Herps and Cat5 twisters

So, after a week of a shy, quiet, kinda grumpy looking turtle, he has gone through a metamorphosis, so to speak. He is finally eating, I bought him some turtle food, but he is eating the apples and other stuff, as long as it is "in the water". (a la Jesse's 6th grade report of the majestic sperm whale)

I was in the hardware store buying him a basking light, I came across some plastic paint roller containers. they are ramped on one end, and go to a depth of a 6" deep pool at the other end. I bought two, and put food in one, and keep the other clean. He went right in and started eating. He walks around in his "habitat" now like a king, "long neck" looking around at everything. I was real worried he wasn't gonna make it. It looks like he is fine now.

I talked with a pet store owner. They had about 30 of these for sale. They are endemic to this region, and are 50% aquatic. They have semi-webbed toes and like moderate to cooler climates. This one seems to be a potential sub-species of the one that YAVON, not Jesse, linked in the comment page from my last post. The elevation here is 1500 meters and a cool 75 degrees average temperature, whereas the one classified in the website is a lowland turtle, requiring tropical temperatures. Good for a pet owner, keeping anything above 75 degrees here is hard. It's getting cold, even for an adipose and "keratinized protein" covered person such as myself.

Oh yeah, there is another "super typhoon" headed towards the Philippines again. Looks like the bulk may go over top of us.

http://www.typhoon2000.ph/activeflash/stormloop
look about 2 inches to the left of the "Eye".. That's Baguio!

We have found a great way to save time and money here. We pay our friend's mother to do our food shopping for us. Here is our latest list of goods. total cost $20 a week, including her cut.

Shopping list

Product Quantity

Tokwa	¼ kilo
Cooked sausage (red)	¼ kilo
chicken (adobo cut)	1 kilo
Pork chops	½ kilo
Milk	1 x 250 ml tetra box
Eggs (red)	2 piece
Eggs (white)	6 piece
Bangus (in vinegar)	3 pieces
Yakult	2 pack of 6
Gardenia whole wheat bread	½ loaf size
Century tuna in brine (or oil)	4 cans
Red/green tomatoes mixed	1 kilo
Large peppers (red/green)	1 kilo
Cilantro	1/8 kilo
Parsley	1/8 kilo
Onion (red)	½ kilo
Onion (yellow)	½ kilo
Garlic	¼ kilo
Seasonal fruit #1	e.g (apples or oranges)
Seasonal fruit #2	e.g. (longsones or chico or mango)
Seasonal fruit #3	bananas
Potatoes	1 kilo
Celery	1 bunch
Baguio Beans	¼ kilo
Eggplant	6 pieces
Coconut cream or powder	2 cans (or 2 packages)
Calamansi	½ kilo
Tang or Hi-C grape (dry)	Large size (500g)?
Peanut butter (dark color, from wet market) in plastic container	1 jar (large)
Cucumbers	1 kilo
Rice (jasmine long grain)	1 kilo
Vegetable oil	500ml
Benguet blend coffee	¼ kilo fine grind
Coffee mate	1 box
Black pepper	One packet
Curry spices	One packet
Cumin seed	One packet