D
True story from Little Lynnie's youth. (I was 15, so not that little anymore.)
Mom and my brother Dan went east for my oldest brother's graduation. And left for a week. Now, Dan was the critter kid in the family. 200 box turtles in a pen, and since it was summertime, his four-foot caiman (kin to gators and crocs) was in the pen too. (They can't eat turtles, because of the shells.) BUT his two bullfrogs were in the same pen. The bullfrogs were about as big as leopard frogs get, so twice as wide as a caiman mouth when they're just sitting there. Little problem. They thin out when jumping.
And guess who was tasked with taking care of all those critters while Dan was gone. 200 box turtles require 1-2 pounds of meat per day, so either I had to catch that weight in minnows or pay for that meat from the grocery store. I can't catch minnows like Dan could. Thank God, they also eat vegetables and fruit too, because we often had leftovers to feed them, instead of making a compost pile. (Actually, they were our compost pile. lol) Added fun, I had to gather all the turtles at dinnertime, or the fast ones would have starved out the slow ones. Never, ever again. I killed one of his rabbits and one of his turtles in the one week he was gone...
BUT I caught the caiman as he was trying to down a bullfrog. All I saw of the bullfrog was the feet sticking out of the caiman's mouth. They were trying to hop out. (Frantic frog feet flailing fast.) I ran inside, grabbed a broom, (because I've been near-bit by that caiman before, and didn't want to feel the reality of it biting me, which for the record, is probably why one of the turtles died. I was nervous about the caiman every time I climbed into the pen), and chased that caiman around the pen for 15 minutes. I'm not sure why he upchucked the frog -- tired, bored, needed to breathe after running for 15 minutes, or the frog did something in his throat -- but he did. And I held him back while the frog hopped to the other side of the pen.
The frogs survived the summer with the caiman in the pen. I suspect that was because they learned what happens if they let their guard down. lol
Mom and my brother Dan went east for my oldest brother's graduation. And left for a week. Now, Dan was the critter kid in the family. 200 box turtles in a pen, and since it was summertime, his four-foot caiman (kin to gators and crocs) was in the pen too. (They can't eat turtles, because of the shells.) BUT his two bullfrogs were in the same pen. The bullfrogs were about as big as leopard frogs get, so twice as wide as a caiman mouth when they're just sitting there. Little problem. They thin out when jumping.
And guess who was tasked with taking care of all those critters while Dan was gone. 200 box turtles require 1-2 pounds of meat per day, so either I had to catch that weight in minnows or pay for that meat from the grocery store. I can't catch minnows like Dan could. Thank God, they also eat vegetables and fruit too, because we often had leftovers to feed them, instead of making a compost pile. (Actually, they were our compost pile. lol) Added fun, I had to gather all the turtles at dinnertime, or the fast ones would have starved out the slow ones. Never, ever again. I killed one of his rabbits and one of his turtles in the one week he was gone...
BUT I caught the caiman as he was trying to down a bullfrog. All I saw of the bullfrog was the feet sticking out of the caiman's mouth. They were trying to hop out. (Frantic frog feet flailing fast.) I ran inside, grabbed a broom, (because I've been near-bit by that caiman before, and didn't want to feel the reality of it biting me, which for the record, is probably why one of the turtles died. I was nervous about the caiman every time I climbed into the pen), and chased that caiman around the pen for 15 minutes. I'm not sure why he upchucked the frog -- tired, bored, needed to breathe after running for 15 minutes, or the frog did something in his throat -- but he did. And I held him back while the frog hopped to the other side of the pen.
The frogs survived the summer with the caiman in the pen. I suspect that was because they learned what happens if they let their guard down. lol
