“He wants to be the center of attention,” Lina said. “He loves when people look at him and play with him. He just wants to be noticed.”
Lina isn’t the only one that Nisse likes to follow around, as it turns out, he’s quite smitten with every member of the Lindered household – especially Lina’s father.
“He loves my father,” Lina said. “My dad will be in the kitchen doing something, and he [Nisse] just walks up under his feet and stands in between them, and just looks up at him.”
Lina suspects that her turtle has a bit of an identity crisis and thinks he’s a dog.
Throughout most of the day, Nisse likes to just roam around the house freely. If he’s not following someone, he’s usually checking out something of interest to him.
When he’s in his cage with Bella, they have a heat lamp and a little ‘pond’ to swim in. During warmer months, Lina takes him out in his very own little pen.
“He enjoys life to the fullest,” Lina said. “I just have to look at him, and he looks at me with his dark eyes, and I’m like, ‘Yeah.’”
Nisse always seems to know how to cheer Linda up if she’s ever having a bad day.
“He doesn’t do much, but just the way he can look at you — it’s love,” Lina said. “He just loves everyone and everything. He brings happiness to everyone. Everyone who has met him has always left with a smile.”
We’re sure that Lina and Nisse will have a wonderful, loving relationship for many years to come. In fact, Nisse might end up outliving Lina!
According to PetMD, turtles “have a potential lifespan of up to 100 years and an average longevity of 40 to 50 years in captivity. Several decades ago, however, that long lifespan expectation for pet turtles wasn’t necessarily the case.”
