THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, August 20, 1995 TAG: 9508170062
SECTION: HOME PAGE: G1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY MARY ELLEN MILES, SPECIAL TO HOME & GARDEN
LENGTH: Long : 135 lines
Near the entrance to Sandy and John Watts' Virginia Beach home sit a turtle-shaped bird feeder and a whimsical pottery turtle wearing a sombrero. Inside, the sounds of an indoor turtle pond burble through the house. Out back, turtles sun on a plank.
The couple, both longtime animal lovers, have a house and yard that sometimes seem more like a zoo than a home. The trilevel Thalia Manor house, where they've lived for about seven years, is filled with tributes to animals.
In the kitchen, wooden cat plaques hang on the wall and turtle place mats grace the table; in the living room, a turtle potpourri dish is at home near the fish painting; and in the den, turtle shells hang on the walls around a bookshelf carved with turtles and loaded with turtle books, surrounded by other turtles - live, preserved, painted and replicated.
It doesn't stop there. One bathroom has a stained-glass turtle over the window, a pink flamingo standing in a corner and painted reptiles frolicking in the painted grass.
But where the Wattses' house really comes to life is in the back yard, which they have dubbed ``the turtle garden.''
It all started shortly after they moved in, when a neighbor asked if Sandy and John would like their grandchildren's two Eastern painted turtles. The couple built a bigger outdoor pond to accommodate them. ``Then we acquired more turtles, our pond got larger, we acquired even more turtles, and so on,'' Sandy said.
When one of their original painted turtles died, Sandy thought its shell was so beautiful, she preserved it and hung it on a wall.
The yard, which now contains five fish and turtle ponds, is a quiet, yet lively and thriving habitat.
About 10 turtles live in the garden, in and out of the ponds. Resident turtles include a red-eared slider, yellow-bellied sliders, an Eastern painted turtle, box turtles and a river cooter.
All of the turtles, except a three-legged turtle named Muddy Waters, are named after celebrities. Meet Sandra Dee, Mae West, Sonny and Cher, David Niven and Ricky Ricardo, who relentlessly pursues female turtles. Gender is distinguished by eye color - brown for females and bright red for males.
One large pond contains fish and slider turtles and a makeshift bridge where the turtles sun themselves. That pond has a natural filter, called an aquifer, like the ones the ancient Greeks used, made of sand, gravel and charcoal. It doesn't make for a clear pond, but fish prefer murky water for egg laying.
``There's very little pond upkeep if you use the aquifer system, and it's balanced correctly,'' Sandy says. John likes the challenge of inventing ways to maintain the ponds, such as the nets he's hooked up as filters.
In addition to the large fish and turtle pond, turtles move freely between two smaller ponds that form an L-shape.
A couple of small ponds serve as frog breeding grounds, filled to the brim with tadpoles. Those ponds also contain minnows to eat mosquito larvae.
The couple created the tadpole ponds to prevent the frog population from being depleted by turtles, but sometimes the tadpoles are ``treats'' for the turtles.
The turtles need protein. ``We buy smelt, microwave it, let it cool, then feed the turtles by hand,'' Sandy says. ``We don't have to worry about the fish; (the turtles) have plenty to eat.''
It's unlikely the turtles would eat the fish anyway, because goldfish are too acidic to suit turtle tastes, Sandy says.
What looks like an ordinary woodpile in one corner is really a shelter for some box turtles. The Wattses made a tiny ``cave'' for the turtles where they can hibernate during the winter.
In late spring or early summer, the turtles emerge - hungry. This summer has been so hot that Sandy says they haven't seen much of the turtles.
``But the box turtles are morning creatures, and they love the sprinkler, which brings tasty worms to the top, so I'll turn it on in the mornings and they'll come out to play,'' she says.
Turtles can live to be 100 years old, but most don't make it that long. Some die during hibernation, others are killed by birds or raccoons and others, like a 6-year resident who recently left, escape under the fence or through an open gate, Sandy says.
The box turtle's only natural enemy is the raccoon, which uses tools, such as rocks, to break open the turtle's shell. Baby turtles also can be eaten by birds.
To keep their stock replenished, Sandy pays children to bring her turtles. One 20-year-old man has been bringing her baby turtles from his parents' yard since he was a kid.
The Wattses back yard could politely be described as natural, certainly not formal. ``We had a wedding there about three years ago, and all the paths were distinct and neatly kept,'' Sandy recalls, ``but now we kind of just let things grow where they grow.''
They have a healthy crop of brown-eyed susans and touch-me-nots. ``I like the idea that the birds, nature and God planted them there, and I just leave them,'' Sandy says. And the back yard no longer has grass, to spare the box turtles injury during mowing.
To help protect young turtles, the Wattses built their first indoor pond about five years ago. Since then they've rebuilt and refined it, so now it can be moved if necessary and is attractively decorated to fit its corner.
John sponge-painted slats above the attractive corner pond and Sandy painted a violet ground-cover flower over the slats. A shelf, with a light attached to it, sits above the painting, holding turtle memorabilia.
Turtles must have light to live. ``That's how many people kill their pet turtles, by depriving them of essential light,'' Sandy says.
When she was young, Sandy's parents wouldn't allow her to keep animals in unnatural environments. ``So while other kids had those little bowls for their turtles, we had an aquarium and a more natural environment for them,'' she says. ``They always encouraged me to go to the library and learn about my pets and their habitats.''
The Watts' two daughters also grew up with a variety of pets, including snakes and other reptiles. Now that the daughters are grown and live on their own, they have cats, a prairie dog and exotic frogs.
``We're just an animal-loving family,'' Sandy says. She enjoys looking out at the turtle garden while she washes dishes or watching from her bedroom as the turtles sun themselves.
``Many people think of them as cold-blooded reptiles, but they can be tamed, will eat from your hand and can recognize you,'' she says. ``They have individual personalities. Ricky Ricardo will even come out and eat in front of a stranger.'' ILLUSTRATION: CHARLIE MEADS/Staff color photos
Slider turtles, along with Eastern painted turtles and river
cooters, live in several ponds behind Sandy and John Watts' Virginia
Beach house.
Sandy Watts holds a box turtle, which comes out of hiding in the
morning when she turns on the sprinkler.
A preserved turtle sits on the ledge above the Wattses' indoor
turtle pond.
Watts feeds an Eastern painted turtle that lives in the indoor pond
in her Thalia Manor home.
by CNB