Nemo Curls Up Like Cat ?!

You have to admit, Nemo is strange. He's the most relaxed turtle ever. For a few days, it has appeared to me he has snuggled up like a cat (kinda wrapped around himself with his head out resting on the ground as if on a pillow) curled in the direction of his shell. I couldn't be sure because he was under his hide.

Today he had another busy morning. It was so unhumid and gorgeous outside, I let him run up both sides of the yard. When he went inside, he immediately marched over to his wading pool. After hydrating for a few minutes, he began to move his back legs like he were swimming--which is normal for him. It is rather comical to watch. Soon thereafter, he figured out, if he held onto the edge of the dish, he could splash his little legs more vigorously. At one point, he looked so happy and nearly jumped out of the wading dish in the way a puppy playing would suddenly squirm.

For the remainder of the day, he chose to do off-the-log basking. By late afternoon, he crawled under the log blanket. The photo you see is what I saw when I randomly came in the room a few hours later. Even though it appears someone "tucked him in", he managed to get in that comfy position with the blanket all by himself. I now have the answer to my question. Yes, my turtle curls up like a cat--kinda sorta.

When I first adopted Nemo and began to observe him, I would panic thinking he broke his leg because of some of his positions. Both Brian and I have each had the opportunity to walk through his area in the wee hours of the morning to find him totally sprawled out on the linoleum floor (as opposed to asleep in his hide curled up in a blanket or a lump under one of his blankets). The first thought the first time for each of us was that he was dead. omg. But noooooo. It was Nemo just chillin'.

A Day in the Life of the Un-Turtle

Today was production day for Nemo's most "sophisticated" YouTube video to date. It was fun to make. I even figured out some frame transitions. It includes my favorite photos of Nemo and some footage of him moving. It will likely be my last one for awhile. Will need to accumulate new footage. I'm sure there will be an unending supply of adorable Nemo photos for the blog though.

Aside from my having a busy morning camped out on my sofa recuperating from surgery, Nemo had quite a busy morning too. He made two laps around the kitchen when I first woke up stopping to check out his domain: was his cuttlebone still the way he left it, was anything moved for which he did not give permission, and something must be going on inside his igloo that he keeps stopping in for brief visits.

He seems to be more active when both Brian and I are here. We are usually in the living room and each of us will say hello to him as we pass by his habitat on our way to the kitchen. Today he decided to venture into the living room surprising Brian as he went toward the kitchen. I remained on the sofa and was greatly amused by his marching between the big chair and ottoman and circling back into the kitchen. For two days he has been a lump. Today must be activity day.

As you can see, I caught him in another unusual relaxation pose this morning. What is it with his legs? Brian thinks he's double jointed. lol.

"Outward Stretching Palms" Yoga Basking

So far, no turtle owner has come forward to let me know that Nemo's seemingly strange poses are normal. I don't know what goes on in his little turtle mind to choose his basking poses, but the common element of his basking ritual is to turn in 90 degree increments until he has basked all sides. Just before I took this picture, his head was straight up in what I call the periscope position for maximum "sun" exposure to his neck. I do think he's a little ham since he often looks right at the camera.

This particular pose is unusual because of the position of his front feet--outward stretching palms. See his back right leg stretched straight back? His left toes can be seen behind and to the left of his head. Must be comfy to him.

Today was a blanket basking day as opposed to a log basking day. I wonder what determines what kind of day it will be.

Nemo had his first "home alone" experience this past weekend when I unexpectedly had a two-night stay in the hospital. Poor little guy had his basking light on all night on Friday. Saturday night, Brian checked on him and had some quality bonding time. He really is enamored with Nemo. I think Nemo was mad at me when I came home for abandoning him. He perked up when I first went over to talk to him but then he turned around in a little turtle huff and crawled under his blue blanket. About an hour later, I noticed he had worked his way from under the blanket to the opposite side to peek out so he wouldn't miss any of the view.

His new diet isn't working too well yet. I did order some special turtle veggie treats. Am hoping he might actually like them. He continues to have his own mind and surprises me everyday with something adorable. Me and a reptile. I still can't believe it.

