Baby Alligator Turtle found my pond :-(

[CountryEscape]

Yikes, I sure hoped to see that the baby had arrived safe and sound, but have heard nothing, so now I'm really worried.... again. :-(

 

[fishin4cars]

Houdini made it safe and sound about 3pm this afternoon. He's settling in and found himself a spot he likes to sit for now. Seems to have made the trip with no issues except a trapped air bubble that is making it hard for him to swim to the bottom of the tank right now but it's gotten better as the afternoon has gone by. I've been having PC issues and it took a while to get a good connection to post he had made it. Hopefully I can get him to eat something later this evening or in the morning.

 

[CountryEscape]

I'm sooo thrilled! Keep in mind that he is from a climate where he should be hibernating soon, and if he's anything like the red slider turtle I used to have for 4 years in my house, come October, he absolutely positively quit eating. He would swim around, but not eat. Then, in about April, he would start eating again, like clockwork. So, don't fret if he doesn't eat anything, at least for a while. His body may have gone into hibernation. But, if you look at his underside, you will see he's quite the pudgey little fellow.
Also, Larkin said he was smaller than he expected. He is a very small little Houdini. What was his mother thinking??? LOL Guess when the mood hit, she went for it, and didn't think about time of year for babies. Oh well, at least this little guy gets more sunshine and warm weather than he would have had here in IL. I'm glad about that! Good luck, and I hope he turns out to be a fun project for you.

 

[sissy]

poor kitty going to loose his toy .

 

[CountryEscape]

Haha, Sissy that kitty has plenty of other toys, like my Boston Terriers! He (Tarzan, the cat) loves to wrestle with the brindle, as they are the same age, grew up together, so I guess that's why Tarzan fetches like a dog, brings back his "toy" (which happens to be a piece of aquarium tubing LOL) when I throw it down the basement steps.

 

[sissy]

I love it when animals grow up together ,My first cat a persian angora his name was pussy galore and my chihuahua bandit and my ferret princess grew up together and the ferret and cat were bigger than the dog and when they started running and playing it would sound like a small hurricane going through the house and then I got another cat sylvester purrbody and geeze you had to get out of the way when they ran at you .So I guess you must have a ball watching them play together .They get toys but play with everything else .

 

[CountryEscape]

You are so right! Neighbor was over this evening and got concerned when the Bostons started growling and barking at each other. She thought they were fighting, but they were just wresting around with each other. I can picture your dogs and cats running through the house. My dogs have toys, but if they are NOT toys, they love to tear things up. Right now I have pieces of toys all over the living room floor ... at least it seems that way. Pick up broken pieces throw them away, and tomorrow there will be more pieces they have chewed off. At least they are not chewing the legs of the table or something like that. Love the names of your cats. Haha

 

[sissy]

Yep my first cat lived 17 years and second one was 19 years old and chihuahua was 17 years old too .I have ripped up toys too all over and hate to say chihuahua is worse at ripping them up than the pitbull .I love watching dogs or cats play .I never got another cat though after the 2 passed away .I've got my adoption papers in now for another chihuahua for pee wee to play with and just waiting for them to set up a home inspection .His name is pinto .fitting sense ford motor company in Edison NJ built the big failure pinto

 

[CountryEscape]

Aw, cute name, Sissy. So, a pinto horse is white and brown, or black, or golden, etc. Is "Pinto" the chihuahua bi-colored as well? I'm sure all will go well for you. Post pics when you get him!

 

[sissy]

pinto is 3 different shades of brown .My peewee already met pinto when I went to see him and they were a little scared of each other at first ,but that did not last long after about a half hour and a toy they were having a good time playing .

