sun tanning

Dodo, my eldest brother, has a very dark green shell. He managed to get such a good colour, no thanks to his numerous sun-tanning sessions. Out of all the four of us, he is the only turtle who has the patience and will-power to soak himself in Singapore's powerful sun-rays. I tried to educate him about harmful UV rays, but he dismissed my concerns, saying that only humans suffer from the harmful effects of UV rays.

Dodo is so into sun-tanning that he did it even though he had a swollen arm. See how his left arm could not be retracted into his shell?

wander

It's Singapore's birthday tomorrow! Me am excited because that means that my female owner will be home (it's a public holiday). And that means that she may bring us out for a walk in the rest of her flat. That sounds exciting coz we've been cooped up in the Balcony for a long time. She never brought us out to wander around the flat since That Fateful Day. My siblings and I will pray hard for this to happen tomorrow.

Pray with us.

what happened?

My female had not been exercising since she stopped talking to my male owner. Slowly but surely, she was putting on fats (just like me!). In a bid to get into better shape (both physically and psychologically), she agreed to go jogging with some of her colleagues at MacRitchie Reservoir. It was risky for her ego, coz all of them could definitely run faster than her.


At the reservoir, she spied the familiar blue bridge that stood over the murky waters. The water is home to countless terrapins, many of which had been released into the wild by their owners. My female owner spent some time looking at the terrapins swimming effortlessly in the water, enjoying their swim amidst the setting sun.



She couldn’t help but wonder, what happened to our ability to swim?!

escapade

I miss my male owner. I decided to keep a lookout for him by perching myself on as high a ground as I could, using whatever I could find in the Balcony. This was the result of my efforts.

Balancing myself on my female owner's tricycle and a flower pot.

View from the top, the heights I would go to to find him


Still lying in wait. Nanook said that I was wasting my time.
You must be wondering whether I managed to get down safely. I did. My female owner saw my attempted escapade and hurriedly took me down, when she saw me attempting to climb higher up the tricycle...

touched

Dodo is very touched that my female owner’s friends left get-well-soon messages for him. He is certainly getting better and eating well. In fact, when my female owner came home today, he was the only turtle to come out to greet her (Don’t ask me why the rest of us didn’t come out!). Not to mention also that his ego got a boost when he heard that someone said that he is a “big strong boy”. Men.

hobble

Dodo has been cooped up in the tank for a week already. His patience is wearing down. His arm is still slightly swollen, but my female owner, sensing his misery, set him free to walk around the Balcony.

Dodo managed to hobble around for a while, before retiring into a corner to sleep. Guess he's still not fully recovered.

Maybe he needs to go back to the clinic.

who asked

Dodo’s swollen left arm is slowly subsiding. He has been spending his days in a small tank since last Wednesday. My female owner didn’t want him to be walking around the Balcony and straining himself. Needless to say, Dodo has been feeling blue about his predicament. Being trapped 24/7 in a small space is no joke.

I decided to cheer him up, by letting him know that many of my female owner’s animal friends had expressed concern for him. For example,

There’s Miss Froggy who entered my female owner’s office early in the morning to ask about Dodo;
And Monkey Potato Friend who, though clearly will never be caught looking at a turtle, asked through MSN;
And Donkey, the person whom Dodo was named after (DOnkey, Dodo) and is afraid of us turtles. She also asked.

Although my male owner didn’t ask about him, Dodo managed a small smile when told that he sponsored her medical fees. He still cares after all.

love... blood... water

Today, I asked Dodo why our female owner was always so willing to go the extra mile to get us treated for our illnesses. I mean, our medical fee per visit is easily more than twice hers. For example, Dodo's visit cost her about $50. Not to mention that she had to take time off from work and carry him around in the rain when she just recovered from fever that morning. My female owner even received disapproving looks from this auntie on the bus who told her to release Dodo into the wild. Given that we are not related by blood, I thought that there was no need for her to go to such extent. I mean, there are children who abandon their ailing parents in hospitals or leave them to rot in homes.

Dodo's reply was this: Love is thicker than blood.

I couldn't help but tear... now I understand.

687g

My brother, Dodo, just came back from the vet. Again, he reported a traumatising experience. The doctor, a certain Dr Siah, examined him from head to tail and probed his swollen left arm for signs of wound or infection. Based on Dodo’s past medical history of pus in his arm, she decided to try to extract any pus (although she did tell my female owner that she didn’t think there was any). Using a syringe, she injected the needle into his left palm area. Bit by bit, she redraw the needle.

