September 14, 2011

We are pleased to introduce our newest and most flexible turtle, Hermey.

Hermey is joining us from MOTE Marine on the west coast. I wanted to wait before I posted a blog about Hermey because we didn’t know how long he would be with us and I didn’t want to encourage all of you to come see him only to find he had been moved to another facility. No need to worry. It has been decided that rather than being a temporary stop on his journey to another permanent care facility that he will instead call Florida Oceanographic his forever home. We are very excited about the new challenges and responsibilities that will come with caring for Hermey.

Hermey is a 55lb green sea turtle with a lot of problems- which is no huge surprise since he is non-releasable and we will never get a "perfect” turtle. First of all Hermey’s back end floats, so much so that our staff says it looks like he is doing yoga! In addition to floating he also is missing his back left flipper, has damage to his Carapace (top shell) and a large crack on his Plastron (bottom shell). The damage to his shell presents an interesting challenge- How do we help him with his buoyancy externally but not cause damage while he is trying to heal? Well let’s just say we have a few ideas in the works that will not only help his buoyant bottom but also make him a very fashionable turtle. We will be keeping you posted, so be sure to check our blogs! Hermey will undergo operant training and his target is a bright and cheery neon yellow square. He has already begun to show interest and I think he will pick it up pretty quick.

So I would now like to encourage you to come visit Hermey along with all of our other resident turtles at Florida Oceanographic, we would love to have you and they really do seem to enjoy all the attention they get from our guests.

Hope to see you soon!

-Brit