A Lego of My Own

A while back I spoke about the mysterious death of two of my turtles. I still have no idea what happened but it was in July of last year, shortly after we came back from our camping trip, and they died within a few days of each other. They were in separate tanks, nothing had been shared between the two.  I honestly have absolutely no clue what caused their deaths.  At one point we thought it was the fish but after observing them and keeping them separate from the turtles for a period of time, there appeared to be no illness or problems at all.

So I still have no idea why my turtles died.  I give them amazing tanks to live in, I take good care of them and even though it’s a total mystery, I can’t help but wonder what I had done wrong.

I ended up with a beautiful big tank and no idea what to do with it.

Stelo was gone, I wasn’t ready for another turtle and had no interest in fish.  I could have put one of my smaller turtles in there, but it felt like such a waste after all the work we put into the above tank basking area.

It was a big, empty sad aquarium that was taking up a lot of space.  For a while I did remove the upper part and tried putting Chip and Sydney in there together, but after having been in their own tanks for a few months the aggression Chip was showing towards Sydney worried me and I set up their smaller tanks again where they could both live in peace.

So I was faced with a choice.  Either get another turtle, possibly an adult as I didn’t know if I was up to dealing with another fragile hatchling, sell the tank and start getting out of the hobby of keeping turtles all together, or try to do a tropical tank or get some kind of interesting fish.

In the end I did come to a decision.

I decided… the hell with fish. I’m a turtle lover at heart!

It had been a little while since I lost Radar and Stelo, and a girl here in the Netherlands who breeds turtles happened to have hatchlings of a breed I’d always wanted but never thought I could get my hands on here.  I also never thought I’d have space for one as I’d reached my maximum capacity with the others.

I rationalized it as fate.  I had an empty tank, and she had the hatchlings… it was meant to be, right?

Let’s just say it was.

He has been with us for the better part of a year now, and I’ve been hesitant to talk about him, write about him or even take photos because I was afraid he’d die on me.  Sort of like if I got too invested that he might up and die on me too.

Don’t try to make sense of my brain.

Anyway, it’s time to introduce him!

Hi, everyone!  My name is Lego!

I don’t think I have to tell anyone how he got his name.  I have a husband who is obsessed with Lego Mindstorms and Robotics. You do the math!

Lego is a Diamondback Terrapin which, in my opinion, is one of the coolest species of turtles there is. I think it’s the white skin or the unique patterns, I don’t know… I just love them.  Here are some more photos…

I just love this little dude, or uhh… dudette. I can’t tell which it is yet so I just say ‘he’ anyway.  Either way, if he dies on me I’ll be very upset. He appears to be going strong so far though, he eats like a pig and is quite active.

Although, judging by the amount of guppies in his tank, I have serious doubts about his hunting abilities.