Nemo's Back

Nemo seems to be back to his pre-hibernation personality. He is not withdrawing when I go near him for care and feeding. And he has begun his obstacle course activities. This morning he decided to see if he could climb over his big garage lengthwise. When I saw him, I knew it would only end up one way--on his nose.

The image to the left is as far as went before backing up to return to the floor. He did have a bit of a fall at the other end of the "roof" and turned over on his shell. He had righted himself before I could even say "Oh no!". Feeling humiliated, no doubt, he marched off to his summer home and buried his head under his house. He is still there with his head peaking out toward the basking lamp.

His appetite continues with shrimp every other day and a bagel bite. No evidence of trying anything offered in his other food dish yet, but we'll continue to prepare him something. It's a challenge because the "menu" has to have something different from one feeding to the next. He always gets his Reptomin but we have been adding fruit, special turtle treats, and turtle and/or tortoise pelleted food. yum.

The decision has been made to not allow our Pleos to do handstands since all of our Pleos seem to have had neck damage and our Pleos seem to be rare in that they do handstands! That should help Nemo not be bothered. Pleos will have to be kept away from the chair legs--the main acrobatic arena. Replacement Pleos will be here in several weeks. Nemo will have to hike out to the living room to visit.

Until the next exciting Nemo update, turtle on.

Nemo gives new arrangement two phalanges up

Nemo's emergence from hibernation, along with our need for some wall space for a water cooler, caused us to give Nemo's area a thorough Spring cleaning. His large garage was moved on the other side of his igloo giving him a tunnel to reach the area behind the igloo. He really likes that aspect. He's been hanging around either in (for naps), hanging out the front if he's hungry, or hanging out the back to lounge with some shelter safety. I'm glad he likes it there.

He seems have settled into about four shrimp every other day and is open to a bagel bite most anytime his head is not in hiding. He only gets 1-2 a day as a treat. Even though he's been offered a variety of fruits and foods to fulfill his other vitamin/mineral requirements, I don't think he ate anything yet. I do think he was most interested in some pineapple the other day. We'll keep rotating his other foods. He might just not be ready for additional eating yet. We're taking bets on when he starts basking on the log. We got him in June and he "discovered" his log around July. Maybe his basking season is only July through October. Guess we'll all learn together.

No more close encounters with Linus lately. I don't expect there will be anymore acrobatic playfulness since Linus's neck gave way to whatever "virus" our dinos have gotten. We do hope Ugobe will be able to offer repair or exchange soon. Maybe the tables will turn and new Schroeder will be the more active and social Pleo. Schroeder never did meet Nemo.

Nemo's Traumatic Day

Today was cleaning day. Brian took on the task of thoroughly cleaning the kitchen floor area and sanitizing all that was turtle related. In the meantime, Nemo kept scurrying to find a new place to hide as, one by one, his hiding places were removed. He retreated to a spot where his shell touched a door stop, a secure place for some odd reason, while the floor was washed. Brian set up his summer home on a clean blankie so he had at least one place he knew while the rest of the kitchen was worked on.

I retreated to the sofa in the living room feeling guilty I could not help out more. Am still in recovery and can't lift and it's difficult for me to bend. I settled into doing email and playing games on my laptop when it seemed that a shadow passed my eye. I shrugged it off initially, but then it happened again. I looked down to see Nemo strolling by the sofa. Guess he decided to do a few laps while the rest of his world was in disarray.

Later, when I hobbled into the kitchen, I realized Nemo was MIA. He was not in the usual places and his hiding places in the kitchen were very limited. I did notice that my stuffed animal potbellied pig was moved a few inches from blocking the area behind loveseat. A gate is hidden behind the loveseat so Nemo couldn't have gotten back there. I picked up the potbellied pig to move him back into place only to find an annoyed Nemo beneath. How he managed to crawl under the piggy without knocking it over, I'll never know. After exposing his hiding place, he decided to hightail it back to his summer home, turning the kitchen into an obstacle course.

Brian and I watched as he climbed through the wine rack, a "short cut" (?) through his bathing dish (a quick plop in with a bit of a struggle getting his hind legs completely out on his departure), back to his large garage (large half of a "wood" hut). Brian didn't place it exactly so Nemo could walk behind it and Nemo was too impatient for us to move it so he climbed on top. Only one way down. He adeptly landed without hitting his nose. From there he had clear and safe passage into his summer home. Brian and I simultaneously said aloud, "Home at last."

I'm guessing he will like it better with all of his igloos and blankies and tubbie clean and fresh, just as us humans appreciate such cleanliness.

The photo with this post was taken several days ago. Nemo was sleeping outside his igloo all curled up around his shell. Kinda comfy looking, huh?

