This is Grumpy O'Mally. He is a Three-Toe Box Turtle and we found him while geocaching. I believe he was still hibernating when we found him. I thought he might be a cleverly disguised cache, so I picked him up. When I realized he was a real turtle, I thought it might be fun to bring him home for a day or two and let Amanda watch and possibly feed him. Somehow, Amanda was able to experience fear and "love" at the same time. She literally screamed when I made her touch him, but then she cried when I wanted to let him go. So I ended up building a pen outside in our back yard and he came to live with us. Amanda named him "Grumpy" because he hissed when he first saw us and who knows where "O'Mally" came from. Does he look Irish to you? Grumpy's favorite food is Romain Lettuce (actually, any kind of lettuce, but we get the darker lettuce so he can have more vitamins). We call him a "he", but we don't know for sure.
This is Little George O'Mally. "Little George" is what Amanda came up with when she saw his size. "O'Mally" because that became the official last name of the newly formed turtle family at the Hurt household. Little George came to us from our Pastor's swimming pool. He fell in and could not get out. He was swimming for all he was worth, and fortunately for him, Mrs. Debi rescued him and called us. We brought him home to the Hurt turtle pen (large pen outside) so he could avoid future "incidents" in the pool. Little George likes sweet fruits like strawberries and cantaloupe, but he's a meat eater at heart. He loves worms and bugs and will even devour hamburger, chicken or ham if it's dropped into the cage. I think he is the most fun turtle. He knows I am the "food guy" and he literally comes RUNNING when he seems the worm container. Near as I can tell, Little George is a Texas Ornate Box Turtle.
This is Grace O'Mally. "Grace" because Amanda decided this one was a girl and because we had "G" names for the other two turtles. Grace lived with a family from church who had a college age son. When he left home, they kept Grace for a while and then offered her to us. A third turtle? Sure, why not. We told them she would move from her indoor aquarium to our outdoor pen and would have to learn how to fend for herself outside (i.e. figure out how to dig in the mild Texas winter and hibernate). She did just great. Grace is not a big lettuce eater. She likes strawberries, bugs and worms. Grace is a Three-Toe Box Turtle.
This is Gina O'Mally and she is the newest edition to our turtle family. We just got her this weekend. When you have turtles, I guess word gets around. Gina came to us from my mom's, hairdresser's son! He found her on the side of the road and went to move her off so she would not get run over. When he did, he noticed she had a cracked shell on the underside of her shell (called the plastron) and her left, back leg (not show here) is missing a foot! The leg is all healed up and she gets around fine. We know Gina is a female because she laid eggs at the other house before coming here, but some animal got to the eggs and so there are no baby turtles. So far, we have seen Gina eating strawberries and worms. Gina is also a (three-footed) Three-Toe Box Turtle.
This is our turtle pen along side our back porch. It provides plenty of shade, a small "pool" for drinking and soaking, logs to "hide" under and crawl on (see Little George's picture above), direct sunlight (also necessary for healthy turtles), it is easily watered down if we have not had rain in a while. The dirt is soft enough for them to dig to partially bury themselves to stay cool in the summer or to completely bury themselves to hibernate for the winter. The pen is about 9 feet by 16 feet.
This is Grumpy O'Mally. He is a Three-Toe Box Turtle and we found him while geocaching. I believe he was still hibernating when we found him. I thought he might be a cleverly disguised cache, so I picked him up. When I realized he was a real turtle, I thought it might be fun to bring him home for a day or two and let Amanda watch and possibly feed him. Somehow, Amanda was able to experience fear and "love" at the same time. She literally screamed when I made her touch him, but then she cried when I wanted to let him go. So I ended up building a pen outside in our back yard and he came to live with us. Amanda named him "Grumpy" because he hissed when he first saw us and who knows where "O'Mally" came from. Does he look Irish to you? Grumpy's favorite food is Romain Lettuce (actually, any kind of lettuce, but we get the darker lettuce so he can have more vitamins). We call him a "he", but we don't know for sure.
This is Little George O'Mally. "Little George" is what Amanda came up with when she saw his size. "O'Mally" because that became the official last name of the newly formed turtle family at the Hurt household. Little George came to us from our Pastor's swimming pool. He fell in and could not get out. He was swimming for all he was worth, and fortunately for him, Mrs. Debi rescued him and called us. We brought him home to the Hurt turtle pen (large pen outside) so he could avoid future "incidents" in the pool. Little George likes sweet fruits like strawberries and cantaloupe, but he's a meat eater at heart. He loves worms and bugs and will even devour hamburger, chicken or ham if it's dropped into the cage. I think he is the most fun turtle. He knows I am the "food guy" and he literally comes RUNNING when he seems the worm container. Near as I can tell, Little George is a Texas Ornate Box Turtle.
This is Grace O'Mally. "Grace" because Amanda decided this one was a girl and because we had "G" names for the other two turtles. Grace lived with a family from church who had a college age son. When he left home, they kept Grace for a while and then offered her to us. A third turtle? Sure, why not. We told them she would move from her indoor aquarium to our outdoor pen and would have to learn how to fend for herself outside (i.e. figure out how to dig in the mild Texas winter and hibernate). She did just great. Grace is not a big lettuce eater. She likes strawberries, bugs and worms. Grace is a Three-Toe Box Turtle.
This is Gina O'Mally and she is the newest edition to our turtle family. We just got her this weekend. When you have turtles, I guess word gets around. Gina came to us from my mom's, hairdresser's son! He found her on the side of the road and went to move her off so she would not get run over. When he did, he noticed she had a cracked shell on the underside of her shell (called the plastron) and her left, back leg (not show here) is missing a foot! The leg is all healed up and she gets around fine. We know Gina is a female because she laid eggs at the other house before coming here, but some animal got to the eggs and so there are no baby turtles. So far, we have seen Gina eating strawberries and worms. Gina is also a (three-footed) Three-Toe Box Turtle.
This is our turtle pen along side our back porch. It provides plenty of shade, a small "pool" for drinking and soaking, logs to "hide" under and crawl on (see Little George's picture above), direct sunlight (also necessary for healthy turtles), it is easily watered down if we have not had rain in a while. The dirt is soft enough for them to dig to partially bury themselves to stay cool in the summer or to completely bury themselves to hibernate for the winter. The pen is about 9 feet by 16 feet.
1 comment:
I am so happy to be apart of this house of "animal" lovers!!
Love you darling!
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