Woman Goes Viral for Finding a Baby Turtle in the Middle of a Mardis Gras Parade and Adopting It

Mardis Gras is one of the most massive parties in all of the U.S. that can last anywhere from 4 to 8 weeks. It's just absolutely bonkers and pure chaos in the most magical and fun way. Based in New Orleans, Louisiana, you attend endless parties, parades, and collect countless beads. One that that is not a normal trinket you get for Mardis Gras is a tiny little turtle.

TikToker @ifightparents was out celebrating the yearly festivities and to her surprise in the middle of a parade and crowd of people she finds a tiny turtle. She has no idea where the little guy came from, but she instantly loves him. She named him Mardis in honor of the holiday, and her viewers are 100% invested in little Mardis' life now. 

Baby Turtle Found

Little Mardis seemed scared when she first found him all along amongst the dancing people and pile of beads. He kept his head and limbs tucked deep inside his shell the entire time during the initial video. But the TikToker has been sharing updates and shows him slowly becoming less and less afraid to pop his head out. 

She obviously wasn't prepared to welcome a turtle into her life while partying at Mardis Gras, so she initially was keeping him in an open Tupperware container filled with some water. But her latest video shows her spoiling the sweet little shelled guy and dropping over $400 at the pet store to get him all set up and give him the best home. 

Update: Named him Mardis

Invested in Mardis

TikTokers can't get enough of Mardis the tiny parade turtle. “I swear I don’t know how he survived being in the middle of a parade where trucks & people are non stop walking," the TikToker says. “He was meant to be seen.” Mardis also gained to dog siblings after being adopted by the TikToker. She knows turtles live for a very long time and she says ”he better not ever leave me."

When she posted the first few videos of little Mardis she took a break for a while before updating her viewers. TikTokers started thinking that maybe he had died, but @ifightparents was not standing for that. She intends to share many more Mardis Gras with her little Mardis. 

Getting Mardis His New Setup