Thanks. I'll check out cams on eBay or visit Microcenter after the holidays, when the madness dies down a bit.
I don't know how many people would visit a site to watch a turtle swimming around in a tank, but for ten bucks for a domain name and the cost of a webcam I can find out.
The way this started, of course, was when my turtle (or more accurately, my goddaughter's turtle, who is in my indefinite care and custody due to parental objections) came down with pneumonia. Maybe it was the old EMS training in me, but saving the turtle's life suddenly became very important.
Not that I disliked the turtle, mind you. They're actually rather nice pets. They're more affectionate and interactive than one would think, and they're pretty low-maintenance as pets go. Feed them, play with them once in a while, and clean the tank every so often, and they're pretty happy.
Frankly, I simply didn't realize that the turtle was sick. I thought it was just less active during the winter, because turtles do hibernate in nature. But I was wrong. This one had pneumonia.
My friend (a herpetologist) gave me advice and antibiotics, and the turtle lived. I also starting reading up on turtles and started to become rather fascinated by them. But the tightwad in me wondered how much ConEdison would be making from the 150-watt heat lamp over the turtle tank and the power filter.
Then my goddaughter asked me to put a video of the turtle on YouTube, and I was amazed at how many turtle videos there already were. Then I thought about how many Web sites there were about Red-Eared Sliders (the particular kind of turtle), and I started wondering whether an educationally-geared site consisting of a streamed video of a turtle and a few well-written informational pages would attract very many visitors.
And then the capitalist in me started wondering how many ad clicks it would generate.
I think I'll do this. If nothing else, it'll be a chance for me to build a site of a sort that I've never built before, and hopefully learn something in the process. It'll also let my goddaughter "visit" her turtle whenever she likes. And if it makes a few bucks on ad clicks, so much the better.
-Rich
Apply the savings to my bill! 
