Large Marge scooted, well, turtle scooted, toward her swimming pool where she had a diving board, plenty to eat, companions and a wonderful place to dig.
Large Marge, who is a foot long and weighs 10 pounds, was missing one back foot, and toes and webbing on the other back leg.
Tom Silverfield of Everett rescues turtles such as Large Marge, who are often abused or neglected.
A turtle may live to 100 years old and needs the love of many generations. Silverfield heard about the plight of Large Marge and zoomed to her aid.
“When I got to the house she was in a dirty kiddy wading pool on the porch, so covered with slippery algae she couldn’t pull herself out of the water,” Silverfield said. “The algae and slime were also cementing old dead skin and shell to her, which is supposed to shed off completely. It was piled up so bad she couldn’t pull her head in. The look in her eye said, ‘Help me’!”
He rescued Large Marge, and she found turtle nirvana with Silverfield, 43, who devotes his life to critters and gardening.
“I grew up with lots of animals,” Silverfield said. “I’ve been ‘recycling’ used pets for 20 years.”
Here a turtle, there a turtle is an understatement at his tiny home that includes a teensy kitchen, bathroom, bedroom and living room jammed with large plastic tubs that make excellent turtle homes.
Outside there are turtle enclosures with the thing turtles love the most – dirt. If you have a turtle in an aquarium with water, please check to see if it would be happier with some dirt for digging. Silverfield places leaves and twigs here and there they can hide under. Clear Plexiglas sheets over Gulf Coast box turtles create a sauna area for warmth.
Silverfield, who grew up on a farm in Delaware, cleverly uses angled paint trays as swimming holes. Tipped sideways, flower pots make great garages where turtles like to park. He knows what each turtle eats, from worms to cherry tomatoes.
He doesn’t mind being called Tom the Turtle Man.
“Worldwide, many turtle species are becoming endangered through loss of habitat. Turtles are very slow to cross roads and sometimes don’t make it to the other side. Unlike puppies and rabbits in pet stores that come from breeders, most pet store turtles are caught from the wild.”
He said four out of five captured turtles never make it alive to a pet store and another four out of five don’t survive the next year.
For many, his home is a pit stop. As a member of the Seattle Turtle and Tortoise Club, Silverfield is a middle man for turtles that need or get a home.
“Many or most general animal shelters are not set up to properly house reptiles or exotic animals so specialty shelters and clubs help to treat, rehabilitate, and find homes for ferrets, pigs, reptiles, etc.,” Silverfield said. “Specialty clubs and shelters can help inform anybody with an interest in their kind of animals.”
In the past year, Silverfield, who works at Little Nickel in Lynnwood, has facilitated more than 100 adoptions, often transporting turtles in his 1984 station wagon.
He has to begin saying “Night night” to many of his turtle children. They soon will begin digging themselves a foot into the earth to hibernate for the winter. He said he’ll be so happy when they jut their little heads out of the soil in the spring. Silverfield said he loves turtles because they are humble and have personalities plus.
Like Large Marge, the queen of the yard. She has fish and a smaller painted turtle to keep her company outdoors, loves to tromp around the lawn and sunbathes on his front door mat in the morning. She eats all kinds of water plants, veggies and squash blossoms.
“In the winter she lives in a pond in my kitchen and likes to watch me wash dishes,” Silverfield said, “But she dives under the water when I’m cooking.”
He said he knows rescuing turtles isn’t for everyone.
“I’ve got a soft spot for the underdog,” Silverfield said. “I love them.”
Columnist Kristi O’Harran: 425-339-3451 or oharran@heraldnet.com
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