Turtle Thursday: Roxy's New Trick

Roxy basking on his old "perch."

If it seems that my Turtle Thursdays haven't been so personal as of late, that's because they haven't been. I was away and slapped up some copy and paste turtle posts. They were either important or good things to know nonetheless, but not my usual personal experiences. Today that will change. Today I want to share a little story about

ROXY'S NEW TRICK

You may not be able to teach an old dog new tricks, but it seems that an old turtle can learn stuff. Roxy's always been bright and lively, maybe even too much so with his raucous attitude, but one thing he's never had interest in was ESCAPE!

You may be surprised to know that turtles are very cunning escape artists. I think humans tend to underestimate the capabilities of these animals for many reasons: they are slow and make very cautious moves. That's part of their mystique. They watch and learn and evaluate and figure things out.

Roxy has been kept in his isolation tank for a couple years now. His ruthless battles for territory supremacy, as well as control over the harem required him to be kept alone. He seemed fine in there alone. He would just swim about lazily and spend the day relaxing and basking on his floating island. But it seems he had enough while we were on vacation. Hours before we were scheduled to arrive at JFK Intl Airport my brother came by the house to check on the animals. He took a glimpse in the unoccupied dry tank and noticed something odd. It was occupied. Roxy was sitting in this dark and dry bin. My brother stood there and pondered the situation. This animal escaped from a nice clean tank with warmth and light only to fall into a dark, dry, and cold bin. Not a smart move, especially since these animals can dehydrate and die if they go for more than 24 hours without water. He tossed the little guy back into the tank and he was fine.

The moment I got home my brother was on the phone warning me about this so I can keep an eye on Roxy. That's the important detail, once a turtle learns a way to escape, he will just keep doing it until you impede his attempts. By the next day Roxy had escaped two more times, and I became worried. I don't want him hurting himself falling from the tank. I put up a big piece of Lucite to block his path. It was a good idea as it prevent him from escaping...

...For three days.

Roxy changed direction, and climbed out of the front of the tank under the basking light. That was yesterday. I put up another piece of Lucite to block that direction. We'll see how long that holds up.