This little cutie is named "Mud."

While I haven't sexed the turtle and can't easily ask its gender, if he turns out to be a she, her name would be "Mudelle."

Not a very original name either way, but reflective of the species. Mud is a Mississippi mud turtle (Kinosternon subrubrum hippocrepis), and in the picture above, Mud is eating an edamame bean. Normally he gets Reptomin brand turtle food, plus occasional earthworms and insects, but his coinhabitant (see the fin in the background) is a plecostomus and that was who the bean was intended for. The problem with Mud is that when I feed the pleco, he acts suspiciously like a dog, and wants whatever he sees being eaten. Even broccoli.

Not very altruistic behavior, is it? And that's in spite of the sign right above the pair, which, although cut off in the picture, clearly states "Fish Need Love Too" in plain English! Were I less cynical, I might see that the fact that the turtle is not trying to eat the plecostomus as an indication that the sign is working. But that would be naive, as plecostomuses not only don't look or act like "real" fish, but they are well armored and have sharp spines which discourage most would-be predators.

No, I'm afraid that expecting that turtle to obey the sign is about as reasonable as expecting teenagers to obey a "Drug Free School Zone" sign.

On the other hand, I'm pretty sure the turtle won't deliberately disobey the sign.

In that one important respect, turtles are more obedient than people.