Frankie the turtle pics

[Jim]

S/he is the just the cutest! I never knew a turtle could be so social. S/he loves to be out and about and seems to enjoy being around and on us.

http://mightybeaks.com/parrot/frank3.jpg

http://mightybeaks.com/parrot/frank4.jpg

http://mightybeaks.com/parrot/frank5.jpg

[Brandy]

oh my goodness,,,

she is just the cutest thing
I honestly forgot that you had a turtle, lol until I seen the pics

shes lookin good Jim!!

[parrotgirl]

Oh my she is just beautiful,

I had a vision in my head while looking at the pics,

#1 Looks up and spots the boys *Gulp*

#2 Thats it I'm off, *starts running*

#3 Faster faster, I can outrun them.

She is looking real good.:wub:

[tropiclegirl]

lol Peta, Shes a cutie Jim :p

[Shirley]

Jim! I love turtles, as you know! She's awesome! And.... she's a girl. Short claws, short tail -- Males are noticeably different.

Thanks for the pics!!
:dance:

[Jean]

She is beautiful Jim! I love her colors. What is her body circumference now?

[Flock Mom]

She is a very pretty turtle Jim :heart: I have always had a soft spot in my heart for turtles ;)

[vmtwriter]

Reminds me of when I was a kid and we kept turtles. She's very pretty, Jim. Thanks for sharing.

[Sue]

Jim, she is gorgeous, I didn't know you had a turtle:heart:

[SadennaAndFlock]

awww what a cutie, looks like he is pretty darn happy..hey how are those sugar gliders doing?

[Jim]

Thanks all. We love her to death!:heart:

Thanks for the info Shirley. We now have a female pet.:)

Jean, She's a little over 6.5". That's shell length.

Sadenna, The gliders are doing great. Thanks for asking. They are getting REALLY REALLY tame now.:D

[Jim]

Okay, I have told Shirley and Dr C, so guess I'll show the pics of Frankie's cave. That's what we call it and where she sleeps. Long story short we used to have pillows and blankets at the end of the couch and she was always going in there. Will you know me and giving animals all the freedom I can, so I put down a heating pad (kept on low when she in there) with 4 towels over it to kept it from being too hot and 2 on top. You can see in the pictures where she sleeps.

http://mightybeaks.com/parrot/cave.jpg

http://mightybeaks.com/parrot/cave2.jpg

[Sue]

So cute, Jim does she hibernate?

[Jim]

So cute, Jim does she hibernate? No. I think Shirely told me they kind of do in the wild when it's cold.:shrug2: She just goes in there when she's ready to sleep. She's funny, she goes over there when we first get her out and checks it out, maybe making sure another turtle didn't take over.:funny: Then walks all over the place, watches the boys, and when she's ready she goes in there.

In case ya'll are wondering she is in her tank a lot too but when she wants out she sure lets you know.:)

[scotty]

Jim........ how big is she? I had turtles when I was a kid,they use to paint pictures on there back (then) guess I'm dating my self, she looks just like my turtles I loved those turtles:heart:
Scotty

[Jim]

Hi Scotty, She's a little over 6.5" almost 7". (shell length) A little smaller than a salad plate but oval of course. How many turtles did you have?

[Islandzoo]

she is very sweet. I thought turtles spent most of their time in water, or they just need regular access to water?

[scotty]

Jim ....my turtles were very small maybe 3". I don't think they were the same turtles unless they sold them in the pet stores very young:) Shirley what do you think?I had only three,but they didn't live very long.Maybe it was the paint on there backs that killed them I was a kid, didn't know much about them ,but sure loved them:wub:

[jimleasure]

scotty,
if you are about my age, mid fifties, then i know what you are talking about. when i was young they sold baby red ear sliders all the time. with and without the paintings. usually with a 'turtle habitat', which was a small plastic dish. the center had steps up to a landing, which most of the time had a plastic palm tree on it. i think many of the babies back then died due to lack of knowledge on how to care for them. they finally stopped selling them because of the possibility of disease(salmonella). i also remember back then at easter time you could buy colored easter chicks at every 5 & 10.

[scotty]

Jim .....those poor little chicks i remember them well,but my mom put her foot down on that pet.She said they wern't born to be played with .I cried for a week but still didn't get any.The turtles she felt, if they grew too big we could put them in the brook by our house.Those were the days. :wavey:
Scotty

[Shirley]

Yep, red-ear sliders were a popular 49 cent pet in the dime stores... and they were hatchlings. How sad. I had several, and got so disgusted when they'd ALL developed a soft shell over time, then their eyes would swell very large and then close up, and then they'd die... it takes a LONG time for a reptile to die... I wrote a long letter to the Chicago Zoo curator of reptiles when I was in 5th or 6th grade, explaining and asking all these questions about why did they die? He wrote me back! He gave me a "recipe" of things to bake in cupcake tins in the oven, put them in the freezer, and feed a chunk each day or so to the turtles, along with live-caught flies and other insects. No hamburger ever, and none of the useless dried flies they sold then as turtle food. (Reptomin didn't exist back then!) And... Cod liver oil for Vit. D now and then on their food (what a mess) and plenty of unfiltered sunshine whenever possible.

Well... that's when I had Cedric survive for about 11 or 12 years... he passed while I was in college. Very sad. He grew about 6-7 inches long. Today, with Reptomin, he'd have reached adult size.

In junior high and high school I sunk 1/4" wire "fencing" into the ground and sunk a dish tub into the ground with a house shingle for a ramp - and had all my turtles living outside all summer with the largest dish tub I could find, and grass around it, and the circular wire fencing to keep them contained. They did really well! Most were let go in a very large nearby pond when I left for college. I had some wild-caught baby painted turtles (no, not painted by man) and dime-store red-ear sliders.

Turtles should never ever be painted - and I've never seen one in the store for sale painted. But... I've heard of it...

In Louisiana when the boys were young, we had a kid's swimming pool set up in the house (large 100-yr old house) with a number of native species of water turtles, with Koi and plants and a little waterfall, and a "tortoise compound" in the back yard with several native species of box turtles. When we moved, all the water turtles were released in the "moat" around a local seafood restaurant, which had turtles, fish, frogs, egrets, you name it, already... and no alligators. My concern was I didn't want anyone shooting them or alligators eating them. Yes, kids will shoot turtles for target practice... it happens and I hate it.

I bought a very large snapping turtle once at a local seafood market just to let it go... I didn't want anyone to buy it, kill it, and make soup of him, which was why he was for sale. At that size, they are dangerous to handle, and he was put in a very large tub for me, and we took him to a protected wildlife sanctuary (marshland area) and released him. I've never forgotten him. Huge and heavy.

[Jim]

she is very sweet. I thought turtles spent most of their time in water, or they just need regular access to water?Thanks Kristie, She is sweet.:heart: As I said, I had no idea a turtle could be so social. From what I've read they need regular access to water and the time in the water varied. Different opinions on the subject. What I have noticed now that we let her out a lot, is she is a lot more active (maybe happy). She loves to explore and doesn't seem near as afraid of us or of being out. She hardly ever retracts into her shell like she did at first when out or we were holding her. When she wants in the water (her tank) she goes over and tries to climb in so we put her back in.