Paget resident Mrs. Beverley Richardson almost dropped the trash last week when she came across an intrepid terrapin striding across her lawn.

"I couldn't believe it,'' she said. "I'm used to my son bringing back lost cats and dogs -- but a turtle?'' The tangerine-sized amphibian is now taking time out from his travels at the Richardson household.

But Mrs. Richardson said she has no idea where he came from.

A Pic-a-Pet employee, Mr. Keavin Caines, could shed no light on the issue.

"They can walk as long as their legs can carry them,'' he said. "From one end of the Island to the other.'' A spokesman for the SPCA shelter admitted they had received no recent reports of lost turtles.

"We only get them once in a while,'' she said.