Goodbye Donatello

Early Monday morning, we dropped off Donatello at the guardhouse. DENR will pick him/her up this morning. We wanted to meet the crew, but I unfortunately have an appointment.

Surprisingly, the guard said they also found a baby turtle two weeks ago. That's not a good sign since it means there may be two egg laying female turtles in our area. We have a creek that I think connects to the bay.

We gave Donatello the best quality of life we could provide. The boys managed to get some pellets and the pet store owner suggested to give Donatello some guppies. Two to three tiny ones a day. He/she seemed to enjoy the guppies. Made friends with two and just ate one. 

I honestly didn't spend that much time with Donatello last night. I didn't want to get too attached since I would have a hard time letting it go. Donatello though would poke his head out whenever I said hello. I can only hope that he'll have a good life with the DENR folks (yes, I know euthanasia is possible).

Farewell Bud.

#BeKind #StaySafe

Baby Turtle Update

After the shock of finding a baby turtle in our garage, we scrambled to figure out how to make it comfortable. We watched a couple of videos, read some articles and pinged friends knowledgeable with animals.

We put the baby turtle in a container with rocks and lettuce. At bedtime we put a small lamp. It probably provided a little heat, but it's the best we have on hand. The baby turtle was really exhausted. I couldn't imagine how it dodged all our cats. It rested and just kept swimming.

By morning, I noticed it was cleaner. It's color is a nice shade of green. It had dots and reminded me of one of the stones Mom used for her stone craft business. Donatello would poke his head out of the water whenever I saw hello. Not sure if he was reacting to my voice or checking out if I'm food.

I was honestly bothered about finding a baby turtle in our garage. We are not ready to take on a new animal much as we love having them. Taking care of a turtle is a whole new ballgame. I was worried we couldn't give it a proper home.

I did more research about it being an invasive specie. I found that Chinese soft shelled turtles are not endemic to our country. The DENR declared it as alien and requires anyone who finds one to surrender it to them. They are also not allowed to be returned to the wild.

So, as a good citizen, I sent a report to the DENR office that covers our area. They had replied by the time I woke up. They wanted to pick up Donatello by afternoon, but we were out. We scheduled the pick up for Monday. 

As much as I'd love to have a pet turtle, I think it's best to surrender Donatello. If I let it grow it might eventually wreak havoc to the eco-system. In the meantime, we'll keep him company for the weekend. 

#BeKind #StaySafe

Found this Little Guy in the Garage

I went out last night to check on the cats and give them some food. I called Grogu since he was outside the gate. As he came in, Sweetie went out and noticed I had so many cats surrounding me. He was helping move the cat plates when he noticed a round green moving object.

It was tiny and he almost stepped on it. We both exclaimed, "Turtle?". I immediately grabbed a pot plate and Sweetie covered the tiny turtle. There were 5 cats milling around and they were already curious, so we had to protect it first.

Finding an exotic animal in our premises is nothing new. Last year's surprise was a hedgehog! Luckily, a neighbor approached us a few hours after looking for their lost cat. We asked if they happen to be looking for a hedgehog. They were looking for their pet for more than two months already and were so glad to be reunited with it.

I pinged a friend for advise and she said to put it in water with rocks. We don't have any turtle stuff, so we made do with a container, new rocks and bits of lettuce.

Baby turtle was so happy when we put it in water. It put itself on the side and it's resting. Maybe it had a huge adventure before finding itself in our garage. I suspect one of the cats probably picked it up somewhere and brought it home. I hope it's not traumatized. We'll figure out what to with it today.

Welcome to our home, Donatello ❤️

#BeKind #StaySafe