The 7 Most Perplexing Things About Owning a Turtle

I have owned my pet turtle Leonardo since July 14th of 2019 and although I have always loved turtles, I had no clue they were such enigmas. Shell Beavers exuded much more sass, emotion, and intelligence as well as practice more odd behaviors than anticipated. Here are the most bizarre things I have seen from my own weirdo, Leonardo the Mississippi Map turtle with pictures included!

1. Anxiety

Almost immediately after adopting Leo I was curious why he was so active because the perception of turtles is that they are slow, boring, and do not do much. After some research on both Reddit and Google I found that some breeds of turtles, like Mississippi Maps are highly prone to have anxiety. Immediately this made me develop sympathy for Leo and his clanging and banging throughout the night. Turtles can experience the same emotional issues as us humans do and it is so pure. 

2. Suicidal Dives

This was something that gave me a heartattack the first time it happened and it still does every time. Leo will climb ontop of his filter and jump headfirst into the pebbles constantly and wrecklessly. He will jump off on the floor or into a desk drawer or off your lap he recieves the opportunity to. I have no clue what his penchant for falling is, but it is his absolute favorite.

3. Expression of Love

Recently I learned that turtles not only recognized their owner from voice and appearance, but can express love. They do this by facing the object of their affection and will stretch their neck out as shown above to ask for it to be scratched or pet. This was a fact that pretty much both melted my heart and explained that Leo has a huge love for TV especially Fortnite and Breaking Bad.

4. No Awareness of Walls

In my previously mentioned research or Reddit I also discovered that turtles as a creature are absolutely stymied by walls. Show a turtle a wall and they will just swim right into it like it is not there. Turtles are sooner to look you in the face and speak perfect English than acknowledge the boundaries of a wall. Can they truly be contained? In their minds, sure not pal.

5. Hatred of Thermometers

This is perhaps the most frustrating aspect of my particular turtle's personality. Only exceeding his disdain for walls and them as a concept is his absolute uncontrolled hatred of his in-tank thermometer. Never have I been baffled by such persistence to hurt something critical for survival. Put the thermometer mid-tank, behind the basking platform, or in an unreachable corner Leonardo will not have any of it. 

6. Weird Eating Habits

Turtles eat on their own schedule and where they want to. They will do this even if they have not eaten all day. I think they must not like to be watched eatening as Leo frequently bring his food under his basking platform to have a meal for one away from prying eyes.

7. Interior Design

No matter how you clean their tank or make it optimal for swimming space, turtles still have their own prerogative. Leo has pushed everything around in his tank or buried it from pebbles to balls, ducks, plants and even the basking platform that is three times bigger than him. The lesson learned here is he knows his kingdom best abnd it is best not to interfere because he will just move it back.