Victor is a monk from Nigeria. He\u2019s the gardener here at Sant\u2019Anselmo and he takes care of the grounds. He\u2019s the one who runs this turtle operation. I call him \u201cil capo delle tartarughe\u201d, the boss of the turtles. It sounds a lot better in Italian. He\u2019s been taking care of a few baby turtles that hatched last May. And by a few I mean 11. He has a tank or two in his office where the little ones live.<\/span><\/p>\nThe time has finally come when Victor has deemed them big enough to make the move to the big leagues. The two main worries are 1. how are they going to react to the slightly colder water than their tank, and 2. how well will they coexist in the same home as the big turtles and some fish. Earlier this week, Victor did a test run by placing three of the baby turtles in the pond with the grown turtles and other fish. A few people gathered around to watch. It was a sight to see.<\/span><\/p>\nOne by one he placed them on a rock that protrudes from the water. The first two were excited. They quickly scanned their surroundings and about 10 seconds later they plopped into the water. The third one was a little shyer. After it was placed on the rock, it shriveled up into its shell. It needed a little more time to get acclimated to its new home. A few minutes later it was home free. The youngins ventured out, exploring their new swimming space and finding new places to hide. But wait a minute, one of the big turtles seemed to have a problem with one of the babies. He aggressively approaches and sizes it up. I thought \u201cwould it\u2026 try to\u2026eat the other?\u201d. False alarm. It ended up being a welcome. A quick test if you will. Whatever it was, the young turtle passed, and it was back to good living in turtleland.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The time has finally come when Sant’Anselmo’s gardener, Victor, has deemed his baby turtles big enough to make the move to the big leagues. Video and photos document the drama.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":32936,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32954","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-volunteer-journal-en"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t
![](\"https:\/\/www.collegiosantanselmo.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/IMG_6517-1.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>