Balls and Walnuts
more than you ever wanted to know
New critters
Friends of ours from the old days, the pre-Jake years, know us as critter-keepers, lovers of snakes and lizards and frogs and anything else with cold blood. Our collection has waned in recent years because moving is bad for pets and we’ve been moving a lot.
But now we’re settled.
And today, I saw something I couldn’t resist.
When I went to the pet store to pick up some litter for the ferrets and crickets for Karen’s tarantulas, there was a fellow there adopting out baby red-eared sliders. These are the infamous turtles sold back in the 60s and 70s for a buck apiece, along with plastic tank, plastic palm tree, and plastic cup of turtle food. Thanks to the US FDA, selling turtles with carapaces smaller than four inches diameter has been illegal since 1975.
The turtles in the pet store were tiny, just like the ones we bought as kids. They had been confiscated from a black market seller in Chinatown of LA. They’re still illegal to sell, but apparently not illegal to adopt.
Big red-eared sliders are vicious, nasty brutes that will nip off a toe or finger, given half a chance. Baby red-eared sliders are adorable scamps cuter than any other cold-blooded critter on the planet. Nevertheless, acknowledging their future as nasty brutes, I’m naming my two new pets Reggie and Ronnie, after the brothers Kray.
My goal here (aside from the simple enjoyment of watching them eat, swim, and bask) is to atone for a childhood wrong. I don’t remember how many of these guys I killed when I was young, mostly from neglect, sometimes by letting one “take a walk for exercise,” but it was at least two.
These two will live like kings. Little turtle kings.
D.
Very cute!
Here they are, basking. I love it when they stretch out their legs.
Damn, but I’m a crappy photographer.
Very cute! How long before they start biting the hand that feeds them?
The more you feed them, the more they grow. We’ll be feeding them verrry little.
I figure they’ll try to bite just as soon as their little mouths grow big enough.
I had no idea these guys got mean when they got big. That’s kind of like finding out that kittens all grow up to be man-eating tigers.
They used to sell them with the clear plastic island in the basement of Murphy’s.
and wasn’t the problem with those guys salmonella? That have anything to do with why they had to be pulled from the market? or only why our parents refused to let us have them?
So flip flops are a no-no on outdoor basking days?
Yes, it was the salmonella scare, which is still quite a threat. I always wash my hands after touching them.
Lyvvie: only if you don’t treasure your toesies.