I would like to thank my good friend and fellow Master Naturalist Larry Riddick for educating me into the mysteries of Turtle ( especially Box Turtles) carapaces, plastrons, scutes and other sundry details. The Box Turtle male has a dimpled plastron, long hind leg claws, a long tail and usually red eyes. The female have a flat plastron,short hind claws, short tail and usually beautiful Brown Eyes.
You can get a good estimation of their age by counting the ridges on their segments called scutes.
Our first turtle was brought home by our daughter in 1988. She found it trying to cross Rte 60 near Busch Gardens and was afraid it would get run over. He lived in our backyard for several years until a hurricane knocked over our fence and he disappeared.
My Affair With Miss Brown Eyes
The is a 50s song that starts with” Beautiful, Beautiful Brown Eyes, I’ll Never Love Blue Eyes Again”. Brown Eyes have drifted in and out of my life many times since I became a VMN in 2006 (Cohort 1).
The first time involved the Sunday Snake and the Monday Turtle. In the Beginning the Zoo came into existence with forays into God’s Three Acres (G3A) aka our church’s wood lot. I was invited to a Monday Zoo visit at Poquoson Elementary School when a team from the Virginia Wildlife Magazine was doing a story about the school’s new eco-friendly facilities. I wanted to take along a small Earth Snake for the children to see. Sunday morning I told Miss Ellie I was going to skip Communion and look for a “specimen” in G3A for Monday’s visit. Usually I could find a snake almost immediately under any one of the numerous “Isabel” logs in G3A. Try as I might – no snakes. My final try was under a piece of plywood in the upper end of the lot. I could always count on finding a snake there.
When I raised the plywood I found a 4 foot Black Racer, one of G3A’s apex predators. It stood its ground repeatedly striking at me. I finally pinned its head down and picked it up, It immediately wound itself around the sleeve of my suit jacket. The adage “having a tiger by the tail” came to mind.
As I carried my catch back to the church parking lot I realized I didn’t have a container big enough to put it in. I briefly thought of going into the kitchen of the Parish Hall to look for one but the church ladies were setting up Coffee Hour and I realized I really valued my life and marriage. I sat down on a log and carefully unwound the snake and set it down. It immediately tried to eat my leg. As I scrambled to the other side of the log I tripped on something. It was the first of my Brown Eyes. A beautiful female turtle looked up at me. I am convinced the Guardian Spirit of G3A looked after me. Brown Eyes went to Poquoson on Monday and back to G3A on Tuesday.
My second affair came a few weeks later. Miss Ellie & I were spring cleaning our garage on a Saturday morning when a motorcycle came roaring up. A biker dude picked something out of his saddle bag and walked over to us, He said, “ I have something for you”. And handed me a small box turtle. Susie Blutz had entered my life. Miss Ellie took one look at her and fell in love. “she is so cute” ( Miss Ellie was sure anything that pretty had to be a little girl). She named her “Susie Blutz”. It seems in her childhood home town when a new girl moved in the kids called her Susie Blutz until they became acquainted.
I was relieved to see Susie accepted as you don’t say no to a Biker Dude with the handle “Mad Dog”. Some time later Jeanette N. and I released her in Waller Mill Park after their Earth Day near the spot she was found by the Bike Club.
A little over seven years ago a big male Box Turtle took up residency in our backyard, We named him “Jacob”. Over the years we could see him looking for slugs and worms (especially after a rain).
In September of the same year I was doing some weeding in my flower beds and there in my Vinca patch sat a new turtle. She blinked her Brown Eyes at me and was immediately named “ Miss Terry”. I suspect Jacob is really happy to see her. – To Be Continued –
Miss Terry (Terrapene) Carolina
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