Saying Goodbye

Today we said goodbye to our turtle friend. Even though we liked the idea of putting a pond in the backyard, it seemed Mr. Turtle did not enjoy life in captivity. We tried feed him several different foods including turtle food from the pet store, but we never really confirmed that he ate while we had him. If we wanted to do a turtle pond at some point it would probably be good to buy a turtle from the pet store where they are bred for captivity. Andrew, unprompted, said he is still not opposed to the idea of doing a pond in the backyard. We have been wanting to do some kind of landscaping and still think a pond might be fun, maybe a little later on.

We released him in a little creek that feeds into Town Lake. The hike and bike trail goes over the creek by a footbridge and last summer we always used to notice how many turtles hung out there in the shallow water. Today we only spotted two other turtles, but its still kind of early in the season. We are sure he will be happy there and make lots of turtle friends.

Carrying him to his new home

Down under the bridge where we released him

Saying our last good bye

Andrew had to hold on to me so I didn't fall down the slope as I let Mr. Turtle go...

... and just like that he was gone!

He swam around happily for a minute and then came back up to the side to say farewell.

We went back up to the bridge to look down on him one last time... he looks happy!! So long Mr. Turtle!!