Happy Mother's Day!

A tribute to all female turtle owners in the world for this Mother’s Day! It is certainly not an easy task, taking care of tortoises who hardly show overt appreciation for your care and dedication. You see, we don’t bark and wag our tails like the canines; neither do we hum a lovely song like the canaries. All we do is keep to ourselves and shy away from most human touch. In fact, we often look stoned and lifeless.

Looks like we (my female owner and myself) made a mistake about who ate the plastic bag. We unanimously thought that it was Nanook (sorry sister! Your past track record has not been very clean) but it turns out to be Dodo. We decided it was him coz he had not been his usual self since the incident. He was nursing a clogged tummy.

Dodo, you must understand, is my female owner’s favourite terrapin for many good reasons. One of the good reasons is that he is very tame to the human touch. He would not flinch if you touch his head or stroke his neck. In fact, he seeks out human interaction by rushing out to greet my owners whenever he knows they are near. This delights my female owner very much and hence, she speaks very proudly of him all the time (that's Dodo below).

Anyway, ever since the munch-on-plastic incident, Dodo kept to himself all the time in a corner of TurtleLand. He had a drugged look and was ultra-sensitive to touch. He also lost his appetite and remained curled up in his shell. My female owner noticed the change in his behaviour immediately and was quite concerned. She didn’t know what to do to make him feel better and decided not to agitate him at least.

Occasionally she would pop into TurtleLand to check on him and coax him to have some food. If he refuses, she would just let him be. Her patience and tenderness towards his predicament (she didn’t scold him or send him to the Sick Bay) must have been therapeutic for Dodo. Today, on Mother’s Day, he was able to have a decent meal, much to the relief of my female owner.

Moral of the story – while mother knows and loves best, keep those plastic bags away from us!