Tuttle

Our turtle, Tuttle, plays in a tank that sits about 2 ½ feet off the ground. The tank is 2 feet long and 1 foot wide. Although the tank holds approximately 20 gallons of water, there is less than that. If more was put in, he would be climbing out and that would not be a pretty site. We are his third family and will be his last. I estimate he is eight years old. His first family grew bored with him. The second family, a former co-worker, was from Hawaii. The mom grew up catching turtles from the ocean and eating them. Tuttle was beginning to water her palate. I was looking for one as a pet after seeing a teacher keep hers in her classroom for 7 years. This co-worker sent out an email asking for any interested takers. We thought hard about it. Questions of where would he go in our already small apartment abounded. My daughter was totally against it because of the lack of space. My oldest son said it was my decision and he would support me either way. I decided to take a chance not knowing how big Tuttle was. Leap of faith if you will.

            He was brought to our humble home in a very small tank. At 10pm that night we bought a 10 gallon tank so that he would have room to at least move. Not a good idea. It, too, was not large enough. The next morning we splurged and bought a 20 gallon tank and put it on an old t.v. stand that was being used for books and basically junk. I painstakingly decorated it. He seemed content. We also kept it uncovered. I really knew nothing about caring for him except for what I’d seen the teacher do and what I found on the internet.

            We named him after the fictional character on M.A.S.H., Captain Tuttle. M.A.S.H. is a television series from that ran from 1972 to 1983. It has been our family’s all time favorite series. Captain Tuttle represented a sense of altruism that we felt about this turtle.

            One of our cats was intrigued by Tuttle. Kolipoki is a robust, part Siamese cat with a gentle nature. It became his routine to squat at the corner of Tuttle’s tank while drinking the water. As he did so, his long tail would hang down into the water. This happened every time Kolipoki wanted a drink. Of course Tuttle was facinated at this thing floating in his space. Every time Koli partook of the goodness of that succulent treat, Tuttle observed. Inching closer to the hanging object, Koli drank oblivious to his observer until one day when… SNAP!  Tuttle snapped at Koli’s tail! Kolipoki flew quick as a whip!

            It only happened once more after and then just briefly.

            Tuttle continues to amaze us with his intelligence. When my daughter and granddaughter were staying with us, Lizzy wasn’t quite a year old. As she stood up to Tuttle’s tank, her head reached just above the bottom. Excited at seeing this creature, she would bounce up and down. Tuttle, excited to have an audience, would crouch down so that he was eye-to-eye with Lizzy. As his legs were flapping, so was Lizzy in utter amazement! Truly a sight to behold!

            I knew the day would come when Tuttle would start to outgrow his tank and figure a way to get out. He had already tried several times by climbing onto the filter. At least that lead to other junk and was safe enough. I was just hoping it would happen after we moved being that we have so little room as it is. Not so. One Sunday I was “busy” relaxing by working on a difficult puzzle. I kept hearing Tuttle’s filter make an odd sound. Pushing the sound to the back of my mind because I was busy relaxing, the sound persisted. Finally, I got up to check on it. There was Tuttle just about to climb out the tank. The fall would have proved injurious. The moment he saw me he slid back into the water! Terrified at the thought of him being hurt I instantaneously devised a plan. I cut the lid from a plastic storage box to shape the tank and put a heavy plant on top.

            I told my colleague at work the next day about the incident. She suggested letting him crawl around outside occasionally. DUH! I wished that I had thought of that long ago. Now he has another audience – the neighborhood kids.

Kelli McDonald 5/24/12