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.