws! started I knew that once again, it was nature, green in tooth and claw.
deleted 4y ago
[deleted]

by downut 4y ago

202206241203 4y ago

Sounds like the beginning of a clan dedicated to serving a totem beast.

downut 4y ago
I have resisted naming our turtle 'Om'.
- justinpowers 4y ago
  Resistance won’t be needed if you name it 'Ohm'.
- noir_lord 4y ago
  Pratchett?
  - sn41 4y ago
    Small Gods

nonameiguess 4y ago

I found a box turtle once, in the middle of the street in Long Beach, CA, and despite all of the Internet advice not to mess with box turtles, I didn't want it to get run over, so I brought it inside, went to the vet, and ended up keeping her for a few years until the Army was supposed to send me to Hawaii, where you're not allowed to bring reptiles. So I gave her to a family at Fort Lawton that built a huge enclosure in their back yard, and they took her to another vet to try and get an age estimate, and they guessed she was at least 70 years old. She definitely did not behave in any obviously elder manner. Same as any other box turtle I've ever met.

ocdtrekkie 4y ago

We have a turtle that was found somewhere around 30 years ago, so full age largely unknown, but... like old.

hkon 4y ago

The idea that a turtle gets pissed off and starts banging the glass made me laugh. Feed your turtle!

downut 4y ago
Our box turtle in winter goes as long as several months w/o eating. In fact some years it hibernates from a few weeks to a couple of months. This is inside at room temperature. During the active months it usually wants to eat turtle food every 2 or 3 days, and it will not touch food unless it is hungry. Ah, so here I have to admit that I let it train me to add a little water to the dry food, and the turtle hates dirty food, so I just have to give it new food when it's hungry. It is always hungry for crickets, roaches, grubs, big grasshoppers, earthworms, big green hornworm caterpillars[1], etc., but those are a lot of trouble to maintain a constant supply. The turtle's terrarium (a big aquarium tank) is parallel to my path to the office, so I also know it's hungry, aside from the banging, when it sees me coming and races me the length of the tank. Did I mention that it appears to differentiate between me and other people? [1] A favorite story I like to retell (and Grandpa starts in with...) is when our daughter was oh 11ish and we had a bunch of her classmates over I liked to drop a big tomato hornworm into the turtle tank with the kids all gathered round. When the cabal got packed in tight and a bunch of eeewwws! started I knew that once again, it was nature, green in tooth and claw.

deleted 4y ago

[deleted]