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(This is an old pic, about a year old, but you can click it for a larger version)Sometime over six years ago I discovered that the disgusting pet shop in Sunnyside, Queens got in a shipment of small turtles. They had red-eared sliders, musks, and maps.
I was angered to see these babies appear at this pet shop. It's the same place that I watched the owner allow an adult RES to die, and then completely disintegrate in his tank. I decided I wanted to save at least one. One night I went there and chose a Mississippi Map with the most wonderful colors in the tank and named him Jay after the character from Clerks. It was folly to think I could do anything more than rescue one turtle in this batch. How can I possibly take care of so many when I already had eight large turtles?
Well, that was good thinking, for, over the next FIVE YEARS of his life were to be a battle to keep this chosen one alive. From the moment I got him the poor little guy suffered from shell rot. We only used a minor topical ointment for the first couple years, but when we changed vets, the new guy had us administering topical and oral antibiotics. The entire time he was separated and kept dry for most hours of the day.
After a couple of years of that the little guy was healthy enough to spend all of his time in the tanks. When we tossed him into the deeper tank he sank like a stone. We had to keep him in the more shallow isolation tank. He's called that home now for years.
About a year ago we decided to try to acclimate him to the deep tank again. My wife spent many hours holding him up in the water and trying to teach Jay to swim like you would a child. Well, that didn't work. This week we decided to start the process again. We chose a different approach.
Tough Love. We threw the little guy in the water and watched. He sat there staring at us. At first we became concerned and brought him up for air a couple times. (Turtles breath air, not water.) But then we noticed that he was struggling on his own to the surface. We left him alone. We've been tossing him in the deeper water everyday since and he gets better and better. Today he actually spent most of the day at the surface. Our little guy was swimming!
Pretty soon we plan to leave him in the deep tank permanently.
More to come...
I was angered to see these babies appear at this pet shop. It's the same place that I watched the owner allow an adult RES to die, and then completely disintegrate in his tank. I decided I wanted to save at least one. One night I went there and chose a Mississippi Map with the most wonderful colors in the tank and named him Jay after the character from Clerks. It was folly to think I could do anything more than rescue one turtle in this batch. How can I possibly take care of so many when I already had eight large turtles?
Well, that was good thinking, for, over the next FIVE YEARS of his life were to be a battle to keep this chosen one alive. From the moment I got him the poor little guy suffered from shell rot. We only used a minor topical ointment for the first couple years, but when we changed vets, the new guy had us administering topical and oral antibiotics. The entire time he was separated and kept dry for most hours of the day.
After a couple of years of that the little guy was healthy enough to spend all of his time in the tanks. When we tossed him into the deeper tank he sank like a stone. We had to keep him in the more shallow isolation tank. He's called that home now for years.
About a year ago we decided to try to acclimate him to the deep tank again. My wife spent many hours holding him up in the water and trying to teach Jay to swim like you would a child. Well, that didn't work. This week we decided to start the process again. We chose a different approach.
Tough Love. We threw the little guy in the water and watched. He sat there staring at us. At first we became concerned and brought him up for air a couple times. (Turtles breath air, not water.) But then we noticed that he was struggling on his own to the surface. We left him alone. We've been tossing him in the deeper water everyday since and he gets better and better. Today he actually spent most of the day at the surface. Our little guy was swimming!
Pretty soon we plan to leave him in the deep tank permanently.
More to come...
5 comments:
Aaaaw! That's too cute!
I wanna see PICTURES!
Cute little guy. Hmmm... that pet store in Sunnyside sounds familar. Was it the one near the 7 train on Queens Blvd. in forty something street? I use to know some pet store there that all the pets were kept in horrible condition.
Yep. That's the one. Just off of Queens Blvd, a couple blocks from Strauss. Disgusting place.
Oh yeah... the fat guy with the mustache. Half his pets are either dead or dying! The place is a dump and he barely feeds them or keep they tank/cages clean. Good thing for Jay you bought him.
thats soo cute.what a cool story. its so sad bout the pet shop.i fink its cruel how the pet shops keep their animals and treat them. thanks for that story bob.it was very inspiring.
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