Recent pics of Dar feeding the pond turtles

Momma (Big Momma Moss) in front, Ruby waiting her turn





Momma



Ruby



This is Jordy, a female soft shell turtle, eating from a spoon.



 Dar doesn't really trust her 100%.  She's never bitten me, but Ruby has latched onto my finger twice in the past week.  She's usually very gentle.  We feed them bread, chicken hot dogs and catfish pellets.  Maybe the smell of hot dog on my fingers confuses her, but I'm a bit leery of her now.  Missing from the regulars in the pics is Sheldon, Momma's beau.

This spring we also have seen and fed 2 smaller soft shells (Itty Bitty and Sea Shell) a red-eared slider (Red), and a very large female soft shell, Gamera.  She has to have an 18 inch shell and probably weighs a good 30 lb.

This morning we saw Zilly, the snapping turtle, move from the small pond in back to the bigger one in front where the other pics were taken.  He only shows up at night to eat, and we're both working tonight and thurs nite.  Maybe he'll make an appearance in the morning.  Who knows.

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She has to have an 18 inch shell and probably weighs a good 30 lb.

 
Holy shoot....she is big.  Thanks for sharing pictures

Wow, nice turtles. :)

Red is a male red eared slider who we only see occasionally, but will come up to be fed. He appeared late last week with a fish hook in his mouth. Today I had a pair of wire cutters handy. I coaxed him in and pinned him to the beach and was able to remove the hook with one gentle tug. I had to work fast and I was alone, so no pics, but it felt good to help him out. I just hope he's not to scared to come back. He did circle around not too far off the shore for a minute later today, but feeding time was over. We removed a hook from a small soft shell turtle a couple years ago and it took him a while to forgive us, but he's back.
We were also visited by a lone Little Egret, who took a couple pieces of meat from my hand.  Never fed an egret before.

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Red was back this morning.  It didn't take him long to get over being saved.

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Red and Jordy this morning



A group shot from this morning.  

 

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I'm still jealous that you have turtles you can feed. I wish our park had something like that.

To clarify, this is our "manufactured home" park, not a city park.  Our home sits on the edge of this pond, maybe 50 feet away from the water.  It took a good 6 months tossing food out daily for the first turtle to venture up to us, and another couple months for one to get brave enough to take food from my hand.  It's a daily ritual that keeps us sane.  The turtles have never pooped on the carpet, lol.

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Today I came up with a new name for our little piece of paradise. My best man calls it the Lake House, due to being surrounded by ponds.  Today I had an inspiration for a new name that wouldn't have even fit before February: The Pond-a-Rosa

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aaahaaa haaa. good one ;). That's really cool, I wish we had reptiles up here, it is far too cold. I don't like heat too much, so I think im good here, It's a good trade off. Iv'e always liked turltes. They're like little dinosaurs!