I didn't sign up for this!

Cole and I are turtle-sitting a co-worker’s turtle while she is on vacation. I know NOTHING about turtles but eagerly jumped in to watch it while she was gone (it needs medicine twice a day, because one of her dogs chomped down on the shell). She brought the turtle to work last Friday with some handwritten instructions. “Be careful SHE bites.” “Toad is TRICKY” (yes, a turtle named Toad). Well, Toad has been calm and hasn’t tried to bite even once. Cole has been fascinated by her (myself as well, I must admit). Since she is injured she is kept in a little box (and by box I mean-small igloo cooler) with a damp paper towel (per my instructions). I medicated her twice daily. I was told to feed her on Tuesday. I was supposed to put her in her exercise box (and by box I mean –bed pan) and add a couple inches of water and some little green turtle pellets. She said the turtle would swim around, drink, defecate, and eat. I was told that if we wanted we could also feed her insects. So Tuesday when we got home from the gym, Cole and I immediately went out bug hunting (I forgot how much fun, it is to turn over rocks and lift up plants in the search of bugs. It made me feel like a kid again). After we collected a buffet of creepy crawlies, we raced inside and added water to her “exercise box” and added “dinner”. I’m walking into my bathroom (where Toad has been staying) talking away about the dinner we’ve prepared for Toad. I go to grab Toad (still talking to her), when I exclaim “WHAT THE HECK IS THAT?” There in her 6”x6” box, sitting on her moist paper towel is an egg. No wonder, she was so calm the past few days, she was busy getting ready to lay an egg. I didn’t have the energy to bite either, the week I gave birth. I don’t know how to take care of a turtle, let alone a turtle’s egg. I immediately called a few people from work to get advice. It seems, is that it is most likely not a fertilized egg. I’ve let her keep her egg in her nest (of damp paper towels) and will let her real mom decided what to do with it when she returns. Cole was delighted by the addition to our borrowed “family”. By the way, she didn’t eat last night. So we repeated the process of bug hunting today. In the backyard, under a rock I found some little white “eggs” and about the time I was thinking they looked like snake eggs, out came “momma” and slithered over a rock and under the fence. As Cole was looking out excitedly and Bullet puzzled, out came another snake, following the path of the first. They were both gray and about 8”long. After I was done catching bugs, I replaced their “home” so they could come back to their “eggs”. Toad still didn’t eat, but swam around happily. She is full of energy now (still hasn’t tried to bite though). Hope she eats soon and I hope her real mom gets home safely so I can give her the good news, that she is a grandma!