We speak to the Eel Pit TikTok Guy

Nick Tobler, who posts as a cow turtle on TikTok, is basically a fish nerd. He recently released footage from an Everglades expedition and regularly adds instructional videos on various reptiles and fish from his Reef Life Aquatics shop in Kentucky. Tobler also takes incredible shots of cave systems and night hikes in the forest.

But what TikTok has become fixated on is its eel pit project, which has been evolving since March.

@cowturtle New life in the eel pit! Eels are coming very soon! #eelpot #eelpond #aquarien #fishtok #aquarien ♬ Original sound – cow turtle

@cowturtle goldfish for the eel hole. #eelpond #aalhole #aquariums #fishtok #rarefish #rivermonsters #aquariumsoftiktok ♬ Original sound – cow turtle

Obviously, the eel pit is pretty spooky: it’s a dark, claustrophobic hole filled with eels. It was originally a rainwater cistern under his garage, but Tobler managed to get the water clear enough for the eel pit.

And TikTok is invested, despite comments about how the pit looks like a “bad dream” or something else A cure for wellness. Tobler now has over 337,000 followers and the patience of a saint to be able to answer the same question over and over again: When are the eels coming? He told the Daily Dot he was “very surprised” by all the attention and it changed the way he posted.

“I’m definitely doing real posts now,” he says. “Before, I was always more concerned about the quality of my posts. Now I walk faster and [doing] more frequent posts to keep up with everyone’s interest.”

This “interest” even spilled over to Twitter as people waited for the eels to arrive. A viral tweet by author Julia Glum made that clear; She collected various tweets over the past week with people wondering where the eels are, including one that claimed they need to know when it’s happening, even if they’re on their “deathbed.”