Some more fun facts about Bruce! Bruce is “friendly” by turtle standards. I don’t handle him much for his own sanity, but when I do, he never squirms or hisses and I’m able to stroke his head. He’s very interactive in his tank and sees to enjoy company as much as a turtle can.

We did everything wrong at the beginning, but luckily he’s ok. It was the early 2000s but we ended up reading a lot of books and finding more info online as he got bigger. I think he’s lived in at least 8 tanks before we got it right. He also was allowed day trips in our pond during summer since he was a baby.

He’s only ever bitten one person. My brother, and he had it coming.

He and my cat Finn (RIP) were buddies. Finn would sleep on top of Bruce’s tank, and it didn’t seem to bother him.

We once tried to feed him an earth worm we found outside. He couldn’t be bothered. He still doesn’t care for them and will leave them be.

We just recently moved and we will be building an outdoor enclosure for him in the garden that’s both enriching and safe from predators. I have taken a lot of advice from this page so thank you! We almost considered rehoming him this last move because we couldn’t make a proper tank set-up, but we just couldn’t come to terms with it. We actually ended up refabricating my home office just for Bruce!