#there's a secret pond towards the very back of our local botanical garden

[erythristicbones]

Helped a friend cross the road safely today C: it's a Florida Softshell Turtle!

#not pictured: me and my gf ushering him around like a pair of underwhelming bodyguards #didnt want to pick him up if we didnt have to so that he wasnt as stressed #so we just kinda stood in between him and cars as he made his own way across and into the bigass neighborhood pond #also had to stop my MIL from picking him up and moving him herself #bc she thought that since i said it wasnt a snapper that it was 100% safe to pick up #like mom.....its still a wild animal with a nasty bite. just not the one that's guaranteed to break bones w the bite #softshells have Incredibly long necks too so you gotta be precise with how u grab em from the back #its actually sorta like holding a pizza box #except the pizza box has a head and will bite you if youre hand is anywhere except the bottom of it #anyways i fucking adore softshells and their stupid faces #there's a secret pond towards the very back of our local botanical garden #and there's a pair of softshells + i believe a map turtle that always greet me when i walk down there #i also saw a very tiny hatchling softshell during the last baby reptile season when i went to sit by the pond #as well as a hatchling watersnake. i believe it was a banded watersnake? #but their markings are all v similar when it comes to the non venomous watersnakes around there