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Apr. 13th, 2014 11:11 amChaz said he'd found G'Kwan in the mudroom this morning. (Which is down two steps.)
"Did you see Dymphna. Because G'Kwan isn't adventurous (smart) enough to go by himself.'
No, he hadn't, and the boys had finished breakfast. But then I saw the boys headed with purpose back to the mudroom. Dymphna wanted her breakfast, too. (I hear her crunching on red peppers as I type, at her food plate in the kitchen. Where G'Kwan is not.)
( Sharing is good )
"Did you see Dymphna. Because G'Kwan isn't adventurous (smart) enough to go by himself.'
No, he hadn't, and the boys had finished breakfast. But then I saw the boys headed with purpose back to the mudroom. Dymphna wanted her breakfast, too. (I hear her crunching on red peppers as I type, at her food plate in the kitchen. Where G'Kwan is not.)
( Sharing is good )
A silent war
Apr. 6th, 2014 12:42 pmWhen I went into the bathroom this morning to take my shower, G'Kwan was in there in front of the garbage can. Our garbage cans are metal, and have mirrored surfaces. Male turtles, before they mate, fight with other males, and the winner gets to mate with the female. You see where this is going.
During my shower, I heard repeated thumps. When I was drying myself afterwards, I was treated to a show of male turtle fighting behavior. Other times I've seen him rush the garbage can and strike is with the front of his shell, his head tucked back in for safety, but today he was rushing the other turtle and striking with his closed beak. (Turtles don't have mouths per se, or lips.) I guess it must be working, because he kept on doing that until I got out of the shower. He then wanted out of the room, just like the boys (the boy cats), so I let him out.
An interesting thing about this bitter fight is that, except from the shell thumping, it's entirely silent. When Mac or Barry attacks a mousie, they don't growl or hiss, I suspect because for smaller prey they don't need to scare them and they don't want to alert them. Afterwards, though, from Mac at least, there is victory warbling. The turtles may hiss when we step too near them, but G'Kwan never makes a noise when he's fighting.
Another thing turtles do before they fight is release any extra weight they may be carrying, so I had a quick cleanup of discarded liquids on the floor.
Right now G'Kwan is perched alertly under the sideboard in living room, right next to the door into the kitchen. I'm sure he's waiting for Dymphna to come get her lunch.
During my shower, I heard repeated thumps. When I was drying myself afterwards, I was treated to a show of male turtle fighting behavior. Other times I've seen him rush the garbage can and strike is with the front of his shell, his head tucked back in for safety, but today he was rushing the other turtle and striking with his closed beak. (Turtles don't have mouths per se, or lips.) I guess it must be working, because he kept on doing that until I got out of the shower. He then wanted out of the room, just like the boys (the boy cats), so I let him out.
An interesting thing about this bitter fight is that, except from the shell thumping, it's entirely silent. When Mac or Barry attacks a mousie, they don't growl or hiss, I suspect because for smaller prey they don't need to scare them and they don't want to alert them. Afterwards, though, from Mac at least, there is victory warbling. The turtles may hiss when we step too near them, but G'Kwan never makes a noise when he's fighting.
Another thing turtles do before they fight is release any extra weight they may be carrying, so I had a quick cleanup of discarded liquids on the floor.
Right now G'Kwan is perched alertly under the sideboard in living room, right next to the door into the kitchen. I'm sure he's waiting for Dymphna to come get her lunch.
Keeping up with the turtles
Apr. 2nd, 2011 05:13 pmIt's a lot warmer these days, so I've been keeping the door between my kitchen and laundry room open. (The laundry room and back bedroom aren't heated.) There are two stairs heading down into the laundry room, so I figured the turtles would be smart enough to avoid them. Nope. I went in there to put a load in the machine, and who was there, trying to hide behind some tools? (Come on. You didn't think it would be G'Kwan.)
It gave me a chance to pick her up, give her a bath to get rid of the rest of the mud, and check her out. No sign of eggs, so if she had them before, she's laid them. I wondered why she was still wandering around so much, and it occurred to me that she must be extra hungry, so I checked their food dish. Empty. I put out some more food, cabbage this time. We'll see what she does next.
It gave me a chance to pick her up, give her a bath to get rid of the rest of the mud, and check her out. No sign of eggs, so if she had them before, she's laid them. I wondered why she was still wandering around so much, and it occurred to me that she must be extra hungry, so I checked their food dish. Empty. I put out some more food, cabbage this time. We'll see what she does next.
