On Thursday, March 3, 2016, two new members joined the GWCS Community.

There has been a lot of excitement about our new friends.  Here are the bullet-ed highlights:

• Two male Red-Eared Sliders were adopted from the Washington Humane Society. 
• The turtles were brought to the shelter by their 'pet families' because they could not take care of them any longer.
• These are aquatic turtles, native to the southern U.S. as their environment includes ponds and streams.
• They both had skin and shell condition issues that are being remedied with medication added to the water.  A conditioning mask was applied by Ethan and 'waxed off' before setting them in their new habitat. Ronan, Katie and Josh assisted with water conditioning and pump works last week.
• The turtles are enhancing environmental studies in Ms. Newton's classroom.
• The aquarium has been set up to replicate a pond habitat.
• There is a feeder fish tank set up and a pond water tank that keeps elodea, a food source, fresh and growing.
• Ms. Newton will accept feeder fish donations when needed (fish can be purchased at the pet shops).
• Other helpful donations include crickets and earth worms - when needed.
• The students are still deciding on names for the turtles.
• Ms. Newton is looking into also adopting a box turtle from the Washington Humane Society.
• Special thanks to Mrs. Jo Koerner of Reston, for donating the 75 gallon aquarium and additional smaller tanks and to Mrs. Linda Campbell for being our turtle Uber driver and picking the turtles up as well as assisting with the aquarium setup.