Flowers in a water bottle and other simple pleasures: Michelangelo & Leonardo

Yes, they are named after the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and they are the new additions to our family. Michelangelo & Leonardo's story begins as we are strolling through Chinatown on a recent visit to Los Angeles for AX 2012. We came across a display of plastic boxes with brightly colored lids. A closer look reveals two tiny turtles in each box, floating amongst rainbow colored gravel and a neon green plastic palm tree. I say "look how cute!", and as if by magic the shop owner appears and it seems the only English he speaks is the price of the turtles, which is five dollars. Gary encourages me to get them, saying he's had reptiles of all sorts and they are fun and easy to care for. I'm not too sure about the "easy to care for" part and I stand up and we continue on our walk. A few storefronts later another bright display is before us. Gary encourages me again, saying how much fun it will be to set up the tank and watch them grow. Looking down at the teeny tiny adorable turtles and ignoring that nagging feeling that these will be difficult and costly to keep alive I give in and happily pay the five dollars for our new pets.

Back in our hotel room, with four little turtle eyes watching me from their temporary plastic home, I searched the internet for information on our new little ones. I found out they are called red-eared sliders and they are semi-aquatic turtles. Turns out this is a long commitment, most likely a lifetime. If they live to be two years old they can easily live to be 30-40 years!!! Wow, we had no idea, and these cute little quarter-sized babies can grow to be twelve inches and that's a pretty big turtle that needs quite a large body of water to swim in. A responsible pet owner would have researched this BEFORE the purchase but we did not and now what was going to happen to these tiny little turtles. I think I started to have a panic attack right about then from which Gary calmed me down saying don't worry, it will be years before they are that large and we will have a beautiful pond for them by then! I tried to relax and visualize this beautiful "monet-like" oasis that the twins could grow old in.

While we were in our hotel for the next two days Leonardo had made himself known as the social and most energetic of the two. He would come to the side of the plastic box and look right at you while Michelangelo was content to sit quietly to the side and observe. Traveling home with the turtles Leonardo would try to climb the walls and flip himself over on his back...totally freaking me out and making Gary laugh at me.

Finally home and off we go to the pet store for supplies. The information from the turtle forum said that it would cost about $200 for a proper set-up. Holy Cow! Gary had an old tank that he cleaned up so that saved us money but after two trips to the store for lamps, bulbs, a filter, rocks, sand, food, and thermometers...we spent just under $200...plus the $5 to buy them. So, yeah, again I started to have a panic attack, from which Gary calmed me down saying, there is nothing else to buy now except food so it will be...and this is where I interrupt... "what about filter replacements, and when the bulbs burn out and they can't stay in this tank forever, and do you think they like it, are they going to live through the night!?!" ...and again Gary patiently waits for me to finish and tells me they will be fine and I will be fine. I try to believe him.

Now that Michelangelo & Leonardo have settled in to their new home, it is Michelangelo that is being outgoing and energetic. He was the first one to accept food from us, he explores the habitat and hunts for more food. Leonardo is the quiet one now but I think he is still trying to recover from the long car ride home.

So we have started the journey with our "Chinatown Ninja Turtles" and considering how much time over the last two days I have spent just staring into the tank watching them, I think I will enjoy raising these little guys and telling a few stories along the way.