Rockalina the turtle meets member of her own species for the 1st time in 48 years

Rocalina the Turtle has had a transformative year.

When wildlife rescuers first saw her back to February, they weren't sure she would make it through the night.

After nearly 50 years of living on a New Jersey kitchen floor, an eastern box turtle developed ingrown nails, several deformities, and dry, flaky skin. She was too weak to even keep her eyes open.

But 11 months later, she is thriving in the reserve, basking in the sun and feasting on worms and berries.

And now, for the first time since she was plucked from the wild in 1977, she has a companion of her own species – little turtle named Pebble.

“They're doing well,” said Chris Leone, Rockalina's caretaker. How it happens presenter Neil Kuksal. “They are very interesting to watch.”

“It looked like a mummy”

Leone is the founder of Garden State Tortoise, a reptile breeding and rescue center in New Jersey. He first met Rokalina almost a year ago, when the woman asked for help.

Her husband's aunt and uncle recently died. She said: and she didn't know what to do with the turtle that lived in their house.

According to her, the creature freely ran the house, but mainly lived in the kitchen, where, in her opinion, it ate mainly cat food.

She told Leone that the couple's son found the turtle on the street in 1977, when he was just a boy, and took it home. He had a disability that prevented him from caring for his new pet, so the responsibility fell on his parents.

“Now, there was really no one to take care of the turtle,” Leone said.

But eastern box turtles, he said, are not meant to live indoors. They are natural forest dwellers that enjoy tree cover, plenty of moisture, and ponds to soak in.

“The linoleum floor in the kitchen couldn't be further from what this animal needs,” Leone said. “The animal looked like it had died. It looked like a mummy.”

The hard floors in the kitchen caused Rocalina's finger bones to grow “up and back,” he said.

“This caused the nails to grow in the complete opposite direction and completely curl up to the point where they actually started growing back into her feet,” he said.

Her beak was misshapen, her skin was pale and flaky, and cat hair was tangled around one of her legs, cutting off her circulation.

“We thought the leg would have to be removed.” Leone withhelp. “Once we got her into good shape, we learned that although the leg would always be deformed, it didn't have to be amputated and she could actually use it to turn around.”

The road to recovery

Over the past 11 months, the Garden State turtle documented Rocalina's recovery on YouTubewhere she gained many fans.

Since she was doing well, the staff decided it was time to give her a friend. Eastern box turtles, Leone said, live in colonies, and it's important that they socialize with their own kind.

Meet Pebble, a brand new turtle hatched at the facility especially for Rokalina. According to Leone, the duo seemed to hit it off.

So far in their controlled interactions, they seem interested in each other – sniffing each other and craning their necks for a better look.

“Curiosity is a good way to know they're doing well,” Leone said.

Leone urges people not to remove turtles from their natural habitat. But he says it's too late for Rockalina to return to the forest, where she won't be able to protect herself from predators.

So the staff is doing everything they can to make her as happy as possible in her remaining days, which may be many.

“She could have lived another 50 years, believe it or not.”