We have a lot of interesting characters here on Spring Lake, but Shelly the Softshell was one of our favorites.
Mostly because she was a grumpy turtle in the time of Grumpy Cat, but also because it was fun to watch her play in the spring like a kiddo at a water park…
…or sunbathe like a 1970s housewife.
Then a neighbor spotted her body floating on the far side of the lake. We knew it was a long-shot, but we invited a wildlife specialist to see if she could determine Shelly’s cause of death. It’s possible we’ve watched too much CSI and read too many Agatha Christie novels.
The necropsy* findings were inconclusive, but we do know she didn’t die as a result of swallowing a fishhook (a common cause of turtle death) or being egg-bound. Her death was likely caused by old age.
*It wasn’t really a proper necropsy because no organs were weighed, but it’s a great word to use so it’s getting used here.
Without getting too graphic, Shelly smelled and the only way to get rid of the smell was to bury her.
Fast forward five months—a SLAC-ker asked if we could dig her up and examine her bones. When a kiddo is curious about science, you put aside your fears of digging up a corpse and you find a shovel. And you regret not marking the location of the body. There was a lot of shoveling.
Fortunately, the stinky stuff was gone, thanks to the handy work of the ants living under her body.
We carefully cleaned each bone with a soft brush.
And played a rousing game of “Bone or Stick?” There were a lot of sticks in this pile.
We took an inventory of the pieces we collected.
And posed with our discovery.
We might’ve goofed around a bit…
…but we took the job of cleaning up very seriously. We scrubbed our hands thoroughly when we finished our work.
We recommend using Jake’s method of cleaning bones if you ever find yourself in a position of needing to clean bones.
Here’s how they looked immediately following several days in a peroxide bath.
The girls have had a lot of fun examining Shelly up close. We still have more work to do, such as learning the proper names of the bones and figuring out a way to mount this specimen permanently so we can continue to learn from her.
For our next project, we’ll remember to mark where we’ve buried the bodies. 😉
We may joke about burying dead bodies and playing with bones, but it’s only because gallows humor helps in difficult situations. We are grateful for the opportunity to keep Shelly close and learn from her and we are thrilled to know that the next generation of softshells seem to be just as entertaining as their matriarch. Based solely on this display of jazz hands, we expect this little fella to entertain us for years to come.
![DSCN0054[2]](https://chroniclesofslackers.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/12/dscn00542.jpg?w=1060)
Chronicles of the Spring Lake Adventure Club 
I simply love this story for so many reasons. More specifically because of something that happened to me when I was about the same age as the girls.
I was in the 6th grade I had saved up $20 to buy a male ornate box turtle from a local pet shop. Little did I know the turtle was already sick. When I realized it was showing symptoms (not just sleepy) I looked at the few turtle books I had. I returned to the pet shop and said “ hey you sold me a sick turtle !” Well there was nothing that could be done . I was too chicken to really confront the owners. So I went back home with my sick male ornate box turtle. Named Copper.
He died shortly after. I had set him in the back yard to decompose since my dad said I could save his shell.
Sure enough I had an awesome shell and few bones ! I learned so much from the bones of that turtle. One day I took the bones to school to talk about the anatomy of the turtle.
My teacher said “That’s morbid!”
I sat there thinking ….“Morbid ? Is something wrong with me”
I never mentioned the bones ever again to anyone. They lived under the kitchen sink for years. I think my mom eventually threw them all away.
Fast forward to 2016. I meet Carl vist the museum and see the most incredible collection of Herpetological natural history.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh my goodness! What a terrible teacher and what an absolutely awful experience for you. Makes you wonder how many other young dreams were crushed thanks to the flippant words of this person.
I’m so happy you met Carl. I know you’ll never be at a loss for turtle shells or bones as long as you know him, but know that Spring Lake is always here for you too. Feel free to drop off any specimens – the girls would love to help you fulfill your turtle shell wish. xoxo
LikeLike
[…] learned so much from Shelly, the girls decided they wanted to examine other animals. We’re probably not ready for […]
LikeLike
[…] Six months later, in the middle of August, we decided to see if the bones were ready. Either the marker was accidentally moved or we didn’t mark the grave accurately because it took hours to find our first bone. Fun fact: rabbit bones are teeny tiny compared to turtle bones. […]
LikeLike
[…] Six months later, in the middle of August, we decided to see if the bones were ready. Either the marker was accidentally moved, or we didn’t mark the grave accurately because it took hours to find our first bone. Fun fact: rabbit bones are teeny tiny compared to turtle bones. […]
LikeLike