Turtle Turtle!

Alex was a student of both of us last semester. I think he may be attending one of Josh’s classes this semester. He really wants to improve his English. He is also our friend. We have been having him over about once a week. Recently he has expressed interest in learning more about our favorite Book. We are trying to get him together with Frank or someone who speaks better Chinese.

Anyway, the first time he came over this semester, he brought the kids a present. Pets! Three turtles! Jon was pretty grossed out.

We had thought about getting a small pet, but we were thinking about something furry. Alex said that he thought about getting a mouse but he said it has a smell. We think that the turtles smell!

Alex also said that once the turtles get bigger, we can eat them. Yes they do eat turtle in China. I have seen them in the grocery store. They are not cheap at all. We have tasted turtle soup (when we were in China before) We do not like it. We will not eat these turtles!
I spent some time on the Internet trying to find out what kind of turtle we had and how to take care of them. The kind of turtle we have is commonly known as Reeve’s turtle. The good news is that they do not grow to be very large. They are some of the smaller turtles.

The turtles came in three small glass bowls.

We bought a tank and gathered some rocks and also bought a heater and lamp for the turtles. They seem as happy as turtles can seem.
I have taken responsibility for cleaning the turtle home and feeding them. So far they have not been too smelly, but that may change once the weather gets warmer.
The kids think that the turtles are great and they do enjoy watching them and feeding them. But they do not seem too attached to them.

This is what the turtle home looks like now!

Here are two of them "sunning" on the rocks.

This is the other one in the water.

I do not know what we will do with the turtles when we are in the US for a few weeks this summer. Maybe Alex can take them for us.