Fuego

The day before we left for Palm Springs, I was at Wal-Mart doing some last minute shopping with Parker. While we were in the check out line, the guy in front of us said, "Would your son like to have a turtle?" I replied, "You mean a real turtle?" He then pulled out a plastic bag and showed me a real turtle inside this bag. I guess he went to PetsMart to give the turtle to them, but they wouldn't take it. His son has many different reptiles and this was just one that they were getting rid of. I quickly called Byron and asked him if he wanted a turtle. He was perplexed as I was, but said, "Yeah." Byron has a HUGE fetish with turtles. He collects them from everywhere he goes and puts them on his desk at work. He has also been talking for quite some time about getting some nice aquariums in our basement which will hold quite a few different kinds. Byron was pretty pumped. I talked to the guy for about 1 minute total to get the quick lowdown on what he eats and how to take care of him.

That evening we bought a 50 gallon aquarium for him, some heat light, UVB light, food dishes and all of the other fun stuff for a turtle. Now our free turtle turned into a HUGE expense:). Byron & the kids have been so excited about this turtle. I have decided that I will take a turtle any day over a rabbit or other animal - there is no smell involved and pretty much no clean-up. The only daily thing we need to do is give fresh food/water and make sure he gets outside every few days.

Melissa came over the day we got the turtle and asked Byron what "fire" was in Spanish. We soon named our turtle "Fuego" ("fire" in Spanish) since he has such beautiful markings under him. He has some beautiful red and yellow stripes. We took him to a vet to figure out what type of turtle we have and weren't really able to find out much. The vet said that our turtle is malnourished (he probably wasn't fed calcium) and his shell is a little deformed. So they can't tell the age. He thought he was probably an ornate 3 toed box turtle, but the more we looked into that type of turtle it didn't seem to fit. These turtles are vegetarians, and Fuego loves to eat mill worms. We decided after looking at pictures and descriptions of turtles on the Internet that we have a "Central American Ornate Wood Turtle."

We love taking him into the back yard and watching him go. I am amazed by how fast he actually is. He will walk all over the back yard going into the sandbox, around the grass and usually ends up in the flower beds taking a nap. He has been really fun. Once a week Byron puts him into a container with water (not covering his head) that he seems to love. He will just swim around and seem to have a great time. These turtles aren't solely water turtles, but love to get in water once in a while.

We have also loved watching him eat. Byron set up the camcorder yesterday to record him eating. He was so cute drinking his water and eating the spinach and mill worms we had set out for him. He won't eat when he sees us watching him so the camcorder worked well.