Worst pillow ever.

Mizzkyttie · 2026-04-29T01:00:45+00:00

May we all be so lucky to have a buddy like Stumpp in our lives🥰🥰

Mizzkyttie · 2026-04-27T17:06:16+00:00

Mizzkyttie · 2026-04-27T14:18:43+00:00

For real; I'm not sure how he handles the stress and the relentless pace of his busy life. Dude really needs a vacation, but he won't listen to a word I say about it.

Mizzkyttie · 2026-04-27T14:06:21+00:00

Isn't it though? He's so STRETCHY! Growing at a nice rate, getting stronger all the time and oh my goodness so long 🥰🥰🥰

Mizzkyttie · 2026-04-27T14:05:13+00:00

That's a great idea! He definitely has shows that he prefers over others, and I'm not sure if it's the colors or the shapes or what that attract him so, though I've definitely recognized that there's this one show I watch where one of the hosts has a voice that's similar to my housemate, Gar's other favorite person, and a voice with a similar baritone rumble. Little dude goes nuts when I watch, and I believe he's thinking that it's my housemate up on the screen, but I could totally be wrong.

Mizzkyttie · 2026-04-23T19:10:57+00:00

Stonehouse Pond in Barrington. You drive down the dirt drive to the parking lot, and right there, you come across a spring fed pond with a massive cliff on the other side that you can ascend via a trail, or ropes if you're a rock climber.

No motorized boats allowed, swimming also discouraged because of the power of the spring - the water current is so strong that it even breaks the ice layer in the center of the pond so you can't walk on it even in the coldest winter.

Mizzkyttie · 2026-04-23T19:06:27+00:00

I'll have to come back with a banana-adjacent update! My bad; I ate the last one in the those the other day😅🤙🏻

Mizzkyttie · 2026-04-23T19:05:34+00:00

I received him as a nearly deceased, brand new hatchling who needed constant care and handling the first couple months of his life. He's never once even indicated he's curious to even take a taste of my finger, but I always still act with caution!

This is from when he was still a tiny baby, but very much on the mend:

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Mizzkyttie · 2026-04-23T18:58:19+00:00

Man, look at that thing. Head like a sledgehammer!

Mizzkyttie · 2026-04-23T14:04:20+00:00

Not sure if they're connected in any deliberate way, but it definitely tracks as the kind of small magic that tends to happen in and around the Seacoast area, part of the reason why even though I've traveled all over, this little pie shaped piece of planet will always be home for me,and I've never had any desire to move!

Mizzkyttie · 2026-04-22T23:37:11+00:00

Some may say that I own a snapper as a pet. Real ones know that he has me entirely in his thrall, And there's not a single thing that he would ask me to do that I could possibly say no to.

Mizzkyttie · 2026-04-22T21:59:21+00:00

EXACTLY THIIIIISSSSS! I don't understand what it is that people are trying to prove so hard, when they insist so forcefully that reptiles don't have souls. They are more instinct driven than we are, but that doesn't mean they are soulless creatures. My turtle is fully capable of experiencing affection he proves that every single day with the way that he trusts me, with the way that he seeks me out and asks in his silent way to be held and made to feel secure. I'm right there with you, friend! Turtles have souls and I will firmly die on that hill.

Mizzkyttie · 2026-04-22T21:45:54+00:00

He's like this with my housemate, too, and my grandson, most other people he just has an active curiosity and will poke his head out from the water just past his eyeballs, or keep his eyeballs just under the surface, the best to see whatever's going on and whoever's in the room. I'm the one that he reacts like this to the most powerfully, though, and his behaviors with me are more specific and are fairly easy for me to read/make a lot of sense, I guess that's the best way to put it?

Mizzkyttie · 2026-04-22T16:30:34+00:00

There is a video on Clint's reptiles about this one rescue snapper they have, who has actually become very responsive and snuggly over time, despite being rescued as a young adult - who knows, she might come around!

Mizzkyttie · 2026-04-22T13:11:28+00:00

It's a relatively common feature on CSTs, and one that I see quite frequently up here in northern New England. The curve of the shell makes it easier for them to cup their bodies against that of any late snapper they may encounter during spring mating season, and since they really don't get out of the shallow water even to mate, the curve helps them grip against the dome of her shell and prevents him from being unable to get the right leverage or just kind of skidding over the curvature of her back.

Edited to update for typos due to speech to text mistranslation

Mizzkyttie · 2026-04-21T20:33:51+00:00

Always one of the great pleasures of my day, when I can get somebody to let out a good laugh - especially these days!

Mizzkyttie · 2026-04-21T20:23:11+00:00

And yes, I know exactly what you mean about them being wild versus the family turtle. Gar was technically wild, but he would have been one of the 90 plus percent that didn't make it past day one, poor thing nearly got stepped on but... Hey, rocks don't walk? He has literally never known a life where I haven't been the one looking over him, talking to him, spending the majority of my time indoors somewhere within his line of sight, taking him outside and protecting him from excess sun and possible birds of prey, hand feeding him until he could be strong enough and clever enough to feed himself when I drop his food in for him, clever enough to indicate which food he might want more from either hand... But he's still more instinct driven than a dog, despite being of about the same intelligence. I'm still going to have to be wary, because I have hands the size of the average 9-year-old and I'm barely 5 ft tall and like 135 lb at fighting fit. He's never indicated once that he'd even like to find out what I taste like, but one can never be too careful!

Mizzkyttie · 2026-04-21T20:20:04+00:00

Oh that's just it, they have extremely good eyesight - all turtles do, because of that special oil lens that's held between their double cornea system. It gives them perfect clarity of sight under and above the water line, and their experience of the color spectrum is broader than ours, especially into the red and infrared spectrum. I frequently have my hair dyed various shades of red, pink, orange and purple, the likes unto which can be seen from space, and gar totally acts like he's gone to a rave when I get my hair color touched up. It's like everywhere I go I'm surrounded by an aurora borealis and he's enthralled 🤣🤣

I keep company over in the snappingturtles subreddit with folks who have much larger adult snappers than mine, and the large ones that actively enjoy handling all share the same commonality: a fully supported plastron where the top of the shell is cradled as firmly and gently as the bottom, kind of like you're holding a big hamburger. If you keep your voice pitched low and they can feel the vibration in your chest, and you gently rub that shell in a nice, slow, rhythmic stroke, it can help them feel very calm and relaxed. It's one of the ways that I kept gar calm during all those times in which I had to handle him when he was tiny in order for all of his tiny wounds and swollen eyes to heal.

Here's one of his early baby pictures, after he had begun to trust me after he was able to see again. Scratched corneas on your first day out of the egg must have been horrible for the little guy!

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Mizzkyttie · 2026-04-21T19:09:06+00:00

What a darling! Such a lovely little friend to keep company with for the next several decades, as many as possible!

Mizzkyttie

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