Hi all! This looks like a great place to share all my turtle thoughts with people who can sympathize.
I have 2 sliders - Liza Lou is a female yellow belly about 8.5". She's a true pig and quite tame - hand fed. Mercer Mayer is a male red ear about 5" and completely anti-social when it comes to humans. They live in a preformed 120 gal pond I dug for them last February with 2 large plecos, 2 goldfish (surprisingly still alive!), dozens of mosquito fish and assorted snails, frogs and toads.
All this came about just because my 15 yr old found Liza walking down the sidewalk on our street. She was about 3" then, and none of the neighbors admitted to owning her. Somehow that tiny critter convinced me to spend $$$$ and turn my front yard into a pond.
My 3 year old is a big fan of kids author Mercer Mayer (ok, ok...I am too!) and named her after a favorite character - the pond is now known as the "Yeller Belly Pond" from the same book. When I discovered another turtle in the pond about a month after it had been dug he instantly became Mercer Mayer. I still haven't figured out how he came to be in my pond, but I have a sneaking suspicion that one of my teens had a friend with turtle they had to get rid of & my kid suggested our place. He was only slightly smaller than Liza when he arrived, but she eats soooooo much more than him (I rarely see him eat) there's quite a size difference now. Despite that they seem to get along quite well.
I work f/t from home so I prob won't be on here too much, but I'll try to post some pics before I log off tonight (I'm a night owl - easier to get my work done while the kids sleep!!)
Looking forward to chatting w/ everyone soon!
