The New Member of the Litchfield Residence!

A couple of weeks ago, Isaac's friend at work found a painted turtle while he was fishing by the river and brought it in to give to another gentleman that they work with. When Isaac saw it he told his friend that he wouldn't mind having one to give to our kids. So this friend told him that if he found another one he would let him know. Well, last Friday we got a call from him saying that he had found a turtle, about the size of his watch, and wanted to know if we wanted it. I was okay with the idea, as long as I didn't have to clean up after it. Lol. Well turns out this turtle is probably one of the worst turtles that you could possibly own. Lol. It is called an Alligator Snapper. It is supposed to be the largest fresh water turtle there is. But still will only get as big as its environment lets it. And it is said to be one of the meanest. It has not shown any signs of being mean in the least but we don't really handle it much. But I really wouldn't have let the kids handle all that much even it is was super nice. It seems to like me. It follows me in its bowl as I walk around it or put my hand up to the glass. But it is terrified of Isaac. It runs every time he comes up to the bowl. I think I scared the crap out of it when I took its picture today. Since we have had him I had not seen him really be protective of himself. But today when I took his picture he put his head as far inside his shell as he could and curled himself up until he look like a little rock. It was so funny. After I put him back in the bowl it took him a while to loosen back up. I kind of felt bad. Hopefully he won't hate me now. :-)

I have no idea how long we will have him. Since we have gotten him which has only been about 6 days, he hasn't eaten anything that we can tell. We gave him turle pellets. But he won't really even look at them. I read online that they would eat veggies like carrots. So I chopped up a carrot and gave him that, but again didn't even really touch it. Then the gentleman that gave him to us suggested that we give him a worm. But he totally ignored that too. So I don't know if he is just still getting used to his environment or if he just doesn't want what we are giving him. I am not really sure but hopefully he eats something soon.

The kids and I really enjoy watching him. If we can get his eating figured out we will probably keep him. But I would hate for him to die just because we don't know how to feed him. If anyone has any suggestions I would love to hear them!! Thanks!

-Added note- His name is Squirt! Avie helped pick it out. Sometimes when I talk to the turtle I call him Mr. Turtle and Avie corrects me everytime. It is *so* funny. Esecially because she can't quite say Squirt clearly every time. Cracks me up!! "No mommy, his name is Skirt!!"

Thanks Brandee for reminding me to write that!!