An Unexpected Visitor

Hello there
my name is ...



Timothy


I wanted to title this post "A New Addition to the Family" because when Julia came across a turtle in our back yard a couple of weeks ago (after a significant downpour) we all really wanted him to stay.
Knowing very little about turtles, we did some research online to discover that Lucy (as Mila named her) was actually a him. So Lucy became Timothy Thomas Turtle. Mr T is a wild three toed box turtle and seemed quite happy and healthy wondering back and forth in our back yard. We watched him intently and marvelled at his charm and self sufficiency and his ingenious turtle body. We read that turtles can acquire germs from humans and so, there was not much touching but a lot of watching going on. And personally, this made me very happy. It was especially satisfying to watch him eat.
One morning, we heard scratching as we ventured in the garden. Julia investigated further to find the T balancing precariously, wedged between the waterfall and the wall. We placed him on the ground and he seemed rather grateful and not very shy from that point. Julia picked a flower for him and lay it right in front of his shell. He stretched out an inquisitive neck and ate it up! This led to an hour of digging up earth worms and watching the T shoot out his head with great speed and at every angle to devour the squiggly treats. How Lovely.
So lovely, that focusing on acquiring the worms we didn't notice him walking straight into the house. After searching the area we last saw him, I stuck my head in the house to hear a scritch scratch that led me to the farthest corner of our dining room.

But then one afternoon, after indulging us for a week, he was gone. I wondered if I should have fenced him in and whether he would survive outside our lush, protected yard. Why did he not choose to stay? Who knows, maybe turtles are social creatures and he had a family to get back to. I hope he visits again one day.