She was spot-on. No pus. Alas, Dodo started bleeding from the puncture wound. Being brave and probably resigned, he told us that he kept still despite the pain and feeling of blood oozing from his palm. Dr Siah stopped the bleeding by putting pressure on the area... leading to more pain.

The mystery of his swollen arm remains.

Anyway, Dr Siah advised my female owner to INJECT Dodo with anti-biotics for a few days and see what happens after that (i.e. return to the clinic in a few days’ time). My female owner had no choice but to agree. What to do, precious pet, so must go all out to make things right. Dr Siah then gave Dodo his first dose of anti-biotics on his bum.

Dodo felt so violated.

The good that came out of this is that Dodo knows his exact weight now – 687g.

new doc

Dodo and I have regular vets. Dodo’s vet is a sweet young lady called Ms Prakash. She’s apparently one of the nicest and most experienced veterinarians at Mount Pleasant Animal Hospital. My female owner also likes her, because she was gentle towards Dodo. Hence, everytime Dodo’s arm flares up, my female owner would make an appointment to bring Dodo to Ms Prakash.

My female owner tried to do the same this morning. She called the hospital but unfortunately, the general line was busy. Then she spied the contact details of another animal clinic (which had been previously recommended to her by her animal-lover friend).

Allpets & Aqualife Vets Pte Ltd
219 Jln Kayu #01-01 Singapore 799442
Tel : 6481-3700

Since the clinic’s speciality is in water animals and reptiles, my female owner decided to set an appointment on Friday for Dodo. Dodo peed upon hearing that he has to go to the doc’s again. My poor brother… He must be feeling jittery now..

ill

My female owner is distraught and close to tears. Dodo suffered a relapse and has a VERY swollen left arm again. My female owner is fretting over when she can bring him to the vet and the aftercare of course. The last time it happened, she had to inject him with antibiotics everyday for five days at fixed timing. Dodo was certainly not very happy about it. It also pained her to inflict pain on him. Owner and pet ended up traumatising each other with their cat-and-mouse game.

Hopefully the swell subsides, or else it will be a gloomy week for all.

even day

My female owner is preoccupied with nothing these days. Because of her condition, she can't remember when she last fed us. Hence, this entry will be very short. It is to put down in "black-and-white" as all humans like to call it, that she didn't feed us today. So, please feed us every even day.

Food beckons tomorrow. Yeah!

ordinary day

A day like any other.

Woke up when daylight broke into the Balcony. Dodo, as usual, woke up first. His stir from rest, though gentle, awakened Dona. I stayed under the trolley waiting for Nanook to wake up. She's usually the slowest to wake up.

Being a weekend, my female owner was home. She played her flute. She has been taking mini steps towards polished pieces. Despite the slips, it was still a pleasure to hear her play. Listening to her affirms that we are still alive.

Since it was no longer possible to sleep, we decided to do some exercise and started walking around the Balcony. Had great fun playing with one another. We retired to our various corners when we became tired.

Afternoon siesta beckons.

Zzzzzzzzz

belle

My female owner... thinks she needs some space to find herself again. Feeling down, she decided to do a personality test to cheer herself up. What better test to do, but a test to see which Disney Princess she is?

At least she gets to pretend that she is a princess for once... unless us turtles, she treats us like princes and princesses ALL the time.

Which Disney Princess Are You?
	You are Belle. You are strong, deep, and you are not a slave to petty superficial things. You are independent and allow yourself to see inner beauty without sacrificing your values. You are almost too good of a person.
Find Your Character @ BrainFall.com

it's the end

My male owner has ended his relationship with my female owner.

In a sms which he sent to my female owner today, he said that he did not want anything back from her (which, by the way, my female owner didn't reply coz she didn't know how to). That sounds like he doesn’t want Nanook and me back! They said divorce has a detrimental effect on children. I say that breaking up has a detrimental effect on pets as well.

Think Nanook is not going to take it too well, especially after her fall yesterday. Would have to ask Dodo for advice.

overturned

My sister, Nanook, must have missed my male owner a lot. She was trying to scale the ledge to get from the Balcony into the living room (possibly to search for him), when she OVERTURNED and fell on her back. She landed with a super loud “thud” which sent the rest of us scurrying into a corner.

As my female owner was not nearby, Nanook was left upside down for more than an hour. Poor Nannok was feeling so scared and helpless that she peed. Her agony was over when my female owner came out of her room to check on us.

