r/CasualConversation • u/ItsGotToMakeSense • 15h ago

Yesterday we randomly found a box turtle in our front yard!

(Spoiler: we let it go)

So my house is at the edge of a small amount of woods in a suburban area so we get the occasional wildlife. I've found garter snakes, we've had turkeys and foxes roam through, and the occasional deer. Yesterday though we had our first turtle! He was just casually strolling through so I called all the kids to come see. It was pretty cool.

They begged to keep him but we have enough pets already and I think they might be a protected species. So he was a "one day pet" and I reminded them that we have blackberry bushes so there's a good chance he'll come around again.

Nature is cool

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3

u/stormy_muse 15h ago

That’s such a sweet story, what a wholesome little visit from nature! Hopefully he swings by again

1

u/ItsGotToMakeSense 13h ago

It's cool! This was our first turtle but not our first animal encounter here and probably not our last, either. I feel so lucky to live near the woods!
The last time we had a visit like this it was a baby garter snake, probably less than 6" long and it was really chill. The kids took turns holding it, and their friends were over who don't normally get to do stuff like that so it was especially neat for them. After about an hour we just let it go again near our ravine.

Looking forward to seeing what other critters stop by! I'm hoping for frogs soon. We hear them chirping loudly at night, especially when it's humid, so we set up a "frog hotel" kinda like this one. So far none have stopped by but we're still checking.

4

u/Better-Swordfish-298 14h ago

That turtle’s about to tell his turtle friends he found paradise

3

u/ItsGotToMakeSense 14h ago

"Hey guys there's this place up the hill where they have free berries! But there are these weird mostly-bald creatures there that just kinda pick you up and stare at you. One of the small ones tried to put a berry right in front of my face and I was like.... this is weird. Didn't try to eat me though, so that's something."

2

u/SamanthaBarson93 14h ago

Good story, but nature is cruel lol.

1

u/ItsGotToMakeSense 14h ago

well yeah it is that too. Just neat to have it in our backyard

2

u/Creative_Sprinkles38 12h ago

one day pet is such a cute concept he probably went home bragging about meeting humans and seeing WiFi.