tank, cooter and curly sue

not many of you know this, but i'm a turtle guy. not in a mutant ninja or soup sorta way, but i have turtles as pets. of all the pets i've had in the past, outside of Maggie (old english sheep dog), turtles have been my favorite pets. i have a 40 gallon tank in my kitchen sitting in a window seat that currently houses 3 red ear sliders. each are about 6 inches in circumference. DeDe, DoDo and Spaz have been around for a little longer than a year and live contentedly in the aquarium. the three of them did have a fourth roommate until the other day, Tank. Tank was about 11 inches long and a big MFer. Once any of my turtles get that large, i take them out to a local creek where a ton of other turtles live (including Tanks bigger brother) and let them loose into the wild.

so, i let Tank loose friday morning and decided it was time to get some new kids to add to the family, so i went to a local petshop that specializes in exotic fish, turtles, amphibians, snakes, etc. and picked up Cooter (a yellow bellied cooter) and Curly Sue (a ridgeback). Brought them home and introduced them to their new roommates. within two hours of their arrival, the older kids had killed Curly Sue. and now, Cooter is looking like he's about to pass on to that big toilet in the sky. you see, the older turtles thought the babies were fish and chased them around the tank biting them. Curly Sue was found floating and i separated Cooter into a small bowl (he's only the size of a silver dollar). he had some scars and it looks like this may have been what killed him (or will). he doesn't look like he's going to make it either. i'm pretty upset by this cause the babies are great to watch, but i'm the idiot who introduced them into a hostile environment. this will not happen again.

here's hoping Cooter makes it.