Some shelled beings are very fast and energetic. Take Malti’s box turtle brother, Bruce, for example. Blink and you’ll miss him. He is light and agile and flexible – practically anything I’ve ever tried to put him into, he climbs right out of.
If Bruce and Malti had a “tortoise and hare” race, Bruce would play the hare.
Malti, on the other hand, literally creaks when she walks. Her shell – both upper and under – is heavy and ponderous. Her back legs look like tiny elephant legs and her front legs are massive slabs.
I can literally hear her as she squeaks her way around our casa, head butting obstacles out of the way rather than mustering the energy to walk around them.
But this doesn’t mean she can’t be speedy when she wants to be. To that end (and after she escaped for six endless days when she was two), a dear friend created a glow-in-the-dark Stegosaurus coat for her to wear outdoors, complete with a long lead I could hold while she went exploring.
There is just one teensy issue. She is so plump it won’t stay on her!
Malti wearing her glow-in-the-dark Stegosaurus coat that is supposed to help her mommy keep track of her. It works perfectly, so long as she doesn’t move. And remember…..
