My Bad Luck With Pets

This has been a bad few weeks for me pet wise and anyone who knows me or reads my blog knows that I love my pets and it breaks my heart when anything happens to them.

First there was Bailey’s attack by a pit bull, which frightened the life out of me and has left me still a little nervous when out walking the dogs on my own.

Then within the last week I lost these two turtles.  Radar, my Cumberland Slider and Stelo, my Southern Painted Turtle.  I have no idea what happened to them and I’m still so sad that they are gone.  The mysterious part is that they are totally different species, different ages and were kept in totally different tanks.   To have them both die within a week of each other has left me boggled. 

It’s also thrown me into a total tailspin in regards to the turtles we have left.  I’m obsessed with cleaning their tanks, making sure they eat enough and everything else I can think of because I am SO afraid I’m going to lose them too.   If we could have afforded it at the moment I would have taken their bodies to a vet to find out what exactly killed them but that can get very expensive.

After speaking to the friendly guy who owns our local pet shop, he suspects that the feeder fish we keep in the tanks may have been affected by the drastic heat spike at the beginning of the month, became sick and then the turtles ate the sick fish and were poisoned by it.   I think that is a bit of a stretch but I guess it’s a possibility.  I have since removed all the fish from the turtle tanks and set up a separate tank for them on their own.  It’s easier to keep an eye on them keep track of their numbers and health.

I’ve decided not to take in any more turtles, at least not right now.  I have three aquatic turtles left and Sherman (my tortoise) and I want to make sure they are healthy and thriving before I even consider taking on any more.  Also, as long as we are in this flat it’s probably wise to keep the numbers to a minimum until we have a bigger place.

It sucks, but I guess it’s all a part of keeping turtles.   They are amazing and beautiful creatures but they are a lot of work and sometimes things just happen.  I just wish they wouldn’t happen to mine.

In other news, Bailey is now fully healed and back to his old self.  I had hoped that if anything good was to come of the ordeal that maybe getting his ass kicked would make him a little more humble when it comes to other dogs.  No luck, he’s still a complete asshole every time.  It would seem his little scrap with the Rottweiler, even though he really played no part in it, made him think he’s tougher than ever!