July 30, 2002
A FishHand:
A FishFoot:
Fish has five claws on his front legs - but only four on his hind legs. I think that's very interesting :) When he walks, he tends to move his legs diagonally, for example his left front foot and right back foot move forwards at the same time. This feels very funny if it's you he's walking on. I wonder if all turtles have four toenails and walk diagonally too?
hand vs foot | 07:12 PM | ReptoMin? (2)July 29, 2002
I have never seen His Royal Fishyness basking so obviously since I got him. Usually he climbs on the rock, shuffles around for a second or two wondering what he's doing, and slips back into the water. Today he not only climbed onto the rock, but he stayed there, sticking his little back legs out straight in a distinctly red-eared slider-like manner. Even when I got excited and pointed the camera at him and fired away happily.
Fish kicks his tail a lot with his legs, which is supposed to mean he's constipated, but that can't be it - he poos regularly, and it's not little, either. I've learnt that the filter is almost silent when it's clean, and starts clattering when it's clogged up with poo - so now I know when to clean the aquarium. I put extra water in today, but still no swimming in his tank. Still, I got him to bask, so it wasn't a complete waste of time!
basking at last | 05:33 PM | ReptoMin? (6)July 27, 2002
No photo today, I'm afraid, but I'm still here :)
Poor Fishy hasn't been out in full sun for about a week already. It's rained continously for ages and when it doesn't rain it's cloudy. Sometimes it's sunny in the morning and I try to get him out on the balcony but a lot of the time it's not...
I'm glad he has his sunlamp!
rainy days | 10:12 PM | ReptoMin? (0)July 26, 2002
Fish investigates the glass pebbles in his tank. I bought a bagful in Mongkok for $10 today and put 12 in. Fish was quite scared when I dropped them in, and backed away, but was very curious and kept coming forward and going backwards - like he wanted to see but didn't quite dare, what with the Big Hand That Keeps Picking Him Up around.
Here's a video (35 seconds, 400-something kb) of Fish checking out a pebble. He's been doing much of the same thing as in the video for the past half an hour now...
Glass Pebbles | 10:02 PM | ReptoMin? (4)July 25, 2002
Poor Fishy looks stuck :) He stayed like this for about a minute, looking at me curiously ('What is she doing with that big silver thing??'), got his strength back, and wriggled free. It was so funny - his back leg was moving up and down in the air with his breathing. He was climbing on the rock and unfortunately fell off...
stuck | 10:04 PM | ReptoMin? (2)July 24, 2002
Fish shows off his fingernails, and hides his face.
I thought it was a rather interesting picture :) The ripples are from the filter. Fish pooed in his tank this morning so I dumped the water out and changed it, but he pooed in it again. The filter didn't suck it up, so I'm beginning to think it's not a very good filter. However it takes the dust that lands on the surface off, so it's not entirely useless! Whoever heard of a canister filter in a 10-gallon tank, anyway...:)
July 22, 2002
This is how Fish breathes without the aid of a nice stepping stone. Sometimes he actually balances on two diagonal legs and rocks back and forth trying to stay upright and keep his nose above water. It's very funny - I wonder why he doesn't use a nearby rock.
Fish, when he sleeps, is usually partially 'shelled-up' underwater. I haven't seen Fish tuck himself completely into his shell since the day I got him, when he was terrified at being fished out of the tank and shaken around and packaged. I wonder if he's getting fat!
tippytoes | 10:53 PM | ReptoMin? (2)July 20, 2002
Look at those feet - he's not a bad balancer, what with his shell and all! I changed the water today (as I was getting a general 'unclean' feeling about it) and put a little more water than usual in. He's doing more floating/paddling than walking now, but it's still nowhere near swimming! I've made another video (.wmv file, 618kb) of what he does in his spare time, featuring Fish playing with the filter output current and his rocks, and breathing. It's very Fish - it's exactly what he does all day, when I stop by to say 'silly turtle' to him.
This morning there was something wrong with the fuse and his filter stopped running. I was just sitting there, half-asleep, wondering if Fish was awake yet, when it just stopped running. I was horrified that something was wrong with the filter - only now have I realized how important that thing is in keeping the water crystal-clear - but it was just the mains fuse, and fixed with a flip of the switch. Thank goodness. I don't know what I would have done without the filter!
These days I am feeding him 4 pellets of ReptoMin a day. Since he's grown 7 millimetres, or 16% in length, I figured he deserved the extra food...oh, alright, I couldn't resist...he always looks so hungry, the greedy little thing!
he paddles! | 07:11 PM | ReptoMin? (5)July 19, 2002
It always tickles when Fish tries to climb over my arm. His little claws are worn blunt and it doesn't hurt at all, but it IS very tickly! It's also very cute when he gets tired and leans against my arm - I always get a warm fuzzy feeling when he does that :)
Fish has been pooing more in his main tank these few days - which means I have to take the net and scoop it out. Naughty Fish!
climbing | 09:52 PM | ReptoMin? (3)July 18, 2002
Fish has grown! I had to hold him still to get the photo (he was trying to explore my desk) but his shell is almost 5 cm long now. He was such a titchy little turtle, 5 cm including head, when I got him. It's very gratifying to see pets grow bigger - I feel like I am at least doing something right!
