Painter - The Eastern Painted Turtle
Last week Barb and Joe found a Eastern Painted Turtle hatchling - probably only 2-3 days old. He was tiny and likely destined as a food source. They asked Eric to raise the turtle until he was a little older and had a better chance at survival. Eric named the turtle Painter and after a copy of fretful days he/she has started to eat. Painter ignored the fruit: blueberries and strawberries but took tiny bites of soaked dogfood and a bite of an orange. Yesterday while Kathryn was working home alone she said she could hear the faintest sound of smacking and looked to see Painter eating a mouthful of dogfood.
In the picture above Painter is in ‘basking’ mode. At night Painter hides under the vegetation.