Spike was gentle, shy, tolerant, patient, playful, and was often the children’s favorite out of all our turtles. His playfulness was expressed in many ways—when he was younger, he would chase Bart around the yard (we think he thought Bart was a snapping turtle) and when he got older, he would greet Bart as if Bart was another snapping turtle. In recent years, Bart was the one chasing Spike! Spike loved exercising on his cooler lids: we had 3 sizes of lids for him for his indoor and outdoor tanks, and we named them Skinny Minnie, Medium Millie, and Big Bertha. He rode his lids in a complete circle, hanging on with his claws and tail and blowing long fountains out of his nose, and we played this footage to delighted Turtlesinger audiences over the years. Spike also liked to chase me around the yard when he was younger, and we would play a game when he was in his indoor tank where he would chase me from one side of the tank to the other. Spike also loved chasing his lid which we dragged in a figure eight pattern in his indoor tank. When he was younger, children would read to Spike and our other turtles. They would also feed him minnows from a miniature fishing pole until he got too big for a traveling tank. He was constantly on the alert, and when a light would come on suddenly in his dark room he would automatically “bam” by reflexively striking out under the water.
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