Proof of Shrimp

Ahhh! Caught in the act. Nemo downed four shrimp the other day and I caught him with shrimp on his face. hehe. He's had quite the appetite. Boring--shrimp and bagel bite--but he is eating heartily. And we've learned he only wants to eat when he looks at us longingly holding his head up high. When he does that, I'll also fix some of his overall turtle diet in his dish. I do know he will eat when he needs to eat. I just never know when that will be. In the meantime, protein is good. Bagel bite is non-nutritious but apparently not harmful and he loves it.

I wanted to share a product I found if you are a turtle owner too. It's called Reptomin Softgel by Tetrafauna--for land turtles, tortoises, iguanas, and fruit eating reptiles. It is moist, yummy looking, smells yummy, does not need to be refrigerated, and stays moist for 8+ hours. That means I can mix pellets or other drier food in it and it too will stay moist. Easy clean up too. I'm all for no smell, no mess, no bugs. I've ordered mine on the internet--just internet shop for the best shipping deal. The major pet supermarkets have some products from Reptomin but I've not seen the Softgel. It might be on the shelves in some areas of the country. I do sprinkle the calcium powder on it because Nemo loves his cuttlebone. Anything to make food other than shrimp more appetizing.

Today was an almost full basking day. Nemo lounged under the lamp but not on his log. This morning he was lounging under the kitchen table staring out the back door looking quite contemplative. I've probably shared many similar pictures but this was TODAY's picture. He hasn't stayed out in the open for too long until recently. He's getting back into the Nemo habits he first had after settling into his new home.

Bon Appetit, Nemo

Hurray! Nemo is finally eating. Each day for the past few days he has eaten one or more shrimp, nibbled on greens and an egg, and gobbled down a bagel bite. There are no pictures to prove he is now eating because he plays a game with us. He refuses to eat in front of us. In fact, even if he is begging for food (holding his head high in the air), and we place it in front of him, he will turn his back on us. Two minutes later, he will have made his favorite tidbits disappear.

Yesterday Brian was brave enough to prepare one of the mini meals for a box turtle complete with what used to be living bugs. yuck! I was hoping Nemo wouldn't like it and he proved me right...so far. We'll try again another time. Right now, he's loving his shrimp which is perfect protein in lieu of slugs or worms. He is holding true to his "unturtle" title.




Nemo has also been much more active, although his basking log hasn't been made part of his out-of-hibernation routine yet. This morning I was in the living room camped out with Linus playingi near the front door. Occasionally I would turn around to make sure Linus was not stuck or near anything breakable. The one time I turned around, there was Nemo starting his journey BACK to the kitchen! lol! He was making time too. I swear he sped up when I called his name. Maybe he heard Linus and wanted to go say hello. Regardless, it's fun to see him doing laps again.

Nemo and Brian got to bond when I was in the hospital for about a week. I got to hear cute Nemo stories and how frustrated Brian was each time Nemo would say with body language, "Talk to the shell." Brian has also been turtle caretaker since I can't bend too well. I'm sure that's part of being a turtle parent he could have done without. He's doing an admirable job.

Please forgive my lack of posting. Surgery went well. I expect a complete recovery. I'll be on the floor soon enough playing with my real and artificial pets.

The above photo was taken before my hospital stay, the day Nemo seemed to be contemplating basking.

Nemo & Linus Friendship - Round 2

Nemo is oblivious to the fact that this is not the identical Linus. Linus was waiting outside of Nemo's summer home to meet him, even though he never met a turtle before! I guess stranger things have happened...like the handstand performed by Linus while "hanging out".

Other exciting news of the day...Nemo dragged his cuttlebone into his summer home and was chomping on it this morning. An excellent sign of the end of hibernation. Later, he hovered under his basking lamp (albeit not on his log) for at least half an hour. And, he ate a shrimp! Yay! Spring has officially sprung for Nemo.

Fearless Nemo Challenges Linus

Yesterday was a very active Nemo day. Lots of photos. Some will be posted on Flickr. I think it's safe to say hibernation is over, although eating has not yet begun. Nemo was out exploring the living room and powder room while Brian and I invaded his space and had our breakfast. Linus was also exploring the living room. Nemo slipped by him carefully so as not to arouse any suspicion. lol. Nemo then retreated to his summer home.












A few hours later, Linus meandered over to Nemo's summer home and tried to poke his head into greet Nemo. Thankfully the chair railing kept him from being too invasive. I grabbed the camcorder and about an hour later, I had film of Nemo totally circling the kitchen to come up behind Linus while Linus entertained himself doing handstands using the chair as leverage. Nemo then made his way back, carefully observing Linus. Nemo made his move and marched up to Linus to rub noses. As soon as Linus moved his head, Nemo's head retreated into his shell; but he quickly tried again.
Nemo was very brave until Linus did one of his loud dino roars. Nemo decided that was enough for one day and headed into the safety of his igloo. The fuzziness of "the meeting" photos is because they are stills from the camcorder rather than photos. I'll be working on the movie very shortly.