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A Turtle in the Star Bath

We have a star bath.  It’s a heavy cast iron bath in a very unfashionable shade of green with a fireplace under it.  It sits out in the open with a clear view of the wide starry sky, and on cold winters nights we fill it up and light a fire under it.  A glass of wine, a candle, a hot bath that stays hot for as long as you like and a zillion stars.

It does’t get used over summer and fills up with leaves and rain, so it’s always a bit of a mission at the beginning of winter to clean out the bath.  Today we emptied it, pulled out a big pile of leaves, and there she was.  I don’t know how this turtle found her way to our bath.  We’re a bit of a distance  in turtle miles from the creek, and it’s all uphill.  It felt quite mean to disillusion her – she must have thought she was the smartest turtle in the country to find such a good place to settle down and start a family.

A knowledgeable friend says they take 80 days to hatch and the mother just leaves them to it. She pulled her head in and refused to discuss the matter. So we relocated the eggs into a pile of leaves in a tub with a bit of water in my shadehouse, and the mother headed off at turtle pace.  And the stars were amazing tonight.

Posted in Animals

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12 Comments

  1. Jude Wright

    Lovely, what a safe home she found. She must have been very determined to climb into a bath though, and maybe not be able to leave once the egg laying was done. I would love to see a photo when they hatch.

    Just as an aside; my brother-in-law (policeman) is doing a lot of head shaking and talking about the ‘mess’ that was left at Bentley once the protesters had gone. I would love some information to counter him with (having not been to the site for months).

  2. Linda

  3. Linda

  4. Linda

  5. Linda

  6. Linda

    Hi Jude, some photos of the “mess”. Best indication is that the landowner is very happy with the state the camp site was left, the council is very happy with the state the public land was left, and the gasfield landowners place was never entered by the protectors.

  7. Linda

    Hi Linda, I would love to have an outdoor bath! We have a composting loo sitting on the verandah and I always choose it over the inside one. The views are great! A bath with views would be heavenly.

    I thought of you the other day as I was cooking away in the kitchen and the thought crossed my mind that it was like a witch’s kitchen. Rather than cooking, I was brewing concoctions of fizzy rhubarb, had cheese setting, olives soaking in water, was feeding my ginger beer plant and looking at the beer brewing near the fire!

  8. Fiona

    Wow how did she climb into the bath? Will she be returning because she was born nearby (like some sea turtles do)? Do you think they will hatch?

  9. Linda

    I have no idea Fiona. Our research is that the eggs take 80 days to hatch and we don’t know how old they were when we found them but best guess is that she had just laid them because she was there and apparently they just lay the eggs and go – they don’t sit on them or mind them. So it will be a couple of months before we know. Here’s hoping! It will be very exciting to see turtles hatch.

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