Terrapene carolina carolina

Morgan's Godparents (Susanne and David) live about 30 minutes away from us, in the country. They stopped by our house today and David told me to bring Morgan outside. He was carrying a container. I asked him what he had and he replied, "Terrapene". I asked him to repeat what he said and he again answered, "Terrapene". I asked, "Is that some kind of fish?" He said, "No! Turtles!" I had never heard of a Terrapene, and they had been talking about getting Morgan some fish, so I figured that's what he had!

I went into the house and brought Morgan outside. They explained that on their way into town they saw a turtle in the road and rescued it. Then a ways down the road, they saw another one and got it too. They had two Eastern Box turtles. One was 1/2 the size of the other one. We think they are both males.



The one above, is the large one. His shell was quite dirty. Morgan was fascinated by the turtles, but didn't want to pick one up. I picked up the small one for her and placed it in her hand.
















































After a minute, she told me I could take it and put it in the grass. As soon as I did, she smelled her hand and said, "I need a wipe!" Morgan is always smelling everything, and she doesn't like her hands to be dirty. So, I went inside and got a baby wipe for her.

Susanne and David collected the turtles and said they were going to let them loose on their property. Box Turtles have a homing instinct that causes them to try to return to their place of birth when they are moved. So, I hope those turtles don't end up heading down a country road and winding up road kill after all.

I thought Morgan was going to fuss when they took the turtles away, but she was fine with it.

















This last picture is of Morgan jumping around on the couch tonight. I thought Uncle Ken would like it.