I don’t think we’ve told too many people that our house came with a pet turtle. The previous owners told us after we moved in that they left their turtle, scooter, hibernating under the BBQ in the backyard. They said he sleeps in there all winter and comes out around April when it gets warm and knocks his shell on the back door wanting food. We didn’t know what to think about this. Babysitting a turtle wasn’t part of the sales contract.

6 weeks passed and no sign of Scooter. The previous homeowners came by a few times asking if we had seen him yet. I think they were starting to worry he might not come out. A week ago I thought I would peak under the grill to see if he was alive. I could barely see him in the back of the cave. I got a broom and gave his shell a tap and he didn’t budge. Hmm. Could he be dead? The family asked about him again. This time Sarah offered to let them see but the mom said it was okay and they would just wait. So I started to get worried so I got out a flash light last Saturday and peak in again. I couldn’t fit back there to get him so I sent Jackson in to try and wake him up. Jackson poked the shell and the turtle didn’t budge so I got Jackson out and got the broom again. This time instead of tapping the shell I got his leg. He quickly retracted his leg into his shell and let out a hiss. That was kind of freaky. I didn’t know turtles hissed. He was mad I was waking him up from hibernation. He still didn’t budge. At least we knew he was still alive.

The next day was Easter. After church I went out back and there he was crawling towards the lawn to snack on some grass. Finally, Scooter came out. Jackson thought he was pretty neat and we fed him some lettuce and washed him off a little. I called the owners and the whole family (six kids) rushed over. I opened the door and the kids darted through our house to the backyard as if they owned the place. They were all happy to get their turtle back. He was a pretty big turtle so I asked how old he was and they told me they estimate he is about 30 years old! They’ve only had it for about 5 years. A friend had 3 that came into his yard from the desert in Tuscon and gave them one. I’ve always thought that would be a neat pet because you could pass it down to your kids. They aren’t too hard to take care of. Especially during the winter since they just hibernate. They just aren’t very fun to play with. A game of fetch could take hours.