Red-Eared Sliders

Thomas has been begging for a small creature to have in his room for many months. We have been avoiding the issue ever since the crab incident (shudder) and hoping that it would just go away. But when the other day we were visiting our friend Stephanie, who just had a baby last week, Thomas was very excited to see an aquarium on her kitchen table with three turtles in it. She was excited to learn that he wants turtles (or anything difficult to keep alive when neglected) because they were off-loaded onto her and she didn't want to deal with them and a new baby. So we promised to pick them up the next day and learn all about them. And so, once we brought them home, we immediately set off for PetSmart to get everything they would need to settle in happily--turtle food, filters, a fake floating log ($50!!!!) and, us being academics, a book for Thomas to read to learn all about turtles. It took us about an hour--complete with screaming and fighting--to set up their house. Here is one (as yet unamed because, apparently, Thomas doesn't want to name them until he knows each of their personalities):
Here is another one:
Thomas learned to his delight that these are not, in fact, painted turtles as I thought but red-eared sliders who can grow to be 11 inches long (relief: painted turtles can grow up to 15 inches long) and can live for 30-40 years. Hmmm. On the up side, they are local and will survive quite well if tossed out of a car window into a nearby nature reserve pond. Something to think about.