Friends, our North Texas garden is coming together after six busy years adding plants, building sheds and now the greenhouse. As such, it is beginning to attract some wildlife! We have the usual bunnies visiting each day out front munching grass, but once in a while…
I was busy working on adding hardware cloth to the new compost bins when Mr. Ethereal came over and issued a summons:
If you choose to accept this challenge, meet me over at the trash bins…”
C.R. Chapman, Jr., June 2025
Curious for sure, I finished up what I was doing, walked on over to the trash storage area, which I’d built when we first moved here, and Charles points out this creature!
“He must have washed down from the drainage ditch up above in last night’s storm,”
How do you safely pick up a tortoise?
Use some kind of heavy gloves to pick up any turtles. I used my long leather rose gloves to pick this guy up!
I was more concerned that he might whip his head back and try to bite me, but I really looked at him and he was pretty dry.
He needed to get to water… and soon.
Not the greatest photograph of me, but I’m happy to have a photo taken with this 5 lb. guy!
Before walking him down to the large pond nearby, I gently spooned some fresh rainwater near his mouth and he opened his mouth right away. He was thirsty!!
After getting this quick pic, we walked down to the pond. I tried to release him on some sand right next to the water, but he slipped off and immediately his legs went out and he was swimming!
So glad I accepted Charles’ challenge… 😉
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Visitor #2
Now the previous weekend, I’m out planting agapanthus and several other perennials back out into the garden for the summer. I dump out the remaining black mulch from a bag, which is a year old, and…
“WHOA!!! WHOA, WHOA, WHOA!”
I’m exclaiming out loud. Immediately get Charles. He uses a long stick to pick this guy up and set him into our orange Home Depot bucket.
After really looking at him, I see this snake’s head is normal, not diamond-shaped. There aren’t any rattles, and he seems pretty chill.
I looked up Texas snakes and I think he’s a Texas Night Snake, which as the name suggests, he only comes out to hunt at night.
He was curious about me and kept climbing the side of the plastic bucket, but he didn’t try to strike.
And, of course last year, we had an opossum out in the yard last year (can’t find the post/photos) and a raccoon at night. Mr. Ethereal has seen some roadrunners this spring.
Not too long after I snapped these photos, I walked this guy down to the pond, too, even though technically he was our first visitor and the tortoise came second. 😉
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Those are our animal adventures so far this summer.
How about yours?
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Those are great, although the snake would scare the bejeebers out of me. I had a fox eating a squirrel in my yard a couple weeks ago, per my neighbor who saw it. I did not. Bunnies & squirrels galore in my yard We live across the street from the river, so I’ve seen an eagle, heron, plenty of ducks, [too many] Canada geese, turkey vultures, deer, hawks.
Look at that guy! The photos are great (although the snake, not so happy to see!). You are a turtle rescuer and I think that’s wonderful. So great of you to get him back to water. I’m sure he’ll be forever grateful too. Love this!