TIMID TURTLE TAKES TO BASEMENT -- 32 YEARS

Betty and Eugene Wilson hold Elmer, who has lived in their basement in Jackson for 32 years.

On May 30, fans of The Nashville Network's "Club Dance" will hear about Jackson native Elmer the Turtle, who has lived in Eugene and Betty Wilson's basement for the past 32 years.

"He's been with us since we built this house," said Betty Wilson.

In late April the Wilsons traveled to Knoxville, Tenn., where TNN tapes "Club Dance." They were witness to eight tapings of the show, which took place over the weekend of April 26-27. The shows appear about a month after taping.

When Betty Wilson filled out a card at the tapings which asked for unusual pets, she had to mention Elmer, who spends all of his days sitting around in the cool of the Wilson basement eating lettuce and tomatoes.

She pretty much forgot about the card after she turned it in.

"At our last taping," Betty recalls, "they called my name and told me to go up to the bar. That's where Phil Campbell interviewed me."

Betty told Phil Campbell, the co-host of TNN's "Club Dance" about Elmer.

While the Wilsons have had dogs before, Elmer's outlasted them all.

Turtles are the only reptiles with a shell that serves as excellent natural protection. Most kinds of turtles can pull their head, legs and tail into their shell.

Turtles, like all reptiles, are cold blooded -- that is, their body temperature stays about the same as the temperature of the surrounding air or water.

Turtles cannot be warm and active in cold weather, so they cannot live in regions that are cold throughout the year. They live almost everywhere else -- in deserts, forests, grasslands, lakes, marshes, ponds or even a warm basement.

"He likes to sit in his water pan," said Eugene Wilson, who was responsible for finding Elmer 32 years ago in the front yard of their newly built home, which Eugene built. Now the home, and Elmer, have belonged to the Wilsons for 32 years.

"He hibernates all winter," Eugene said. "He hides and we usually don't see him until it starts to get warm again."

As soon as it gets warm, Elmer shows up again, found sitting in his pan of water.

Betty explains that he sits in his water because it soothes his peeling skin and he likes to get his skin moist. And after a long winter of hibernating, "I'm sure he's thirsty," Betty said.

Lettuce is Elmer's main choice of food. He likes tomatoes, too, but not cabbage.

And Elmer gets as much exercise as he wants -- he has an entire basement to roam.

"He hears us come down and he comes around because he thinks he's going to get some food," Eugene said. ""He likes to get right between my feet, aggravating me. If he thinks we've got some food, he'll come a running."

Running?

"Well, not running," Betty adds, "turtles are pretty slow."

Elmer's 32 years with the Wilsons has been a small fraction of his life. Turtles have been known to live 150 years.

But their long life is only one advantage of having a turtle as a pet.

"We've never had to take him to the vet," Betty said. "We just feed him and let him go."

And if Elmer lives a lonely life, it's by his own choice.

"We tried to get him a playmate several years ago," Betty said. "We got another turtle and put him down there, but Elmer didn't like him.

"I think he was a bit jealous so we had to get rid of the other one."

Elmer spends most of his time in the basement alone, but people shouldn't feel sorry for him.

"He seems to be happy down there," Eugene said. "And he probably wouldn't have lived if we had left him outside."