The Drama of Owning Turtles

Lately we've been through the trials and tribulations of owning turtles. Our large turtle, Chomper, has had a rough year. She got out of our penned-off area next to the pond and was savaged by our three dogs. About $1,000 later she's better but still suffers the scars of her battle (she gave as good as she got). Her shell is slowly recovering. Turtles are little tanks, it takes a lot to damage them, and they recover very slowly. But, I think she's blind now or has diminished eyesight. So we hand-feed her veggies and fish. She likes being handled so that's not an issue, but it's sad to see her bump around in the pond. She's a trooper though and I don't think it really bothers her that much. The up-side is she doesn't have a hankering to wonder around anymore to lay her eggs. We find them periodically in the filter so she's just laying them in the water. Seems strange that she'd lay eggs that are unfertilized but I guess they must.

Our other turtle, "the little one" is a little more skittish around us since we've only had her for a year. Bryant found her in the pond and brought her home. Must have been quite a surprise for her, but she's a good companion for Chomper and she no longer has to hunt for her food. They like to sun themselves together, or sometimes the little one sits on her back. She's about four times smaller than Chomper so they look like Mutt and Jeff together. 

A few night ago, we got quite the shock. I was fast asleep, it being 4 a.m., and suddenly was woken by the sound of a big splash. I ran outside thinking one of the dogs fell into the pond, and there was a raccoon in the pond fishing for our turtles! He quickly jumped out and ran for the fence when he saw me. I grabbed my glasses and flashlight and searched the pond. I saw Chomper but couldn't see the little one. Oh Lord, did I panic, I started crying and caterwauling which woke Bruce up. I ran to the fence and could see the raccoon on the other side. I kept picturing that damn raccoon ripping off the head of my poor turtle and was beside myself with grief and anger at that damn raccoon. In all the years we've lived here, none of the neighbourhood raccoon have dared come into our yard because of the dogs.  

Then I looked in the pond again and there she was! She had been hiding between the ramp and the platform. I was so happy and started crying again from the shear joy that she was still alive. Thank goodness Bruce installed a timer on the waterfall pump last month to turn if off at night or else I wouldn't have heard the splash. And thank goodness it was summer and I had the sliding glass door open.   

And where were my wonderful watch dogs? Fast asleep.