New Additions to the Family

Aren't they the CUTEST?? Sorry the pics are so fuzzy. :(

The turtle is a baby snapping turtle that we rescued from the library's sidewalk. His name is Booker the Turtle Washington, AKA "Books." Books is a feisty guy, so we are only planning to keep him until late spring. It's a little dangerous to release him now, because he's not nourished enough to survive hibernation. Indoor turtles don't need to hibernate, though. But we ARE going to release him! Believe me, we don't have the money for the 50 - 100 gallon tank it would take to house this potentially 60 lb. 50 year old turtle!! Though it's going to be very hard. I get so attached to animals, and he is SO cute.

The tiger salamander is definitely a keeper, though! Her name is Tiger Lilly, AKA Tielle (TL). I had newts and anoles as a kid, so I know how to care for lizards. We've had Books for a while, (10 days? Something like that.) but Chris found Tielle in the parking lot of Piggly Wiggly just this morning. Poor thing was dry (which is bad) and scared to death. She's curled up in that plastic pot, and hasn't come out. Exhausted, most likely. Plus, salamanders are nocturnal. So we'll see.

Fyzh ("fish," our cat) has been fascinated by the turtle, of course, but wouldn't hurt him. She won't even kill flies that she catches. She just plays with them. How do we know she won't for sure? Because she didn't last night. We accidentally left the lid unsealed to Books' "tank," and she got him out and was playing with him, apparently, since the poor thing was on the floor this morning, hiding. I hope he bit her! lol He's fine, though. Not a scratch on him. Probably traumatized for life, but hey. That's what we get for now having THREE primarily nocturnal animals!! (Yes, for those who didn't know, that is why cats sleep a lot during the day.)



So, we have the beginnings of a little zoo, because of course the kids and I had to catch grasshoppers and crickets and worms to feed the little carnivore. Books can have veggies as well as bugs, but prefers the meat. We're going to stop by the pet store today and find out how much the food options are there, so that we can get some for the winter months, in case our backyard "jar critters" don't breed. We're going to at least keep the two for the winter, and we'll see how we're doing in the spring. We'd like to eventually hatch Monarch butterflies and have an ant farm, and maybe do a frog life cycle - there's so much you can do with little animals and science! So much they can learn, about the animals, about God's design, about responsibility ... pets are just good things. But we will see how long we keep them. Releasing animals to the wild has its lessons, too. Even if they end up dying, as hard as that would be, it would still be a good life lesson for the kids. I'm prepared for whatever comes with them. :)

So those are our new additions and we are loving them!