Thoughts on Being, Synchronicity & Inner Wisdom

Can you find the turtle in this picture? For every pet I've ever had, I have watched him/her closely to try to figure out its needs and adapt the environment as best I can. I was quite successful doing this for bunnies and potbellied pigs and even did seminars and wrote newspaper articles about their care. Turtles are new to me. Nemo's original environment included everything and more suggested in the official turtle manuals. As blogged earlier, his beautiful zen garden awaited him. In the meantime, he has made himself at home on my brand new linoleum floor.

His pond area started out being his main living space under the Pier 1 console. He didn't seem to care for his igloo with reptile bark to burrow in so I moved that over to a untraversed corner of the room should he decide to be turtle-like. Mostly he preferred being parked in the corner with his log on the bare floor. I noticed early on that he would try to crawl under the towel where his turtle hut log was placed rather than go into the hut. Soon it became a common site to see the lump under the towel.

His environment is now minimalist furnishings. A big log hut ("the main garage"), his igloo ("the winter home"), a small plastic organizer bin turned upside down with a towel over it ("the summer home"), and several strategically placed mats and blankies As you can see, he quite enjoys his humanistic hiding places.

Recently he began making the trek across the room to visit his igloo--usually when he was upset with me for having touched him. He'd march with great determination into his igloo where he could then be heard "kicking" the bark as if to work out his anger. He's done this several times and now I expect to hear the familiar sounds of turtle tantrum soon after he enters the igloo.

Today is Sunday. Brian worked at the table near the igloo most of the day. Early this morning, Nemo was loungingin "the side garage" which rests against his igloo.

He appeared indignant and annoyed to have company camped out in his world and stomped in the igloo about 10 am. It is now 10:03 pm and there is a large mound of reptile bark at the doorway to the igloo with Nemo hiding and lounging comfortably behind his fortress. I have made a decision--Nemo doesn't like things touching his belly. He hates his garden and can't get off the mulch fast enough, he draws the line at going into the wall-to-wall carpeted living room, and continuously chooses crawling under a soft blankie on the bare linoleum floor to being in any typical turtle habitat. Sensitive turtle belly. STB.

Being the good turtle parent I am, Nemo shall no longer be expected to take up residence in the apparently PTSD-producing garden and will be provided with clean soft blankies throughout his life with brief periods of supervised outdoor exercise--scampering back toward the door to go inside! From now on, all lumps in blankies will considered sacred space and the turtle shall reign supreme. He is master of his domain. He is living zen...being content with his universe.

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