Saturday, April 28, 2007

what have you become?

i am still in a state of shock. my little turtles, no bigger that a silver dollar, killed the froglet. now, i feel horrible because i saw the warning signs. they ate some little guppies, but seriously, they're fish. i feed them turtle food. alex found 3 tadpoles in the pond and put them in the tank. one died within a few days. i now suspect the turtles may have been involved. i have no evidence, but it is a little fishy. anyway, the second tadpole and the recently departed tadpole grew and developed into froglets. basically they were frogs with tails. i looked over one day, while doing dishes, and the second tadpole was swimming around the tank...with a turtle attached to his back left ankle. i grabbed them both out of the tank...the turtle wouldn't let go. i tapped the turtle on the head...he still wouldn't let go. i tried to pull the leg (which was ripped open from the knee to the foot)...he still wouldn't let go, but i pulled the poor thing's leg from the turtle's mouth. i made alex let it go in the pond. now to tadpole #3. the last time i saw him alive, he was sitting on the turtles' log. i went down to check on the chicks, i was gone for about 20 minutes. i came upstairs to do some dishes, looked over at my sweet little turtles, and noticed something TORN UP on the bottom of the cage. not realizing what it was at first, i looked a little closer. NO FREAKIN' WAY. it was the little froglet. they were eating him. i feel so bad. i didn't get it out of there. but today, there is NOTHING LEFT. no joke. this made me think about all those people who swim in lakes, ponds, rivers, and streams. if turtles were bigger, we wouldn't be worrying about snakes, alligators, or even sharks. these little guys have proven what efficient killers turtles are. all this time i thought they were looking at me, and swimming to the edge of the tank to see me because they liked me, when all along it's been them waiting for me to make one wrong move!

2 comments:

Rachel Huse said...

"froglet?" is that turtle for "omelet?"

bauer zoo said...

apparently so! hard to believe they are able to kill like that. i would never make it as a turtle!