we're grandparents!

Yes, you read the title correctly. Our turtles are having baby turtles! It's not like me to write about my pets. But here it goes. Back in March of 2007, i was in Chicago with family and Zach called to tell me he caught me a baby turtle and it was all mine! I think i actually squealed with excitement. Up until this point I had fish, and hermit crabs (YAWN). I'm allergic to pretty much everything else, so turtles sounded like a great idea! I had been around Zach's family long enough to know that animals in all shapes and sizes would be apart of my life. Once I found out how long this baby turtle might live, I knew I was in it for the long hall. Needless to say, Zach didn't have a clue how excited I was about this new addition to my life. When I returned home, I couldn't stop talking about how cute and small the turtle was! It wasn't any bigger than a quarter. Obviously, the first step was, what's the name going to be? I had thought pretty hard about this decision when I remembered that my brother had a turtle once. I want to say his turtle died, or maybe he just set it free but he named it Mike Jones. He told me once that he thought it would be funny to name it such, Mike Jones being a famous rapper and all. And well, if you know Josh, he isn't a rap fan whatsoever.

Mike Jones

So, in memory of Mike Jones Senior, I named my itty bitty turtle Mike Jones as well. Let's move this story along (Mom always told me to learn how to summarize). A year or so down the road, I was given another baby turtle. At this point a friend hooked me up with an aquarium and everything to go with it. I was so excited about the new addition to our little family that I had to come up with yet another ridiculous name. I immediately came up with Brooke Hogan (Hulk Hogan's daughter). 

Brooke Hogan

After Zach and I got married somehow the number of turtles got up to 9 until two passed away shortly after having them. With seven turtles and two aquariums, I was really starting to feel like a Hubbard. Lets not forget  the two snakes (in cages) living on our front porch. Anyway, after the turtles got big enough it was time to actually find out the sex of the turtles. Out of our 4 stink pots (common musk turtle) we have 3 girls, 1 boy. I was sad to find out that Mike Jones was indeed a female. Name change? no way! 

You're probably wondering what the other names of the remaining five are. Even though Zach doesn't agree, I named the other two stink pots as well. 50 Cent and T Swift. You must pronounce 50, like fiddy. It only makes sense. 

50 Cent

Taylor Swift

The other three turtles are some sort of pond sliders (ask Zach if you really care). The oldest one, I have no idea what it's name is. I think it's either, Michelangelo, Leonardo, Donatello, or Raphael (once again, you can ask Zach). The second oldest is Holt. If you know Adam Holt well, that's who we named him after. Somehow that came about when Zach was with Adam...I think. And the last one (still a baby in my mind) is Squirt.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles

Squirt from Finding Nemo

Well, this brings us up to speed. We figured out that our turtles were mating (interesting...) and we also knew that if one were to get pregnant, it wouldn't have a place to lay any eggs. After a trip to Home Depot, we finally came up with a egg laying contraption (love nest) to attach to the aquarium. We watched Mike Jones go in and out of that thing for weeks. She finally popped out two eggs. Later, a third was found but we have no idea who it belongs to. Either way, we kept the eggs safe and warm (eventually put them in our homemade incubator) and BAM! two eggs are finally hatching! Early this morning we think around 3 am (Zach stayed up watching its progress and fell asleep), one of the turtles completely emerged from the shell. 

beginning to crack

nose popping out

do you see him?

so small!

The other day, I told Zach I named him Bentley. Why? I don't know. It's just a name and I think I did it to irritate him. He says if I name it, I will get attached. He's totally right. But if the little guy survives, we plan on giving him away. Until then, we have two more eggs to go!