First, the deer and the rabbits help themselves to the Paco All-You-Can-Eat Buffet, wolfing down my Mexican petunias and my green beans, and this weekend I saw a turtle moving at speed (for a turtle) from among the new mum plantings, which I strongly suspect he pigged out on.
Introducing Seabiscuit, the official turtle of Paco Enterprises.
He (or she, as the case may be) is a sizable fellow; the shell measured about 8 inches long. I'm not sure what kind it is. We're not up against a pond or creek, so maybe it's a tortoise of some kind. Notice the olive drab, probably military spec, carapace.
Looks like a pond slider. People apparently keep them as pets. Possibly an escapee?
ReplyDeleteBy the way, pond sliders don't need a pond.
ReplyDeleteThe ones usually sold as pets are the more colorful red-eared slider. They actually retain most of their colorful markings when the get that big.
ReplyDeleteI was at someone's house early this summer that had a fairly large koi pond that was home to 3 of them, one of which was almost a foot long. They seemed to know their owner, and stayed put when he approached (expecting to be fed, I assume), but the two smaller ones dived into the water when I walked up. The big one wasn't about to leave his sunning spot on a big flat rock in the middle of the pond.
If you want to spare your flowers from the trauma of being munched on .....
ReplyDeleteThink of it as practicing for the apocalypse.
Most people don't recognize that flower beds are really feeders for a variety of critters, turtles, deer, etc. They see the critters as nuisances rather than appreciating them as resources.
DeleteThanks Jeff. Maybe I'll also add venison and hasenpfeffer to the menu.
ReplyDeleteThat is obviously a tactical turtle. While the SEALs get all the attention, most people keep mum about the tactical turtles.
ReplyDeleteJust avoid the long pig, Paco. The neighbors will talk about that.
ReplyDeleteNo, brah, Pacos them stay away from long pig. Mans what eat long pig get visit from the sheriff, by 'n by, get thrown in the hoosegow.
ReplyDeleteYou feed that to the pigs.
ReplyDeleteThink of the wildlife as emergency provisions. You're supposed to have 2 weeks on hand. You seem to have a solid month strolling around.
Paco, Maggie's new pet sure is pretty/handsome. As her pet and with the status as the official turtle of PE, Seabiscuit has immunity from any culinary adventure.
ReplyDeleteA pet is just a meal you haven't eaten yet.
ReplyDeleteOff topic, but very concerning: David Burge's (@iowahawkblog) Twitter appears to be gone.
ReplyDeleteHoly crap and WTF.
Spiny, supposedly his feed was hacked.
ReplyDeleteI see it's back but it's totally empty, "@iowahawkblog hasn’t Tweeted
When they do, their Tweets will show up here."
There's a couple replies from May 22, but that's all at the moment. I wonder if it will restored, because there's some all-time great Twitter moments in his archive.
ReplyDelete