Fish got vitamin-soaked ReptoMin today, and a little scrap of vegetable (I casually sidled into the kitchen and nabbed a piece) from the ones that were soaking for tonight's dinner. He did try it, but didn't swallow any - just ripped it to shreds. He's such a good turtle - didn't try to bite me at all today, ate shrimps from my hand, didn't spit anything out apart from vegetables, and even pooed nicely in his feeding container so I could throw it out.
I really enjoy watching Fish doing his turtle things in his tank, walking around and nosing his stones and climbing on and off his rock. It's somehow very soothing. I love turtles!
BIG fish | 07:14 PM | ReptoMin? (6)July 17, 2002
Fish has been very quiet and good today, looking out of the window through his tank glass and not attempting to bite me at all at feeding time. He even sat (relatively) calmly in my hand when I picked him up to wash him. He knows what I'm picking him up for - when I take him out of the tank for his feeding, he never moves so much as a claw, but when I take him out of his feeding tank for a scrub and rinse off, he'll scratch and wriggle and try to jump out of my hand.
His skin has returned to the pretty dark green-grey it was when I bought him. It was whitish-grey while he was shedding, but now it's really nice. I'll have to measure him again sometime soon. He's probably grown a couple millimetres past 4.6 cm already...he'll be a big turtle soon! (but not too big, I hope!)
me hungry | 05:34 PM | ReptoMin? (3)July 16, 2002
Fish breathes like this all the time. I think it's terribly cute, but everyone else just thinks I'm crazy. Oh well.
Changed Fish's water again today; I gave him a bit of the apple I was eating last night and he pooed in the water, so it was my fault really. It's so nice when he's got nice clean water though!
Breathe | 06:42 PM | ReptoMin? (2)July 15, 2002
Fish loves ReptoMin. In fact, I don't think there is anything he likes quite as much as ReptoMin! He'll only eat the shrimps (Tetra Gammarus) if he's really, really hungry. Today I fed him his three sticks of ReptoMin and a sprinkling of shrimps. He wouldn't touch the shrimps at first but when I came back an hour later some of them were gone, so he must have eaten them! I think the calcium in the shrimps is good for him.
Fishfood | 06:28 PM | ReptoMin? (2)July 13, 2002
Another endearing, silly thing Fish will do: try to climb onto the rock from the steep side. Look at his little front legs straining to heave his heavy shell up!
He ate 5 ReptoMin pellets today (mainly because Dad decided to find out whether he'll still eat from forceps after I'd chucked in his 4th pellet) and still looked hungry. Ha - no overeating for you, young man! Two pellets for you tomorrow!! (I don't suppose it'll hurt him - turtles probably don't get regular, nutritious food at regular intervals in the wild anyway.)
SuperFish | 08:57 PM | ReptoMin? (5)July 12, 2002
Fish always seems to be hungry. I'd cut back to three sticks of ReptoMin a day, but today I gave him four.
I taped Fish's feeding session today. Click here to watch it (464 kb). In the video, Fish bites my finger and almost flips himself upside down, makes bubbles trying to eat a pellet, and is generally a pig. A cute pig, but nonetheless a pig.
oops, was that your finger? | 05:07 PM | ReptoMin? (6)July 11, 2002
Look at Fish stretch his neck out to see if my finger is edible! Here's another close up of his head and neck. Aren't his markings pretty?
Fish spends a lot of time trying to escape from his tank and scrabbling at the sides. Today he ate four sticks of ReptoMin and several shrimps - and he almost bit my finger reaching up for the food, too, the greedy little thing!
hungry, hungry turtle | 07:51 PM | ReptoMin? (4)July 10, 2002
Fish has beautiful eyes. It's not something you'd notice, but they are a shiny metallic colour with a black stripe across. The markings on his head are pretty too. He doesn't really have any other markings apart from the ones on his head, though - he's quite uniformly grey-green all over, with a brown shell.
I changed Fish's water again today, mostly because I saw he'd pooped in the middle of the tank, but also because it's been a week since the last complete water change. His filter was filthy. Fish sometimes won't poo after eating and waits a couple of hours till he gets back in his tank, and that's where the poo goes.
clean water! | 10:46 PM | ReptoMin? (4)July 09, 2002
Here is a picture of Fish swimming and showing his stomach. I like the pattern on his bottom shell. Although it's not as pretty as a red-eared slider's, it's nice in its own way. And let's just admit it - shells are cute! 
