August 31, 2002
I never thought turtles would have much of a personality, but Fish here is developing quite a bit of one!
He's awfully curious, for one thing. Here he is looking into the big glass lens of my camera. He'll try to put most things in his mouth, like a baby, but thankfully most of these 'things' are outside the aquarium :) Just now he was pawing through the glass at a penlight and greatly amused me and dad.
And for another thing - he's not scared of anything. Anything at all. He does get spooked out sometimes and partially retracts his head, turning away but you can bet he'll poke his head right out again and see what's going on if you don't move! He doesn't even mind being picked up now. It's so much nicer to hold a mildly protesting, wriggly turtle with blunt nails, than the enraged swordsman with a steel-trap bite of three months ago :) And no, I didn't cut his nails or file them at all. He does that himself on his rock!
personality | 11:27 PM | ReptoMin? (6)August 27, 2002
Here Fish is sampling his buffet dinner - he's just about to eat that shrimp, and there's still apple and lettuce for him :) The white blob on his shell is a chunk of apple he bit off.
I've noticed that lately he's been much more gentle about biting me - in fact he hasn't bitten me for a month or so! He did miss the food in my fingers today, but his bite was so gentle it didn't even feel like tweezers. It felt like...well, a turtlekiss :) I was very surprised - what happened to Jaws? I'm glad he's learnt that fingers are inedible AND delicate though!
Nibbles | 09:53 PM | ReptoMin? (4)August 22, 2002
Behold Fish's favourite thing in the world - ReptoMin!
I've opened a new album in the Photo Gallery. It's right at the bottom and is titled 'other turtles', where I post my pictures of turtles in zoos and parks :) I visited the turtle pond at Hong Kong Zoological and Botanical Garden today. They have many new turtles! I saw at least 5 Malayan boxies, 2 or 3 reeves, 2 red-eared sliders, and a yellow-margined boxie. There are about eight species of turtle in that pond, so I haven't seen them all yet! The Reptile House zookeeper was looking at me strangely, as I took so many pictures of the turtles in succession and stayed there so long :)
ReptoMin | 11:52 PM | ReptoMin? (2)August 20, 2002
Fish looks rather thoughtful here; I wonder why?
Yesterday I discovered some brown algae spots on his shell. I didn't see them there before - must have been because his shell's brown too. I rubbed it off under the tap (much to his irritation!) He hates being touched on the shell, and here I go scratching it lightly with a fingernail to get the algae off. Silly turtle! Maybe he's ticklish...
August 17, 2002
Fish with his new alcohol thermometer. He's tried to bite it a couple of times but of course it's far too big and slippery for him to get a good enough grip to break it. Right now it's measuring his basking spot temperature - I was quite surprised at the inaccuracy of the sticker thermometer, because his basking spot is only about 27ºC or 80ºF, instead of the 30-ishºC/90ºF I thought it was! I wonder if Fish is cold? I've lowered his lamp a little but the temperature's about the same. I'm beginning to wonder if I bought the wrong lightbulb for him.
what's the weather like today? | 11:56 PM | ReptoMin? (3)August 16, 2002
I don't know why I find this picture so cute :) I know I have a bigger version of this in the photo gallery, but I can't resist putting it up here as well!!
I put Fish out on the balcony for about three hours today because it was warmer outside and he seemed to be happier :) He goes outdoors in mid- to late afternoon now because I'm scared he might overheat in the morning, as his feeding tank isn't all that big and he can't escape the sun if the shadows move!
When Fish is indoors in the air-conditioning, I turn on the light to give him a bit of warmth. Right now he's paddling around the sides of his tank energetically. Fish is quite an active turtle - I rarely see him still, unless he's sleeping! He's always swimming around and climbing on top of the filter or his rock or trying to get out...
August 13, 2002
Fish looks awfully uncomfortable in this picture, don't you think? Ah...but if he likes it...well...
Yesterday I gave Fish a bit of romaine lettuce from my salad (without dressing of course). Today there were lots of little bits of lettuce floating around the tank. I don't know if Fish actually ate any lettuce; it just looks like he's ripped it to shreds so I'd have a hard time cleaning it 
Still no hard evidence as to which sex Fish is, but I'm quite sure he's a boy - he's such a messy eater. (alright, alright, his tail looks like a boy's, too...)
uncomfortable | 08:21 PM | ReptoMin? (6)August 12, 2002
Fish tries to type.
