Posted: Sat Sep 11, 2010 3:27 am Re: Become Expensive...
Can I tell you that after reading this thread, it is true. I am sitting here sulking in my own sorrow, because I was in the same situation. Believe it or not, I just gave away my two young turtles a few weeks ago. It was EXTREMELY difficult. I bought two in NY and brought them home (drove 880 miles). I can't begin to tell you how much time I spent caring for them. Don't get me wrong--if I could go back 2 weeks, I would have never given them up. One died about a month later from R.I. and the second one I saw had the same symptoms. Within minutes we went right to the vet. Money was no object. I gave him shots and by the next day, we was perfect and healthy! About 4 months later, one of my elementary students came to school with a baby RES. I offered to take him/her, since I knew how to take care of them and mine was alone. Well, the two got along so well. I spent $300.00 to board them with the vet over the summer because I trusted noone else to care for them for the three weeks I was on vacation (I'm a teacher). I then went away another 2 weeks and had one of my trusted students and his mom watch them (for $100). I've spent well over $1500 in the 9 months I've had them. I watched them grow since they were the size of a quarter and have fed them unbelievable amounts of food. I was changing their tank every OTHER day. I don't know how, but I was feeding them outside of the tank in a pail (they both ate whole crickets, and about 4 various types of healthy food) so that the tank would hopefully stay cleaner, longer. I went through so much food. It was unreal how much these two ate! I decided to give them away because I felt that they were just getting to be too much time to maintain them, and no matter what I did to make it easier to make cleaning the tank, the filter would still need to be changed at least every 2 to 3 days. And that was WITH feeding them outside of the tank, and scooping up everything in the tank with a net twice a day. The vet said they were the most well-taken care of turtles he'd ever seen. I hate that I gave them away--Petco took them. And I know here in Atlanta, they would be well taken care of. Well, hours later I wanted them back and they told me that their vet picked one up (for an exam). I said I'd call him and pay whatever cost to get him back. Petco said they'd hold the other one. Well, the vet already adopted the one out, so I decided not to take back the other one (unless I got both back). I think I cried for 2 days. It was the worst decision I ever made. I feel like I abandoned them. I had no idea I'd miss them so much. I think it was mostly about the time spending with them and that as a teacher, I wasn't home more than I wanted to. And trust me, I considered having them in the classroom, but I'd have to have them over the weekend to feed them, so it would never have worked. I put some pictures on here awhile ago, so it's even sadder to look at them. I hope they are in a home that spoiled them as much as I did. Sorry that this is long and boring. I needed to vent, I guess!
Colin
