Dear Ferret Folks-

Last year a friend of mine was in an awful jam, homeless for a while.
She came to stay with us for a few months. She brought her Red Eared
Slider, Tina Turtle Pants. It was a tight fit for my 900 sq. foot
house. Three hoomins, and *two* 55 gallon tanks on my kitchen island.
One for my goldfish, and one for Tina. We grew very fond of Tina.
Time passed, things really turned around for my friend. She got an
apartment, (with Tina) met a wonderful guy, and got engaged. But he
didn't like Tina. Not at all. Now me, I wouldn't marry a man who
wouldn't take my turtle, too. My friend had lived with Tina since Tina
was just a tiny Tina Turtle Pants, some five or six years. I knew that
there was something worrying my friend. I thought that maybe her new
landlord didn't like Tina. Nope. It was the boyfriend. She didn't want
to fess up to me, because she knew what I would say. Love me, love my
critters. Or at least shut up about them, and deal with it. My friend
is a good woman, a really good woman, and he is danged lucky to have
her! He should count his blessings.

Well, right before Halloween here in Massachusetts we had a whopping
snow storm, very unusual. We got a solid foot and some places had a lot
of ice, too. The ice took down lots of branches, some places didn't
have power for days. My friend reasonably asked if Tina could come back
to stay with us as we had heat. (As a reptile, Tina can not generate
her own body heat. She is the temperature of the room she is in.) Tina
stayed about a week. Then another week. And then another. And another.
My husband finally asked our friend when she was coming to get Tina.
They had a sad and difficult conversation. My friend fessed up. Her
fiance hated Tina. Could we please keep her? My husband and I discussed
it. We would find homes for our goldfish, drain that tank, and keep
Tina on the kitchen island. The weight of both tanks was actually
warping the wood that the island was built with!

As it happens I have a friend at Petco. He works in the fish
department. We gave him the extra tank. He was happy. We were happy.
Tina is a charmer, very active and interested in what is going on. She
goes nuts when she knows that I am chopping stuff up on the cutting
board. She begs as badly and as energetically as any ferret! I guess
my friend was happy. What can I say? She was in love. I know that her
fiance was happy. The fish? Went to Petco. It was kind of cool seeing
them there. They were huge Pond Comets, and now both have forever
homes. I live so far out in the sticks that there really isn't anywhere
else to buy feeder goldfish for turtle chow *except* Petco. Honestly.
There isn't. No Mom and Pop places. This particular Petco in Fitchburg,
MA. does a pretty nice job with their ferrets. I always check. Soft
food for little kits, clean enclosures, no old poop piles. Toys. If I
am not happy with something I see they listen to me and treat me
respectfully. Wish they didn't sell ferrets. (Sigh...)

It was during one of my regular trips to Petco for feeder fish that
I saw the enormous turtle. A staff member was showing her to some
turtle fans. She had been dropped off by a breeder who didn't want her
anymore. She was kept in the back, where my Petco friend says they had
a number of dumped animals. With her head and neck comfortably
extended, she is a foot long. She weighs a little over four pounds.
Many turtle fans admired her, but said that they did not have a habitat
big enough for her. My husband and I were actively looking for a bigger
habitat for Tina. I felt sorry for the big girl, forgotten in the room
with the other unwanteds. I gave them five dollars, and took the big
girl home.

My husband bought a 100 gallon Rubbermaid heavy plastic horse trough at
Tractor Supply. An adult *could* take a bath in it, but it wouldn't be
fun. It's maybe 4 ft. long, 2 and 1/2 feet wide. It was originally
about 3 feet high, but we cut it down some so that it is easy to see
into the top. It is, or course, on my kitchen island. It looks as if I
am distilling illegal liquor there. Inside we have affixed two turtle
"docks", plastic islands hugging the inside walls. Aimed at the docks
are full spectrum basking lights on a timer. We have a filter, and a
water heater. There are always goldfish. They eat turtle poo. It is a
nice set-up.

I am breaking this up into two parts because I know I am running long.
The FML has been short lately. I know this is off-topic, but I hope it
is entertaining!

[Combined the two parts here. BIG]

All right. So my husband built this wonderful turtle habitat. Now there
were only 40 gallons of water weight on my kitchen island, and it
looked much happier. I actually had room to cook again!

We named the new turtle Big Pants. She had a nicer formal name, but
somehow Big Pants stuck. If the little one was Tina Turtle Pants, this
new girl was definitely wearing Big Pants! Her back is as wide across
as two coffee mugs. She is *big*. She is also very gentle. Tina is not
gentle. For the first few days she was very aggressive with Big Pants,
chasing her, nipping at her. I did not and have never seen Big Pants
behave aggressively, just defensively. Tina did calm down after a few
days, and they co-existed peacefully.

For a while. A few weeks.

Last week I noticed three things. One, Big Pants was not really using
her back flippers any more when she swam. She kept them tucked up tight
against her body. Two, one of her eyes looked gummy, and swollen.
Three, Tina had become *very* aggressive. She attacked, and attacked,
and attacked. Big Pants was obviously miserable. She barely basked on
her dock, she spent most of her time on the bottom of the tank, jammed
up against a rock. Well, there is a good exotic vet in Worcester, MA-
A real city with things like sidewalks and taxis. It's actually the
second largest city in New England. I adore the people at the Worcester
Cat and Bird Hospital, they are wonderful with ferrets. It's a 45
minute drive for me, but worth it. I made an appointment for Big Pants,
largely because I was afraid that she was "Egg-Bound." She had been
dumped by a turtle breeder, so theoretically she could have been
carrying eggs. And if she could not physically express her eggs as
sometimes happens, or she was holding onto them because I had no nice
sandy pit in the new habitat for her to lay them in...that can cause
problems. One of the symptoms is weakness in the back legs. And the
eye? I imagined that Tina had bitten her head.

Good news from the vet. Big Pants is not Egg-Bound. In fact, Big Pants
is most likely a *man.* And her...(oops! his!) back legs are not weak.
What they are is COVERED with Tina bites. Big Pants is afraid to extend
them, lest that little she-devil bite him once again. The gummy eye?
Vitamin A deficiency. This is not rare in turtles kept as companion
animals. He has medication for that, the vet expects a full
recovery.The simple stress of living with Tina may have been enough to
upset his system, and he got gummy eye.

What to do? I cannot put another 100 gallon horse trough in my house.
900 square feet. Open plan. The kitchen and the living room are one big
space. No other rooms are heated in the winter. No more room in the
kitchen/living room. It cannot be done. And these two *cannot* live
together. Tina is a marvelous little creature, we enjoy her. We have
affection for Big Pants, too, but he is being assaulted and battered.
He is traumatized. He must go to another home. Right now I am rotating
the two of them, keeping one of them in a laundry basket at all times
so that they are separated. This is not a long-term answer. And no,
putting one of them in a pond or swamp is out of the question. They do
not know how to live in the wild and Red Eared Sliders are incredibly
invasive here in New England. They are putting pressure on our
indigenous turtles.

If you can give Big Pants a forever home, if you know a turtle lover
who might have a forever home for him please e-mail me. I am willing
to help with transportation anywhere in New England, New York State. I
might even be able to arrange a driver for a further destination, It
depends on how far. My long distance driving days are over (medication)
but I have "peeps!" I also have a picture of Big Pants to send to the
curious. Big Pants is a fine turtle. I am glad I got him out of the
back room at Petco. I am glad to be his foster Mama. I don't resent the
vet bill. But I know he needs more than I have been able to offer him.

Alexandra in MA

[Posted in FML 7349]