4-year-old inherits box turtle

Out and About

by Eowyn LeMay Ivey

I knew I would someday pass a keepsake on to Grace, mother to daughter. I guess I always assumed it would be a piece of antique jewelry, although I don't own any, or maybe a valuable copy of "Treasure Island" or "Little House on the Prairie." I never once imagined it would be a hardy old box turtle with brilliant red eyes and a sharp beak.

For my daughter's 4-year birthday earlier this month, my dad brought her "Sunshine" -- the western box turtle that was mine when I was a little girl. As the turtle crawled across our lawn like a rock on legs, with my daughter following in fascination, I realized he had just made a generational jump and had found a new caretaker in my daughter.

My parents bought Sunshine at an Anchorage pet store as a get-well gift for me when I was 9 years old. I had just had my tonsils removed, and while a box turtle may seem an odd gift under the circumstances, it was perfect for me. We filled his terrarium with grass sod, branches and rocks. We fed him slices of tomatoes, pieces of lettuce and Tender Vittles soft cat food. Watching him steadily bring his beak down on his food always reminded me of what it might have been like to watch a stegosaurus eat.

Sunshine is about the size of the palm of my hand and his shell is greenish-brown with bright orange rays - hence the name "Sunshine." The skin on his legs and neck is thin and crinkly like that of an old man. When he stretches his neck out and peers around the lawn, his head looks like the periscope of a submarine. When he is startled, he pulls his head, legs and even his tail tightly into his shell, letting out an ominous hiss as he blows the air out of his lungs to make room.

He isn't exactly a soft, cuddly creature, and he can even be a little frightening at times. At one point my dad and I mistakenly thought he could use a friend. We went to the swamp in our backyard and caught a small frog to put in the terrarium with him. I have since blocked out the gruesome details, but it has become a family legend just how swiftly and viscously Sunshine consumed the poor frog. After that we knew that any small living creature put into his cage would be viewed as food, not friend.

Sunshine has even been known to bite people on occasion, but I think it is somewhat telling that it was only twice and both times it involved small boys. The first victim was a childhood friend who was pretending the turtle was an airplane. To this day I think the turtle was probably in the right.

The only other casualty was my kid brother, who was probably 5 or 6 at the time. I didn't see what led up to the incident, although I suspect it involved some meddling on my brother's part. All I remember is my brother screaming with the turtle hanging by his beak from the palm of Forrest's hand.

I've told Grace these stories as a warning, and she's taken it seriously. She keeps her fingers away from his beak and drops the food from above. But this little bit of fear hasn't dampened her affection for the old turtle.

Grace was eager to bring Sunshine to show-and-tell at her preschool and has been telling everyone she meets how she now has her very own pet turtle.

The other day, Grace drug her pillow over to the terrarium and stretched out beside him, her nose a few inches from the glass. On the other side, Sunshine basked in the warm rays of light coming through the window. I'm not sure exactly what she was telling him, but she was whispering to him some secret that only a 4-year-old would know.

Sunshine is older than me -- the previous owner had him for at least 10 years -- so he is probably in his mid-30s. I read recently that the average lifespan of a western box turtle is about 50 years and they've been know to live as long as 75.

As Grace sat chatting with Sunshine, I realized there is the chance that she might someday pass the old box turtle on to her own daughter. The thought made me smile.

Eowyn LeMay Ivey covers outdoors and city government for the Frontiersman.