Today Fish was very hungry. I fed him three hours later than usual and he was almost biting my hand by the time I lifted him into his feeding tank. He ate all the Reptomin I gave him and was hungry enough to eat the shrimp after that. He still doesn't like shrimp a whole lot yet, but the calcium can't be bad for him, what with his growing shell and all!
turtle tummy | 09:55 PM | ReptoMin? (8)July 07, 2002
Fish got a lot of exercise today. I put him in his feeding tank with three inches of water, and he swam.
I've thrown together a short (49 second) video of him scrabbling around and swimming. You can download it here. You'll need Windows Media Player to see it, but it's only 621 kb and won't take long to download. There are TV noises in the background, but Windows Movie Maker isn't sophisticated enough to let me remove it (or, for that matter, use any transition other than fade in)...enjoy!
swimming lesson | 03:09 PM | ReptoMin? (7)July 06, 2002
Fish is about to enjoy a sunbath on a rock.
...alright, alright, just playing with Photoshop...
The original photograph showed Fish on my bedroom floor (big difference, eh?)
Right now Fish has gone to bed on the tank floor. He's been scrabbling around at the glass for over six hours (from 11 am to about 5 or 6 pm today) and I guess he's tired. How cute. He's got his head and one forepaw tucked in, and everything else is hanging limply out...
He's quite used to his new feeding container now. He's quite energetic - paddling around and around it and scrabbling hopefully at the ReptoMin through the plastic. I wonder how Candy's turtle is.
sunbathing | 06:46 PM | ReptoMin? (3)July 05, 2002
Don't scream - this is NOT Fish's tank :) It's merely his feeding container to keep the contamination in his main tank at a minimum. No more escapes for you, young man!
He's still getting used to it and is sitting quite calmly on the bottom with his head above water and looking at me pitifully (why did you move me here?). He's not doing any of the scratching he normally does all day - he's just carefully walking around and being very good.
Candy also bought two turtles today - one for herself and one for her nephew. Fish is, I've realized, much bigger than either of them - they are 3.5 cm each and Fish is 4.6 cm long. In one shop, I saw sick Reeves turtles, almost dead, in this dirty little basin with marbles and no place to completely dry off. They were tiny (3 cm each?) and sick enough that they didn't even move when I picked one up. Its eyes were closed and if it hadn't moved slightly when I put it back down I would have thought it was dead. The woman tried, aggressively, to sell one for HK$68. Ha! Fish - a 4 cm, healthy, happy Reeves turtle for $70 and an almost-dead hatchling for $68? You must be crazy. It was really sad though; I don't think they will live long (or that they can be saved at all).
kritter keeper | 06:43 PM | ReptoMin? (9)July 04, 2002
Fish can climb on top of his rock - it slopes gently, it's easy to climb, and it (ought to be) quite comfortable, but somehow he only stays up there for a couple seconds at a stretch...still not quite comfortable basking with the 'turtle-eating-human' around.
Actually, it should be the human-eating-turtle — Fish bit me today. Hard. While I was holding him. I've already stopped hand-feeding, but I've also started feeding less (3 sticks of ReptoMin a day) to stop the excessive shedding. Perhaps he's not used to it and is getting hungry...
It's confirmed - Fish can escape from his tub. He did it for the fifth time today. I'll have to buy him a new tub/transport carrier for his daily sunbath. I'm going back to Tung Choi Street tomorrow to get more supplies (if needed) but mostly to just walk around and look at stuff.
houdini | 08:51 PM | ReptoMin? (9)July 03, 2002
Fish's cute bum (alright, alright, I'll stop it...). I took out all the plants already. He has a bare tank now, which looks rather sterile, but better sterile than dirty. He prefers climbing over his rocks to going around them...
fishbum | 07:14 PM | ReptoMin? (4)July 02, 2002
Fish can breathe on his own, but he likes to rest his forepaws on a stone. Less work - and plus, it's cute. (Is there anything he does that isn't cute??)
Changed the water today; the filter was clogged with bits of plant and so was the tank bottom, and there was a bit of dust on the water surface (where did it come from?). The plants are beginning to die and smell funny. Strange how I was worried about Fish dirtying the water - now it's the plants :) I think I'll throw all the plants out by the end of the week.
It's so nice when you've just changed the water and the turtle is swimming around happily in crystal-clear water!! If it wasn't so much work I'd do it more often (er, it only takes half an hour, actually, but Mom always makes me clean up the toilet afterwards, so...)
clean water | 04:33 PM | ReptoMin? (9)July 01, 2002
This is how Fish sleeps - head in, most of forepaws in, and hind legs and tail all stretched out. Underwater, too. It's adorable.
Today I tried the turtle vitamins. Turns out it's liquid and yellow. Dad says it smells the same as multivitamins for people. I soaked Fish's ReptoMin in two drops of it. He didn't notice anything.
Hard to believe it, but I've had Fish for a month already! Seems like I only got him yesterday.
lazybones | 07:23 PM | ReptoMin? (4)
(All are very good information resources - and the forum is especially good, lots of knowledgable turtle nuts there! :D)