Actually, I dried him off with a tissue and let him walk around on my desk for a while, and he chose to climb up the keyboard while I was typing...how cute...
I'm going to post some pictures of Fish's tail on some turtle forums to see if I can get him positively sexed - what if he's really a girl?
hi tech turtle | 07:59 PM | ReptoMin? (4)August 10, 2002
Soon Fish'll be able to get out of his feeding tank by standing on his basking rock! Not good; I'll have to put the rock in the middle...
I've also added a new album to the photo gallery, titled 'Maintenance' - which is basically me changing Fish's water, and taking pictures along the way. I know I'm always interested how other people take care of their pets, especially if they have photos, and I thought maybe someone would want to see how I do it :) Planned future albums include a Feeding Time album and a general Fish-photo album.
Changed the Fish-water today, if that's not quite obvious :)
fish the escape artist | 11:16 PM | ReptoMin? (3)August 09, 2002
The reason why it's so hard not to overfeed turtles, is because they just enjoy their food so much - and they beg so determinedly! How can you say no to that face? It's hard to get a focussed photo of Fish eating, but here's the best I could come up with. Just look at him...his eyes are crossed and looking at the ReptoMin...mouth slightly open, ready to bite...and when I came into the room just now he started 'dancing' so I would feed him!
Fat, fat Fish!
overfeeding fish | 07:19 PM | ReptoMin? (7)August 08, 2002
Today's Fish-part is his head. First, meet Fish face-to-face:
A lot of turtles I have seen have lips that curve up, making them look like they are smiling. Fish is no exception...how cute. You can see he has a little chip just above his mouth, on the left. I noticed that on the second day I had him, but it's healing well. Fish heals much more slowly than he grows, I think!
See Fish's chin? His yellow stripes are more like dots here, and he's got this remarkably soft wrinkly skin on his throat. Apart from his jaw and skull, his neck is very soft and the skin seems almost paper-thin. It's funny that Fish should have pink lips, but he does!
Here Fish is stretching his neck out. He's got an awfully long neck. It gets even longer when he sees food, though...;) This is just his usual 'oo-what's-that-I-must-investigate!' neck length. See the yellow stripes on the side of his head? That's one of the characteristics of a Reeves turtle (young ones, anyway, because some males get very dark as they age!)
It's quite easy to see where they got the name 'turtleneck' - see that roll of skin when he pulls his head into his shell? He looks exactly as if he's wearing a sweater...isn't that cute?
And here's the top of his head. You can see he's got quite a pointy nose. He has no markings on the top of his head at all - it's just uniformly grey-green like his legs and tail.
Hmm, that's about it I think - we've seen his head in all sorts of angles already! Don't you feel that you know Reeves turtles much better after all these headshots?
fish head | 05:52 PM | ReptoMin? (4)August 05, 2002
We haven't had a proper look at Fish's shell for a long time, so I took the opportunity for a photo while he was basking. He likes to bask in the evening when I have the sunlamp on - almost every evening around 11 I see him nice and dry on the rock now.
You can see, like any well-bred Reeves turtle, Fish has a lovely brown shell with thirteen large scutes or plates (the standard for any turtle) and three strong ridges, or keels, running along it. Along the edges of the shell, there are small yellow semi-circles on each of the small scutes, which gives the Reeves the Chinese name of 'golden turtle' (although it is also called pearl turtle and grass turtle).
That's all for today class, we'll do another part of Fish tomorrow :)
top view | 11:55 PM | ReptoMin? (4)August 04, 2002
Fish has gone to sleep on his rock!!
Careful you don't get sunburnt, Fish, falling asleep under the UV lamp like that!
Fish has a rather 'thick' shell (unlike Candy's little turtles, or red-eared sliders, or most other aquatic turtles for that matter). Maybe that's why he's not such a good swimmer.
good night, Mr. Fishy | 11:12 PM | ReptoMin? (3)August 01, 2002
Mr. Fishy has a positively stuck-up expression on his face in this picture - don't you just want to poke him in the nose (affectionately of course)? It's like he's saying, "No more photographs - I've had enough!"
Fish has a new bad habit - pooing every morning right after he wakes up.
I don't really mind it, because I can anticipate it and be ready with net to remove it, but I wonder what he'll do when school starts again, poor turtle! I'm not sure the maid wants to do it...
fishface | 08:22 PM | ReptoMin? (3)
(All are very good information resources - and the forum is especially good, lots of knowledgable turtle nuts there! :D)
