A Turtle Tale

Box Turtle in the Garden

We have lots of turtles in our little swamp, Georgia pond turles  in the lagoon and eastern box turtles wandering the land, to say nothing of the big snapping turtles.   Every year they come and lay eggs in our yard, Mac tries to protect them and keep the raccoons and other critters from eating them, but he hardly ever saved any.  Until 2 years ago, when he found 2 eggs, one in the back yard and one in the front.  He brought them into the garage and put them in an aquarium.
Watering them enough to keep them moist he watched over them like a mother hen, I mean turtle.  Finally they hatched, first the pond turtle, who immediately buried itself in the leaves and dirt.  Then what turned out to be a box turtle.  For nearly 2 years he raised them.  Putting them in separate aquariums so the pond turtle could have water to swim in and the box turtle could have enough land to roam around in.
This year the pond turtle just got too big for his aquarium and Mac knew it was time to let him go.   So he took him to the lagoon and put him in.   Later in the spring he decided that it was time to let the box turtle go too, he was released into the garden where he spent several days, but has now disappeared.  Sad to see them go, but we know they had a good start in life.

Pond Turtle

The lagoon is teeming with fry and it's impossible to tell what kind of fish they are so now he's raising fish he scooped out of the lagoon, he wants to watch and see which turn out be bass and which are blue gill.  I sometimes feel like I'm living in a zoo, isn't this how Gerald Durrell got started?