Turtle Story

My brain has felt jellied lately due to working a fair bit of overtime this week. My employer assured us a few months ago that mandatory overtime was over, and they didn’t foresee it returning. Then, two weeks ago we all got the email that said “Mandatory overtime is back…” That’s the Federal government for you. I can’t complain, the money is good, but it takes a toll mentally. So, with that preamble, I put out a story on my Instagram asking for writing prompts or stories people may want to read from me.

Taking the thinking part out of my weekly routine frees up my fingers to type and hopefully, a story will appear before our very eyes. One of the commenters to my query said, “Write a story about turtles.” So, here goes. This is about my favorite turtle—a terrapin to rule them all.

Her name is Shelly. Shelly is an Eastern Box Turtle I’ve had in my collection for over twenty years. I’d probably fight you for that turtle. Sometime around 2003—give or take—I was driving home from the sign shop I worked at and saw something small struggling in the bend in the road. I threw my Nissan Pathfinder on the shoulder and jumped out. This little turtle had a partially collapsed carapace (top of the shell). She must have been hit within the last few minutes. For once in my life my timing was on point. I scooped up that bloody turtle and put her on the passenger side floorboard.

I’m not a veterinarian, and back then I was way too poor to have been able to visit one. I consulted a few friends who had rehabilitated reptiles in the past and did my best to treat the wound on this unlucky turtle. I cleaned her crushed shell every few days and added Neosporin and soapy water to keep it from getting infected. Somehow, she survived. The shell still shows her battle scars and a huge, calloused hole. Thankfully her injury just barely missed her backbone—which is fused to the shell’s inside of box turtles. This is likely why she fared as well as she did.

Shelly lived for years in a large outdoor pen I made for her at my grandmother’s house—where I lived at the time. Later, during the years I traveled doing Catching Creation programs across the Southeast, she lived in a large terrarium in the tiny apartment Jess and I shared with enumerable critters. Shelly was a great animal ambassador for many years. Thousands of kids got to meet this battered box turtle during my programs. She was a great visual example of the perils box turtles face and their resilience. She was a living message of hope and overcoming the odds.

Shelly and I doing an outreach event this past Earth Day at the Winston-Salem, NC Fairgrounds

Box turtles typically live around twenty-five to thirty-five years. Some have lived upwards of 100! Some of these turtles crawling around today were alive before the roads and neighborhoods they find themselves in existed. Since they have such a small home range—often living within a 200-meter diameter—and travel the same pathways most of their lives, it’s easy to see how they can get into trouble when their habitat is converted to highways and subdivisions. It’s good to remember that if you see one trying to cross a road move it in the direction it was going if you can do so safely. Taking them down the road to a “better” place can cause more harm than good since they have such a strong homing instinct.

I personalized Shelly’s story when I spoke to kids. She is a great visual representation of being broken but still valuable. Her story and blemishes illustrated the wounds we all carry and showed that we all have a purpose and a story to tell. Sometimes we need a little help, and our scars can help us help others. My messages were always one part conservation and one part letting people know they were loved and special despite their current situation.

The first thing I did when Jess and I bought our house over a decade ago was to build a large outdoor enclosure for Shelly and our other turtles and tortoises. People always think I’m the snake guy. I get way more calls about snakes than any other animal so, to most people I guess I am that guy. If I had to choose, I’d say I’m a toad and box turtle guy all day. I love them and always have.

As long as I’m breathing, Shelly will have a large indoor enclosure in the winter in my basement, and an even larger outdoor one for the warmer periods of the year. To say I love that turtle would be a gross understatement. I estimate she was roughly five when I found her, making her around twenty-five to thirty years old. So, given this species can live quite a long time, let’s hope she makes it another half-century or more!

Shelly

Lastly, if you want to see a fun music video we made for our song “Where Dem Turtles At” CLICK HERE or the picture below.

“Where Dem Turtles At” by Catching Creation