Herpetologist

I have been so busy with school that I have not been writing new post. I just have too much homework!(If Mrs. Harris looks at this - "It's not that bad, I just get home too late."

Anyway, I wanted to tell you about Career Day at my school. We had to dress up like something we would like to be when we grow up. I was a Herpetologist. I know, you are probably wondering what that is. A herpetologist is someone who studies reptiles and amphibians. Everyone thought that I was someone who studies turtles. They were a little right but my job studies all reptiles and all amphibians.

Hibernation

I am pretty sure that my turtles are hibernating. They sleep all day under the bark. I get them out to feed them and put them in water. They won't eat and they just crawl back under the bark to sleep.

I heard if it's cold really cold outside and they won't come out or eat, then they are probably hibernating. Dribble and Bibble definitely seem to be hibernating. This is our first winter with my turtles. I hope that they survive.

I have also noticed that I have never seen an Eastern Box Turtle outside during the winter months. I spend a lot of time in the woods all year long. Turtles are found more in the spring and summer months.

How is Bibble...

If your wondering how Bibble is doing, then you need to read this...

Bibble's shell has changed. It has now gotten a little harder and more color. It used to be grey but now it is brown. Bibble is not eating and we are still researching to find out what to feed him since he is a baby. I thought that it was not warm enough so we started turning a desk light on him. That did not seem to help. I tried cutting up a worm but that didn't work either. Then I found a tiny worm but he still didn't eat. I am also trying to give him small pieces of our turtle food. I know that the Momma turtle does not come back so he must know what to do but I don't know. If anyone has any ideas, please leave a comment on "How is Bibble...".

Bibble does seem to like Dribble. Sometimes he climbs up on Dribble's back and rides. He also watches Dribble eat but he doesn't know how to eat.

GUESS WHAT? ONE TURTLE EGG HATCHED

Guess what? One turtle egg hatched. I named it Bibble. Guess how I found it? It was September 23rd sharp exactly 3 months from the day the Momma turtle laid the eggs. I kept checking the fenced in area for turtles. I found it right after the school dedication (which I got to sing at). I didn't see it the first time I looked and I started to walk back. I said, "Well, maybe I didn't look good enough." So I turned around and there it was...a beautiful baby Eastern box turtle looking straight back at me. I couldn't believe my eyes. They almost popped out of my head. I was jumping up and down, up and down, up and down! I was screaming, "A turtle, a turtle, a turtle!" It's shell was soft and grey. It's tail is actually longer than Dribbles and I know that the girl turtles have longer tails than the boys.

I hoping for more turtles!

Notice the picture of the two turtles above. The larger turtle with more color is Dribble. He was found last spring. The smaller turtle with less color is the baby turtle, Bibble.

The picture on the top is Bibble in my hands.

Hisser Came Back

Saturday, September 20, 2008, Hisser came back for the fifth time. We were about to paint nail polish on it before we let it loose but my dad said, "No". Here is a fact about where we keep the turtles: UNDER THE DECK - HA/HA/HA! Hisser loves our family. He always comes back. Oh, I have another fact: if you ever get a wild baby turtle, where ever they were born, it will come back to lay its eggs when it is grown up if it is a girl turtle.

Setting Up

If you are planning on raising a baby box turtle, then you need to read this. You need an aquarium, a couple of plants, gravel or bark, water bowl, food bowl, and room. It should probably look like the picture above.

LOOK AT THE DRIBBLE POEM!

Look at little Dribble

Isn't he cute?

He mostly sleeps all day.

And comes out at the night.

When he gets moving,

he's really quite fast

especially when you yell

"Go, Dribble, Go!"

A poem called Turtle Time Ends

Turtle time ends
Fall is here
Turtles tucked in. Kiss them good Hibernation.
I hope they will come back in the spring.

Spring time came
Turtles are out.
Whole other season until Hibernation again.

by Brett Warner
(I came up with this poem on a walk in the woods with my friend Mikey as we looked for turtles.)

Two new turtles

Today my dad yelled, "Brett, Mikey, Come here!" We ran to the back yard. Before I got to the gate, I stopped. Mikey said, "Come on, don't you want to see what it is?" I yelled, "Daddy, is it a turtle?" He yelled, "TWO". I darted over. They were both still in their shells. We took them to Mikey's house and showed his family. We were waiting and waiting for the turtles to come out of their shells. While we were waiting, we dugged for worms and we found six. We put in front of the turtles so they would smell it and hopefully, they would come out. We left them and went to the hammock. When we got back, they were both out of their shells. The big one looked like a dinosaur because it had a beak. The little had strips on its head. They are both males. Finally, I got home and took the pictures above.

Snapping Turtles

My dad just came back from a fishing trip in Canada. He said that he found a snapping turtle about the size of a recycle bin. He said it was gray and it was eating the fish skin that they threw out. Isn't that amazing? I wish he had taken a picture of it so that I could have shown everyone that reads my blog.

This is a sad story about a snapping turtle. Aunt Jennifer saw a snapping turtle at her office. This is the sad part...it got smashed by a truck, a BIG truck. She said that the snapping turtle was a pancake. It made me as sad as I could be.

Sea Turtles

When I was at Daytona, I went to this Marine Science Center. It had a turtle hospital and I thought that was amazing. It had sea turtles. There was a turtle named Bruno and that's my Spanish name. My uncle sent me a magazine about sea turtles too. I have attached a picture of one of the sea turtles at Daytona Beach, Florida.

Song about Dribble

I wrote a song about Dribble. This is how it goes:

Dribble, Dribble, Dribble
I made him out of clay.
Dribble, Dribble, Dribble
I liked to stay and play.

Do you like my song? Ha/Ha/Ha.

Did you know that baby turtles don't eat fruits and vegetables? They do eat fruits and vegetables when they are grown. Baby turtles eat worms and fish pellets.

Turtles in the woods

One day, my dad was walking in the woods. When he came back, he had something for me. It was a turtle!! I named it Tortilini. The next day, my brother and his two friends (Sam and Logan) found a box turtle. We named it Hisser because it hissed at us.

Well, that is all I need to say for now.

The beginning of Brett's blog

Spring 2008, we were beginning to plant our garden. My daddy was tiling the garden. My job was to pick up clops of weeds behind him. I found my baby box turtle in the garden. My dad almost tilled it up. I saved his life. I named him Dribble from the turtle in the book Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. My daddy helped me set up the aquarium. I put a cave, a water bowl, a food bowl, and plants in the aquarium. My daddy also bought some food for baby box turtles. I also feed Dribble fresh worms.

I researched the web to find out more about Eastern box turtles and learned a lot of information about box turtles. I found out that the turtles are mostly out in the morning. The female turtles have orange and light red eyes and the males have dark red eyes. The females box turtles have shorter claws. The male box turtles have longer claws.

Also this summer, I found a mother box turtle that laid eggs in my mom's flower garden. I am watching to see when the eggs hatch. My dad also found two box turtles mating in the woods behind our house.

In this blog, I plan to write more about the box turtles that I have found. I also hope to write about the baby box turtles when they hatch.