Artie
My turtle is sick. For those who don’t know, the husband rescued a little box turtle about a year and a half ago. She originally belonged to the husband’s nieces then somehow ended in their cousin’s, husband’s nephew’s, possession. She was in a 14x14" cardboard box filled with mulch, no food, and a little snack sized Tupperware container that was always dry. Despite the husband’s pestering they didn’t really care about the turtle’s well being so one day he just took the turtle and she’s been with us ever since.
Since then we’ve taken care of her but I admit we’re not the best caretakers in the world mostly due to lack of money. She’s had the essentials: soft peat, a little hiding place to sleep in, a soaking dish, FOOD, and purified water. One thing we’ve been meaning to buy is a good full spectrum UV light and heat bulb and proper lamp for her bin. I’ve wanted to plant her little things to munch on and provide cover as well as moisture because holy cow does it dry up fast. But in the meantime we've given her calcium +vit D dusted crickets and let her roam outside for awhile. She wasn’t in peak health but she was doing much better than when we found her. She started to brumate around the end of September and rarely came out of her little log cave unless she had to. All of a sudden about a couple of weeks ago I started hearing this weird squeaking noise. It sounded like rubber or plastic rubbing against each other and I assumed it was something in the piles of junk I have in my room so I ignored it. The sound kept happening more and more and the husband and I started joking it was a mouse or something. A few days ago I decided check in on Artie (Artemisia, because turtles named after renaissance masters is cool) and noticed she was out but moving very sluggishly. Then she squeaked. And it looked like she was not at all well. Husband has never seen or heard this with his previous turtle pets so we’ve been doing our best to research. As far as we can tell it could potentially be an infection among other things. She needs to see a vet and even then the husband doesn’t think her chances are that good. I can’t really find exotic vets in this blasted city and worst of all, we don’t have the money for it. Ugh, it breaks my heart seeing her the way she is! Husband doesn’t think she’ll last much longer. I feel awful. Is it my fault? I don’t want her to die, but at the same time we don’t have money.
I’m taking our dog to the vet tomorrow for a heart worm exam with my brother and dad’s cooperation. He is a family dog after all, but my turtle is my turtle and responsibility so her expenses are mine and mine alone. I’m planning on asking if they still have an exotic vet on board and when’s the earliest they can come in to check her out. I do want to have her checked out even if it means using the much dreaded credit card and getting in a little more debt. I’m just hoping that she doesn’t need surgery or anything extravagant like that. I’m hoping she can come back from this. She’s supposed to live a long and healthy life. I don’t want her suffering like this.
