I loved turtles when I was a kid. I would bring them home and try to make pets out of them. At first I’d put them in buckets but that seemed way too cramped. To give them more space, I began to join cardboard into an elaborate turtle labyrinth, but that still didn’t seem right. So with the help of an elderly neighbor we built a large turtle pen in the shade of a northern maple. It included a shelter, small “ponds” made from tubs and turkey pans, shrubs/cover, and a poorly designed drainage system. I accumulated a pretty eclectic mix of turtles. Every day I’d inspect them to make sure they looked healthy and I’d feed them meals of vegetables, fruit and canned dog food. The turtle pen became pretty popular with my fellow neighbor kids who would catch their own turtles, paint their names on the shells (NOT recommended) and bring them over for me to keep in the pen. Well, despite what I considered to be resort-like conditions, one day my favorite turtle, a big red eared slider, died. I think that was the day it hit me. No matter how “cool” of an environment I made….they just wanted to live in the wild! So I let all the turtles go. I still love turtles, though… and coming from a Hare that says a lot.