I'm keeping an eye out for it. We first saw it on our way out to dinner. And I didn't see it when we came back about an hour later. Hopefully mama found it and got it home. It was barely bigger than a softball. I already know of a rehabber collective that I will call if I do see it again.
Found it in my pool while I was getting it ready for summer. Rehomed it to the neighbor's pond where it will have lots of turtle friends.
Oh and this one had his tail pulled in. I saw a little of it before he did so, and I was waiting to see if he'd redeploy it to judge if it was a snapper. His little claws and pointier nose made me lean that way. I had to usher a HUGE snapping turtle out of the road last week. He fortunately had just woken up from hibernation and was still groggy, so he wasn't trying to take my hand off.
If that's what it is, that's extra awesome! My grandma used to call me stinkpot (affectionately).
We keep frog "logs" around the pool, but critters always seem to congregate in the skimmers anyway. And i haven't turned the pump on yet, so he wasn't pulled in there by current. The basket was upside down on top of the widget thing that plugs the return line for winter, so he was dry and out of the water. But yeah water temp is 66°F/19°C, and my hands are comparatively warm. When I find ones this little, they normally tend to try to crawl out of my hands vs resting.
Found him in the skimmer this morning. My hand must feel more cozy than the basket as he chose to take a nap once I picked him up. I carried him across the street to the wildlife refuge marshy area. Be free, little 🐢
And I dance dance dance
And I dance dance dance
(still sung in this house on the regular)
This looks like it could be in Nara. And if so, those deer make the most nightmarish of noises. Without really opening their mouths. So you look around for the ancient demon that just groaned and all you see are deer staring you down, waiting for you to offer up their treats.
He looks like a forest creature that would come out of the mists.
I drove past a field the other day that had one of these set up for 2 miniature goats. It was friggin adorable.
The cat got up in the window after this. Deer were unfazed. This pair is a set of twins from this past spring. They and their mama have been hanging about all summer. I've been lucky enough to watch them grow from adorable spotted fawns to teenagers.
Kitty-up!
The markings above his eyes are quite beautiful.
You're in Aww, are you lost? Do I need to trap you and hand you over to the rehabbers too?