Box Turtle Enclosure: Progression Thread

[Nanci]

Albert had a beautiful flower today. They last about three days, closing in the evening, opening in late morning.

 

[brtrude]

nanci your such a legend!

 

[Jrgh17]

If I fly you to Illinois and pay you, would you do MY backyard?!?

 

[Nanci]

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!

You won't believe what I saw in the box turtles' pond!!! I was sitting out there, seeing if I could spot some of the killifish, and a NEWT came up from under a rock, got a breath, and went back under!!! They live!! No picture, it happened so fast.

Here's a dragonfly moult, though.

 

[Nanci]

I've been training the Sarassas. When I go out in the evening, I rap the fishfood container on the ledge, which is their signal that I am going to feed them. Now they come over to the side when I do that! So now, they are less flighty and I can get pics!

Here is Borelley:

 

[Nanci]

And this is Halley or Levy- I really have trouble telling those two apart!

 

[Nanci]

I'm pretty sure that's Halley. You know what's cool, after I feed them, they hang out by me the rest of the evening.

Here's a new kind of damselfly- actually the first one I've seen out there. I just got a dragonfly book- I'll have to look her up! She was there forever, laying eggs!

Ok, I looked in my book. I think she is a Bluet, but there are 35 species, and they only showed the males except for one species, which she resembles.

 

[Nanci]

These are my guys, the Blue Dashers. In the book I learned that they are "perchers." The males perch to guard the females, and then drive away other males by flying up underneath them and forcing them up and away from the territory. This is a male. I love them- they land right on me, on my book, on my wine glass...

 

[Nanci]

Here's a horrible shot of the female Blue Dasher. They are outnumbered by males at least ten to one. All they care about is laying eggs and mating. This is the only shot I've managed to get of a female.

 

[Drizzt80]

These are my guys, the Blue Dashers. . . . they land right on me, on my book, on my wine glass...

Visitors are always welcome!

Wear blue and shadow Nanci around the yard and you can get free wine all night long!! Woohooo!

D80

PS. It's been amazing following your progess on this . . . hmmm, project just doesn't seem like the right word for it . . . :cheers:

 

[Corny Noob]

Ok I might be stupid, but the mystery lizard a few pages back, bahama anole?

 

[Nanci]

I think you've IDed him, Jenn.

Last night I had the whole dragonfly mating scene play out right before me. They met, joined up, broke apart, she went on to lay eggs while the male patroled the skies attentively. He'd fly to one corner and spin around and face her, hover, then fly to a different corner. Then another male approached, and the first male kept trying to drive him off by flkying up under him. He'd force the second male way up in the air, 30 feet or so, then fly back, followed by the other male. While all that was going on, the female finished laying and disappeared.

I also spotted a female Eastern Pondhawk dragonfly yesterday morning, but couldn't find a male. She was brilliant emerald green.

 

[Nanci]

Look! A turtle! I sat and spied on Fagalo when I got home from work. She was sitting in the pond, with just her head poking out, and every once in a while she'd stick her head underwater, for what, I don't know.

I had a new kind of dragonfly show up last night, pinkish brownish with very patterned wings, but of course my Blue Dasher boys chased him away before I could get a close look to ID him...

 

[Nanci]

I am 99% sure I saw tadpoles in the water garden tonight. AND when I went out two hours after my last post, and turned the fill fish on in the pond, there was Fagalo, completely under water, still in the same place! I wouldn't have even seen her if I hadn't been feeling around in there for the valve! Then she came out and had a big dinner of nightcrawlers...

 

[Corny Noob]

I think you've IDed him, Jenn.

Used ta sell'm.

 

[patm1313]

Wait, i think I just picked up on this... You name the wild turtles? That's pretty cool. I used to have frogs in my pond but the neighbor's cat's ate them.

 

[Corny Noob]

No, Fagalo is her boxie.
She was just saying she found her in there thats all.

Nanci I was thinking of you yesterday, I went to my local humane zoo (every animal is a ASPCA rescue) and they had about 30 boxies.

 

[Nanci]

Aw, poor little guys. You'd think it would be easy to find homes for them.

I see that monster brown anole every night. Last night, though, I walked past him too quickly causing him to have to bail out into the weeping mulberry rather than bravely threaten me. I usually pretend I'm scared of him to boost his (already big) ego.

 

[Corny Noob]

Yeah bahamas are huge compared to the regular anoles.

And the boxies don't have homes because we're not supposed to have turtles in NJ, they're illegal to sell.
But you can get a permit for them if you got them somewhere else...go figure.

 

[Nanci]

Clash of the Titans!!

When I went out to the water garden this evening, I discovered a War of Anoles!