A trio of turtles- Pet Version 2.2

Everyone around us has pets. As a result, JED want pets too. They can't see why they can't despite my pointing out to them that they still leave their clothes on the floor and their lunch boxes in their school bags on a regular basis. They don't see the connection.

Eventually, I told them we could have fish and borrowed a fish tank and fish pump from my brother. We went off to the fish shop to buy some guppies and came home with some mollies and a sucker fish. That was Pet Version 1.0.

The mollies committed suicide. They jumped out of the tank.

Then we bought some guppies and another sucker fish. That was Pet Version 1.1.

They died even more dramatically when the air pump fell into the water, cooked the water fish included. Packrat declared a moratorium on fish. He was upset. Muffin was upset. One of the cooked sucker fish was his.

The twins had opted for terrapins. They were not part of the carnage. They are Pet Version 2.1.

That wasn't without its own drama. Jordan couldn't decide on the name of the terrapin because she didn't know if it were a male or female one. Eventually she settled on Jess because it was an androgynous name.

Jess is calm and a little shy with some pigmentation on her/ his shell.

Evan named his terrapin Dribble after the terrapin in Judy Blume's Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing. Dribble eats a lot, is very active and spends a great amount of its time 'bullying' Jess, stepping all over Jess. When we were away, JED plus pets spent the weekend at the grandparents where there was a big garden. That was when Dribble decided that its tank wasn't big enough and escaped one night leading to the flurry of texts bemoaning the lost terrapin. Eventually he was found happily exploring the shrubs.

After his sucker fish died, Muffin decided that his brother and sister got it right from the outset. Terrapins. No need for the air pump and therefore, not accidents involving electricity and electrocuting fish. 

He decided to name his terrapin the same name as he did his sucker fish. Jack. So we have Jack 2.0 as a terrapin. Muffin requested to the guy at the fish shop that his terrapin be calm and the guy gave him a more reserved one. He did give Muffin a bit of a lesson on terrapins; to only buy those that were alert and had hard shells. 

So, now, we're on Pet Version 2.2.

3 terrapins in one tank with no fish, no air pumps and filters. 

Hopefully, we won't need any more upgrades.