The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1936-02-24
Vagabond
from
Indiana
ERNIE PYLE

ISLE OF HOPE, Ga, Feb. 25.-Q-
L. How many spots does a diamond
back terrapin have? A-Thirteen.
Three in a row down the middle and
10 around them, in circle.
Q-How many lady terrapin to
every gentleman terrapin are there?
A-Eighteen.
Q-How long does it take a terra
pin to grow up? A-From six to
10 years.
Q-What happens if you say turtle
when you mean terrapin? Alt
shows you're ignorant.
Q-What's the difference between
a turtle and a terrapin? Al don't
know. You'll have to look it up.
Q-How much does bowl of ter
rapin soup cost? About So.
Whew!
rINHESE are few of the gems I
Il picked UP while waddling
around the Barbee Terrapin Farm,
or ranch, or factory, or whatever
you call a place where they grow
terrapin. 1t is, they say, the only
place OF it's kind in the world.
1t was started about 35 years ago.
Until then, people thought you
couldn't hatch terrapin egg in
captivity. But a man named Alex
Barbee kept experimenting with
eggs in sand until he found how
to hatch them.
Alex Barbee is dead now, but his
son carries on the business. The
sons name is William but he
doesn't use his own name. Ven-
Grating his father, he calls the COM
pany "A. M Barbee's Son." The
son, still under middle age, has;
never done anything but raise ter
rapin.
TINE farm is out here on the Isle
i of Hope, 10 miles from Sa-
vannah. 1t isn't really farm. It's
more like a barn without sides. 1t
has stalls for the different sized
turtles. (There I go. saying turtles
when I mean terrapin. A. M. Bar
bees son spent about half his time
correcting me on that0
In the middle of June each mama
terrapin burrows down in the bot
tom of a stall, and lays about nine
eggs. When she comes out she
scurries all around and, as Mr.. Bar
bee says, she makes fuss here,
and a fuss over there, and another
fuss out yonder." That's because
she doesn't know she's in a barn,
and thinks she's out on the beach
with a crow overhead, and by max
ing all these 'fuSses" she'll confuse
the crow and he won't know where
to look for the eggs.
In about six weeks mama terrapin
lays another batch of eggs, just
like the first. Then she's through
with the whole business. The eggs
just stay there in the sand until
they hatch, couple of months
later.
.nNE little terrapin, about the size
~ of a half dollar, comes out of
each egg. The youngsters grow
about an inch year in length.
They are fed sliced-up fish, with
vegetables mixed in sometimes. They
hibernate all winter, and don't eat
thing.
They can't stand cold weather.
During the recent cold spell the
keepers have had to cover them
with moss every night. Even so, a
lot have died.
The keepers get very fond of
them. The terrapin seems to have
sense. They all run up to the edge
when the keeper comes in. They
know it's feeding time.
When a terrapin is years old it's
big enough to eat. Only the females
are good. The males are too tough.
That's lucky, since there are 18 fe-
males to every male. Most of the
terrapin at the Barbee farm are
shipped away alive, to restaurants.
But Barbee's kill some of them
right here, and can the meat, and
ship it. Terrapin sell for around
S35 a dozen. During better times
they brought $50 dozen.
The farm has about $500 terrapin
INV LII OCtUCA JllC1C dlC fUOO
and 5000. IN the best year there
were 10000.
n.
TERRAPIN make great pets Mr..
Il Barbee says.
The elder Barbee had a music
room" in his house, filled with all
kinds of trinkets with little music
boxes inside them. One was in the
shape of miniature piano, about.
foot long.
He had a pet terrapin in the
house, and whenever Mr.. Barbee
started this music box going, the
terrapin would crawl up and put
his front legs on the keyboard, and
pound it. You can still see the
groove where he wore the wood
away. The terrapin died when it
was Is years old.