This week, a lovely child brought me such a gift, turtle. My wiser self had reservations about keeping the little reptile. However, the girl seemed so happy to give me this pet. Since I have a few old aquariums in my vast supplies, I decided to try to maintain a home for the turtle in Room 221. I purchased some aquarium gravel, distilled water, and some recommended turtle food. I looked for care and feeding online. I found a container to hold the proper amount of water. However, the poor little guy was not able to leave his swimming pool so I replaced the dish with another water dish. He was able to leave the new dish easily, but he flipped over on his back as he exited the dish. Furthermore, he was not able to right himself and laid on the aquarium gravel flailing his little claws. After this brief excursion into turtle foster parenting, I decided that the turtle would definitely have better fortune in the wild than under my inept care so I released the little fella into a pond nearby our school. Now, the both the turtle and I are free.
19 comments:
And much happier I bet! When I was a kid I had many aquarium menageries. After awhile I figured out that I could only keep my various finds for a short while and let them go. The alternative was not so good. So I would catch them, watch them for awhile and then find something else cool to take their place. This theory worked pretty good except for the time the tadpoles grew enough legs to climb out of the aquarium in the kitchen.
Yes, that freedom is best for everybody and everything. The little guy nedded to move around in the wild. He will have some friends of his kind along with his freedom.
Hummmmm.......why just this week Kyle gave his teacher a toad.....living in the class room cause they are studing such creatures. And some kind of a cocoon.redish looking ...under a buch of sand.
Gee wonder if she liked them?
REM of Hoagland
Darn puter can't spell for nothing.
REM
I never thought of giving critters to my science teachers but am so happy you set the fella free. We crossed paths with a turtle earlier this week yet all I did was take photos, I don't really know what kind it was, it was black mostly. I'm sure people expect you to have all those answers too, so I won't ask. :)
A very wise move. Animals are not easy to maintain. At one time we had dogs, cats, and birds. It was just TOO many types of foods and issues. No, thank you.
I have to laugh at this as people are forever trying to give us critters. Last week we declined taking in some homeless hamsters, twice. Two weeks ago, we accepted a tarantula. I don't think that would survive in the wild here...
I do belive wild things should remain wild. I'm not so sure that all captive bred could survive
Wild animals are better left in the wild. Good choice.
Cute turtle, though! Next time, it wold probably be better if you got the chocolate ones, right?
Ya did good! Turtles are not supposed to live in a glass box.
Glad the turtle is out in the wild...and so are you, sorta-kinda.
We had a turtle that we got from my brother - he had it about 7 years, the boy that owned it before him had it about 7 years, and we had it for about 3 years. That's what? 17 years? It doesn't seem possble, but that little fella lived forever. (He died about 6 months ago). You would have made a lifetime commitment!
We take in strays, too. That's how I ended up with a baby blue jay, and I can't even count all of the other little critters over the years.
Free and happy. Good decision.
I remember we used to catch turtles from the pond at the nearby cemetery and build little mazes and obstacles courses for them in the sandbox. Looking back on it, they probably didn't like that very much.
I so enjoyed reading this post. I receive my share of unique gifts from students, too, although I've never received living or dead animals. I do have quite a collection of stuffed animals that play music!
My son had a turtle named Franklin for three years, but he never seemed particularly happy. How does one know if a turtle is happy? I can only imagine that if I were a turtle, I'd be happier in a big pond than in an aquarium. Good choice! I teach English, so my students just bring me their essays, but at least some of those are a source of entertainment.
That is one cool turtle!
I board 300 dogs and cats at a time and when we get a turtle named "reggie" to stay with us for the weekend randomly, I think he gets more attention than all the other animals lol
That turtle was much too big to keep anyway. I used to raise turtles. After they were bigger than my fist it was time to let them go. But that's so sweet that the student automatically thought you'd be interested!
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