This was the last week of the regular 5th grade feeding teams, which means the last week of our turtle parents: the firth grade parents who worked with the students during the twice daily feedings.  This entire program would not be possible in the Library without our dedicated turtle parents: Akiko Kitago, Andrew Porter, and Kathrene Bell.  Collectively, they spent over 350 hours supervising the feeding teams and their second grade buddies this year. They ran the turtle routine, so I could run the library.  I cannot thank them enough for making turtle joy possible for all of Driscoll.

It has been a busy couple of weeks by the tank!  The fifth grade feeding teams continue to quickly become pros at feeding and caring for the turtles, starting as rookies on Monday but by the end of the week, they are teaching their second grade buddies and even sometimes teaching a Kindergarten class. 

Zoo New England returned not for one but two visits.  On Tuesday, March 3, Emilie from Zoo New England visited with second grade to talk about turtles in context of the second grade curriculum: habitats and changing landscapes.  

Then on Thursday, March 5, Matt visited to PIT tag Chili and Pepper.  A PIT tag, or Passive Integrated Transponder, is a tiny microchip inserted into the turtles so scientists can identify them if they catch them after they are released back into the wild.  Same technology as when a pet cat or dog is microchipped.  Watch the videos below to learn all about it from Matt. 

And while Matt was here, we asked if he could tell if Chili and Pepper were male or female.  We'll go into more detail on that next post, but watch the final video below for a sneak peak.

On Tuesday, February 10, Kirsten from Zoo New England visited with third grade to talk about turtle life cycles.  While at Driscoll, she performed a wellness check on Chili and Pepper, physically examining the turtles and our tank set up, including testing the UV bulb.  All passed with flying colors thanks to the excellent care by Driscoll students and parents. 

Well, it has indeed happened again this year: tail biting.  On Wednesday, I noticed Pepper's tail had some white on it.  I didn't have a chance to look at it too closely at the time, but at the afternoon feeding, as they were getting ready to take the hatchlings out of the big tank and put them into the feeding containers, our observant feeding team noticed that Chili was biting Pepper's tail.  Pepper did not look happy about it: she was trying to get away.

The fifth grader feeders proceeded with the normal feeding routine, but Pepper didn't eat much during that afternoon.  Soon after going back into the tank, though, Pepper appeared to have forgiven Chili, as they were cozily hanging out together (as usual) near the heater.  Pepper's appetite returned to normal Thursday morning (something we could quantify thanks to our 5th graders excellent data collection).

According to Zoo New England, accidental biting can happen during feeding - a little over excited about food.  Their first recommendation, which we already do, is to feed them in separate containers.  Another possibility for the biting: maybe they need a little more  personal space and hiding spots.  To help with this, we will be adding more plants to the tank.

We will keep an eye on Chili and keep in touch with the scientists at Zoo New England .