Under any other normal circumstance, I’d agree that the term “feisty turtle” is an odd pairing of words.
But I can’t agree. I’ve looked after my neighbour’s turtle Harold (Harold!) on three separate occasions now and I think that has earned me the prestigious title of Turtle-Sitter Who Can Assign Adjectives To Local Reptiles Under Her Temporary Care, along with Observer of Curious Turtle Behaviour.
One night after feeding Harold, I decided to sit and watch for a while. I’d never actually watched turtles for an extended period of time — unlike most of the general population, obviously.
For one thing: Harold yawned and let me tell you, you really haven’t lived until you’ve seen a turtle yawn.
Imagine a turtle having just been woken from his hibernation. He’s been dug out from his underground haven with fresh soil still spattered across his shell and he’s slowly turning his head side-to-side, as if trying to make sense of his surroundings in his sleepy haze.
Then picture him raising his front foot to his mouth and yawning.
But that wasn’t the end.
After feasting on his turtle pellets (as pictured above), Harold decided to get active, climbing on top of what his owners call his house: a small piece of arch-shaped wood.
You wouldn’t think a small turtle could make a lot of noise, but you probably haven’t met Harold. I’d turned on the TV at this point to kill the white noise, but the loud sound of Harold’s constant movement almost prompted me to turn up the volume.
At first I didn’t know it was him, thinking it may have been regular house sounds that would normally scare me if I was sitting in a basement watching The Silence of Lambs by myself, which I have stupidly done.
But no, it was Harold. Just Harold, sitting on top of his house. Almost as if he was trying to command my attention with all that racket. But why would a little turtle want to do something like that?
I’ll tell you why. He looked right at me, raised that same stubby front foot he used to stifle his yawn only minutes before, and waved. Harold the turtle waved at me.
It doesn’t get more ridiculous than that.