 

[fishin4cars]

Houdini's name fits him well. I went to go look for him a few minutes ago and I couldn't find him. I kept looking and was starting to worry as he wasn't in his tank. or at least I thought he wasn't. He's managed to wiggle himself into a plastic plant that is floating on the surface. he's dug himself so deep into it that all you can see his his nose sticking up. Took me a good ten minutes or so to find him. I placed a little piece of frozen brine shrimp chunk near him and he started gobbling like he was starving. he ate almost a whole chunk of brine shrimp and I found a mollie that was old and wasn't going to make it through the winter and decided to see what he would do. needless to say, he's enjoying his Thanksgiving dinner early! I can tell this little guy is going to have one heck of a appetite! I think the warmer water is making him hungry. I've got the temps cranked up to 80 degrees in the tank and he's pretty active considering how inactive they really normally should be. I've seen him on the plant, in the plant, at the bottom at the top, and last night before I went to bed he was just swimming around checking things out. Looks like all the air has escaped from his shell as he's swiiming normal now. the one thing that I am now researching is the softness of his shell. I know that baby turtle are born with semi soft shells but harden once they get in the sunlight and sun bathe. on this little guy his shell is still quite soft and knowing he's at least 2 months old has me a little concerned. It may just be a snapping turtle thing as they normally do not like to get out of the water much so it may take longer for there shells to get hard. Anyway, just wanted to report in and let CE know he's doing good and eating so i think we can call it a sucsessful trip made down south. Migratory turtle??? LOL

 

[j.w]

Hooray for Houdini he's escaped the cold winters of IL to live in warm, sunny LA. What a feat of magic! Now will this little guy stay inside during the winter and go outside during the summer where he can try to escape? You mentioned about them needing sunshine so I was just wondering. Glad he made it safely! Oh yes and ya know we do want pictures Larkin!

 

[fishin4cars]

He'll be kept inside this winter, I'll be given them all a outside home when it warms up. may not be here though. I finally got my suit settled, been looking for a new place to move. FINALLY after 5 years I can finally say I can see light at the end of the tunnel. So another pond or more than one is in the future for me. Yippie! trying to figure out now where we are going to move to, We had always said north Ga. but were now narrowing the choices down to this area, Southern Ark. or possibly back to Mississippi. Not going to be a easy search as we want enough land to be able to build a farm for the animals, plus be able to run a business off of the property. I'm thinking I want to open a pond/Koi/fish store but keep it where i can walk from the house to the business and still be close enough to a major airport to be able to ship live fish/plants/reptiles from the business to be able to sell online as well as out of store. Still a lot of figuring to do and not sure that's what I'm going to do yet or not. But the plan has been twisting around in my head for many many years.

 

[sissy]

gosh he must think he went on vacation and doesn't want to go back maybe thats why he's hiding .Well good luck on your search and you may want to think about the weather where ever your thinking of going .Seems like tornado alley is spreading out by what the weather experts say .I moved here because of the nice weather but still a change of seasons and it is much cheaper to live .So many houses on the market right now and at great prices you have a good pick .Friends of mine just bought a house in Chatham VA on 8 acres for 52 thousand .

 

[CountryEscape]

Congrats on your settlement in the near future. Larkin! Hope you find the place of your dreams. It will mean lots of work to get it where you want it, but it will be worth it.
I'm super glad that Houdini is enjoying his new digs and that you found food he enjoys. I know the other baby snapper I found the day before Houdini came (if it was a different one, that is) also had the same type of shell, so I think that is normal for this area. I know the red slider has a softer shell and it was semi-hard but he was bigger.
And, with his "disappearing" skills, now you know what I was going through trying to locate him for hours here in my house, having no clue of where he may have gone. At least now I know to never give up, and never assume the cats ate him, I'll look forever next time I have a critter get loose in my house. It's very possible he was always in the sump pump pit, and I just simply did not see him. I know I remember reaching in there and feeling all around with my fingers the first time, though. It's still possible he was snuggled up against the pipe on the back side and I didn't see him. Anyhow, glad he is enjoying the plants, etc. in his new environment.
And, you didn't say, Larkin, but if he needs sunlight to harden his shell, will an aquarium light do the same thing? I know when I had a little slider, the pet store told me it needed a bright light that would put out a small amount of heat, so it could get completely dry every now and then, but that is the red slider, and they are always on logs, etc. I still have that very costly light, too. Stupid me bought it at the pet store. LOL Now I know I should have gone to the farm and garden store and gotten a heat lamp shade, and then used a regular bright light bulb. Live and learn ....