Nemo Goes to the Vet

Today was Nemo's big day out. I placed him in a deep magazine holder because I knew the plastic containers I had he would climb out of. Well he was climbing out of this one too. He'd get his little front toes hooked on the ledge and start pulling. Strong little guy. He was much calmer on the drive back than going.

Very nice lady vet. She pronounced Nemo healthy and handsome. Will have to place him on the tough love diet though. Turtles can go two to three WEEKS without food and be okay! So I needn't fret about him not chowing down every two or three days.

New diet will be everything he's supposed to have mushed together so he doesn't have a choice. If he wants the good stuff, he'll have to ingest some of the leafy greens and veggies. Back to the market. I was buying a bag of whatever to remove one green bean or one asparagus only to find out he hated it. I think stores should sell corn by the kernel and broccoli by the sprout. That will be 49 cents please.

After arriving home, I placed Nemo in his zen garden to see if he might look around for some high protein worms or slugs. Of course not. He figured out how to scale the side of the terra cotta pot and look at me pleadingly to get him out of there.

One thing good about vet visits is that, if a pet has not allowed handling, the owner becomes the good guy at the vet's office. Pet becomes very touchable and even clingy. After getting into his un-natural habitat of blankies and zen plants, Nemo took a very long bath in his little pool. I guess all that stress dehydrated him. Omg. He can't have anymore toasted bagel. He'll probably go through withdrawal. The prosciutto bugs are okay though as a treat. Yay!

Can you touch your toes like this?

This is a new position. Ok, you gotta look carefully. See how his arm is aimed backwards? See how his back leg on the same side is weirdly angled forward? His front nails are a fraction of an inch from the center of his foot. His toes are angled into the shade (by the Rice Chex). And to make it an even more kundalini yoga position, his other leg is stretched way back under the blanket. We could name this "Turtle half climbing basking log relaxation pose".

The Garden Uninhabited by Nemo

This is part of the "zen garden" I created for Nemo prior to his arrival. You can barely see the overturned large terra cotta bowl in the back left corner shaded by the lovely wisteria. The shallow aqua bowl was to be his drinking dish and wading pool. The little pond is cute. The flowers around the pond now nearly make the pond invisible, covering it with bright pink blooms. Alas, Nemo hates it. Initially we thought perhaps he didn't like the cocoa mulch which is likely popular because I live near Hershey, PA. Brian and I changed over to large bark nuggets which looks lovely and provides for better footing.

It didn't matter, Nemo can't run fast enough to get out. A fence has been put around the area to the left of the steps to turtle proof. He tries to climb the fence. I still try to take him out a few times a week for "jogging up the hill" because he does need fresh air, sunshine, and exercise. I was hoping he'd at least like to linger for a bit. Maybe it's the therapist in me, but I wonder what scary thing happened in a garden in his past.

I still love the garden. Each time I look at it, I can feel an "ahhhhhh" thing happening. Several birds like to bathe in the "wading dish". I'm hoping to find a fat toad to live in the garden. It has to be fat so it can't escape through small openings in the fence. Maybe it will befriend Nemo during the panicked visits. lol.

In the meantime, I'm worried about Nemo. Because he's such an unturtle, he doesn't eat right. We meet his new vet tomorrow. I saw the picture in the box turtle manual of how to force feed a turtle. omg. I sure hope that doesn't have to happen. He will hate me for sure. Just want him to be healthy. He certainly seems happy.

Turtle Blanket Laundry Day

I guess not too many pet turtle owners have turtle laundry day. Mine averages about once a week. I decided to stack the clean blankies on top of Nemo's igloo today while he happened to be lounging inside watching all that was going on. It was so colorful and cozy looking. New to the habitat is the Baby Boyd's dinosaur "Rex" now living atop the garage.

When turtles live outdoors, they like to burrow into the mud or leaves just until the bottom outer part of the shell is covered. Nemo has developed the art of burrowing "into" a blanket. Except what he really does is fluff up the blanket around his shell. I haven't actually watched him do it but am guessing he does a swimming motion with his legs to create the desired little piles of blankie bunches around him. However he does it, he sure looks comfy. Who would want to go outside in the rain and mud and eat worms if you could be inside being pampered and stay nice and dry eating prosciutto bugs or fruit yogurt? Un-turtlism is definitely an artform to my handsome guy.