And the winner is... Squirt!

The many long and hard days of remembering to feed the fish have finally paid off for Laine, Eve, and James. After much deliberation and lots of excited yelling about which pet would be the best, with a few vetoes by Grandma, the three children decided to get a water turtle for a pet. We did a little reading and looking around at the pet store and ended up deciding on a red-eared slider that the children have named Squirt. He's active and interesting, eats little goldfish, and the kids are having a ball with him so far. We set up his aquarium with a basking rock for him to rest on with a basking light for him to rest under, a castle for the fish to live in, and an industrial strength aquarium filter so the tank would always smell fresh and clean. Red-eared sliders start off pretty small, a juvenile like Squirt has a shell about four inches long, but they can grow up to be over a foot long. They live about 50 years if properly cared for, so this is looking like a pet for the long haul.