You’ve heard of people who have pet dogs, pet cats and people who also have pet birds. If you go out on a limb you might even find that you’ve either heard of, or know of, people who have pet spiders, iguanas, and pet snakes. But have you heard of people who have pet turtles?

You might have, and be wondering what’s so strange in that, after all your college roommate had a pet cockroach. Then there was that guy who had a pet frog. Really none of these are strange in and of themselves because different people are drawn to different things, but I still found it strange when I heard that some people had pet turtles.

I was intrigued and went down to my pet store to find out what about these little creatures was so fascinating. Absolutely nothing. The one that I saw did absolutely nothing for the half hour that I spent staring at it. A pet store clerk wandering over to me asked me if there was anything that I needed. I smiled and shook my head. I certainly didn’t want one of those!

The clerk sidled closer and asked again if I didn’t need anything. Probably he was wondering what I had been doing for half an hour in the pet store staring at a turtle if I didn’t want anything. The light finally dawned on me and I lifted my head from my intense contemplation of the pet turtles in their display cabinets and gave the clerk a sheepish smile.

Telling him the reason that had led me here in the first place I waited for him to give a look of superiority which would firmly put me in my place, but I was to be pleasantly surprised. The clerk gave me a grin and told me quite frankly that at first he hadn’t been able to understand either why people took for their pet turtles.

Then he took me over to a side case that wasn’t as visible to the whole room and indicated that I should bend down, which I obligingly did. Imagine my astonishment when I was confronted by a large confined area in which there was a big turtle. This chap, as the clerk told me, had been abandoned after its owner had passed away a short while ago. The family had brought it over here because they knew the owner and knew that he could be trusted to look after it.

This then was why people bought pet turtles. The sheer majesty of the creature awed me, and I was struck speechless. This fellow had been around for a lot longer than even I had been. I now understood the compelling pull that made people to get pet turtles. There was nothing in a dog or cat, to beat the turtle.