Patio Pets

So I've mentioned we have iguanas, plus tons of geckos, butterflies, frogs, dragonflies, cool orb spiders, and even a few fruit rats (more like mice than REAL rats). We had one land crab a while ago. Those are funny....a big clanky thing walking around. And, of course, we have scorpions and big spiders, but since I don't know where they are, I pretend they don't exist. But with all our tropical wildlife, we've never actually bonded with any of it.....until Franklin. At first we would see a turtle when we opened the front door to leave for school in the morning. Lots of squealing from the girls, and it would be gone when I got back. Then it started coming out on the patio when we were out there in the evening, so John named him after the show on Nick Jr. (If you have kids, you know the one....'Hey, it's Franklin, coming over to play....'). Not too long ago Franklin started gently tapping my foot with his nose, making himself comfortable in John's flip flops and letting the girls be around without going into his shell. If John or I walk outside with some food, there he is! I swear this turtle is just waiting for his own plate. We googled and found that Franklin is a Florida Box Turtle. They live on land and eat bugs and plants. People have kept them as pets, and that makes sense since the little guy certainly does seem to like us. :)

Mari, Josie, and Franklin in John's shoe.