Turtle in my Garden

My dad hunted too. Squirrel, rabbit, duck, pheasant. Once, when I was little, a turkey, (white) fell off the truck. My Mom scooted it with her foot into the old chicken house and we had it for Thanksgiving.

(I love Jalapeno Black Eyed Peas and I'm drinking my tea from a large insulated mug. LOL!)

I've really enjoyed the turtle pictures. For some reason the clover is a nice touch.

Being a Cajun from South Louisiana, we have always eaten things that would scare the rest of the country. LOL Cajuns as a whole have never been rich by the world's standards but we have never gone hungry and we have the richest culture of any group of people. Roads and television nearly put an end to it. Roads allowed other cultures to gain access into the bayouland and TV took the place of neighbors visiting on the porch after the day's work was done. Our language was almost lost when the outside world came in to "give the cajuns a better life" with schools and such. The Cajun kids were punished with corporal punishment if they were caught speaking French. They were considered stupid if they didn't speak English as their first language. Their "brilliant" teachers could only speak one language!! All water under the bridge now but the effects still remain.

As far as the food goes, I have always told people, "When you visit the bayou, don't ask what's in the food. Just eat it and enjoy. I guarantee it will be delicious. Whatever it might be. LOL

We eat these too.

As long as they don't eat you first, LOL!

It has been known to happen but thankfully they are not really aggressive with people. They are more often shy of people. In their natural world they don't see something as big as a human as food. They mostly eat fish and small animals. A gator has to be big to take anything larger, say a calf or a dog, but it has happened. Also, as people have encroached more into the gator's habitat and fed them they more and more look to humans as a food source. It has caused problems. I don't think they will ever become naturally aggressive like a salt water croc. Those things are scary mean.

Did you notice how many turtles are in the water with the gator?

YES, I didn't think it was just one gator eye showing at a time, laughing!

That's what I like about this wildlife forum. It's an education for sure. I'm one of those Northern folk born and raised, but have a Texas heritage. My mother was from San Antonio and my older sister was born in Oklahoma. And she never could get me to eat okra LOL.

I've had it deep fat fried at a restraunt, but have never eaten it any other way.

You can take a scrub brush and clean the turtle shell. She might feel a lot better afterwards. Looks like a box turtle might be under all that crud.
I had a pet turtle once and he decided to hibernate. I found him about a foot under ground. I didn't know turtles could dig so well.
When my co-workers husband a farmer would till his fields in the spring he would unearth a lot of box turtels and many were a pretty good size. She would bring some to work for anyone who wanted a pet. I remember one of the box turtles had a shell about a foot in diameter, but someone else adopted him before I got a chance.

I'd love to see her cleaned shell.

Interesting to dig up so many boxes.

How did you ever find yours? Did he leave a clue?

Well this Texan has ...and I"d bet a buck my Cajun friend... cleaned um, but not for pretty.........and there are a few Southern restraunts in the Dallas area serving fried gator now

Our porch decoration, found object. We don't trap snappers.

Billy, I found him because the ground was disturbed by the fence line so I dug down to see what was going on. There he was. No wonder they disappear so quickly.
I had three box turtles once and put them out of their enclosure for exercise. I forgot they were out and never did see them again. It was only a short while.
One I had put an H on the shell for Harold and left him go. The next year the neighbor girls brought him over and said they found him and wanted to know if he was mine. LOL I am kind of a Tomboy even grown up. LOL
When we lived in Missouri near Sedalia, the town was actually called Knob Knoster and that is where my son was born. In the spring the turtles would be crossing the main highway to get where ever. I would rescue them from the traffic and had quite a few with damaged shells. There were a lot of them that time of year and they were the box turtle types. I hate to see turtles in the roadway.
I found a tiny baby turtle last year in the yard. I have no idea where he came from. He must have walked a long way as my yard is all grass and pretty big. No adults in sight. I just put him near the water spigot and don't know what ever happened to him.
I had a neighbor once who had a pet turtle for her son. Her Dad drilled a small hole in the edge of its shell and put a long shoe string through it. They just let him loose in the back yard and when they wanted to find him would locate him by the string. It was pretty cool.
So many turtle stories. LOL

All interesting. I've only had sliders show up on my door step so far. I don't live near any water, so I have no idea how far he traveled.
We turn around and rescue turtles crossing the road too. Why do they want to cross? They can just swim to the other side!

jusr skimmed through this real quick was scared to hear if the turtle climbed the "beanstalk!"
LOL

magoobu.......are you talkin' to me???????

I bet you are.......

Actually, I was not going to tell anyone but the turtle layed the eggs and the beanstalk started to grow.

Now that should send a lot of people checking threads.......ROTFLMBO&PMP


Hap

ROTFLMAOWMP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

maybe he is the turtle who lays GOLDEN eggs???

HMMMMMMMMM

You guessed it.....

This plant was from the Giant and I did not want to tell anyone. Now what should I do?

well now! and I am only suggesting this but.....

GET THE GOLDEN EGGS!

KEEP THE TURTLE

Share the wealth LMAO!!!!!

ROTFL!!!!!

Love it Magoobu!

so how are those eggs??? golden I bet!

Yes, speaking of eggs, what do turtle eggs look like and how big are they?

About the size of a ping pong ball, white, round and the shell is a bit tougher and with a bit more give than a chicken egg. As well as I remember, anyway. It's been years since I saw any.

What I saw yesterday near the nest was little balls broken open. Goldish colored.... About the size of my thumb nail. That's not it, huh? She was not that big, I don't think, to lay a ping pong ball. but what do I know. When I gave birth, three times, I thought that I was delivering a watermelon........NO LOL

Hap

The ping pong sized eggs were from a large snapping turtle. I don't know what color or size another turtle's eggs or a tortoise' eggs would be. You could google it.

Eggs are soft shelled when they come out, so it would harden afterwards.
My box turtle once laid eggs that were about half the size of a chicken egg. That was a long time ago and she was PG when I got her and she laid the eggs in a box, so they never hatched.
Hers were off white colored.

I don't think these were egg shells, they were too tiny. Come to think of it, the babies would have to be seen with a microscope.

Thanks..