She was equally shocked and quickly put Nanook on her belly again. Nanook was badly shakened and my female owner spent some time stroking her shell to comfort her. It was only then that the rest of us dared to emerge from the darkness. Was a bad move on our part, coz my female owner hit us on our shell a few times each – for leaving Nanook in the lurch.

meaning of your name

My female owner tried to find out the meanings of our names today. Nil returns for all of us. Guess she really didn’t name us after human beings. She gave up and decided to look up her name. For want of anonymity, I’m not going to reveal her name. I’m just going to talk about it! The origin of her name is Greek. Wow! Exotic. The meaning of her name is Misery. Right... How comforting. What’s more. Her name was used by Shakespeare in one of his tragic plays. She was the wife of a Venetian general who was wrongly made to believe that she was unfaithful. Needless to say, her character was murdered by the husband. Now I know why she sometimes wonder if her name is a curse.

test test

Had an entry for our 5th birthday but somehow it didn't show up here. Things are getting weird nowadays...

Test test. Hope the entry shows up somehow.

our 5th birthday!

See how we've grown, Nanook and myself. We just past our 5th birthday! Although there was no birthday party, my female owner sang us a birthday song. Our male owner wasn't around ....

I remembered so vividly what happened 5 years ago. It was a Sunday and my owners were walking around Thomson Plaza when suddenly, my male owner decided to get a pair of terrapins. Of course he chose the best of the lot and bought a tank to house us.... The most memorable part was that my owners brought us all over town in that tank and even brought us to the theatre. It was freezing cold, especially for cold-blooded puny animals like us. Nanook and I struggled to keep ourselves warm. Not sure how we pulled through!

Anyway, 5 years flew by and here we are. Healthy and strong.

Cheers to many more good years!

smell

My female owner came to sit in the Balcony today for a while. Nanook eagerly came forward to greet her. She took the opportunity to smell my female owner's toe.

She walked away feeling disappointed. "Not as delicious-smelling as male owner's", she said.

Trekkin' Turtle

Ever heard of the shop Build-a-Bear Workshop? It's a soft-toy shop where you get to choose your favourite toy, stuff it with cotton, dress it in clothes, name it, put a voice in it etc etc. Basically you can personalise the soft-toy to your liking.

My female owner had toyed (pun intended) with the idea of getting the Husky version ($38.90) but it was too expensive, given that her priority is us (she can get 5 months' worth of food with that).


But now, there's a Trekkin' Turtle version arriving on July 20. It comes with a removable backpack shell. Ah... I wonder how it feels to be able to come out of my shell. Must be a really enlightening affair.

Rumour has it that it costs $34.90. Maybe I can convince my siblings to consume less food... then my female owner would be willing to invest in this comfort toy..

appreciation

Why I appreciate my female owner:

i) She knows where to find us, eyes closed
ii) She clears up after us
iii) She will feed us, no matter how late she reaches home (if it’s feeding day)
iv) She makes sure that mosquitoes don’t breed in our Balcony
v) She rubs nose with us (how many turtles come in such close contact with humans)
vi) She scrubs our back
viii) She refuses to release us into the wild, no matter what her mother says
viiii) She looks for us the moment she reaches home – much to the jealousy of her mother!
x) She spares no expenses when we are ill – visits to the vet, taking leave from work, giving us medicine/ injections when needed

What more can we ask for?

Finally heard from my male owner yesterday. He sent an email to my female owner, asking her to take care of us no matter what. So sweet of him… My sister, Nanook, misses him real bad as he would always shower her with extra food when he was around. Now she has to make do with normal-sized helpings.

The Rose

Some say love it is a river
That drowns the tender reed
Some say love it is a razor
That leaves your soul to bleed

Some say love it is a hunger
An endless aching need
I say love it is a flower
And you it's only seed

It's the heart afraid of breaking
That never learns to dance
It's the dream afraid of waking that never takes the chance
It's the one who won't be taken
Who cannot seem to give
And the soul afraid of dying that never learns to live

When the night has been too lonely
And the road has been too long
And you think that love is only
For the lucky and the strong
Just remember in the winter far beneath the bitter snows
Lies the seed
That with the sun's love
In the spring
Becomes the rose

guests

My female owner loves to entertain guests, and she expects us to extend our hospitality to her guests. One such time was when her neighbour bought two baby terrapins and my female owner brought the babies home for a while.

Her main reason, I believe, was to show us how much we’ve grown and to keep us in touch with the terrapin world.

Here are some photos she took of the babies. So cute right? (Nope, that’s not my maternal instinct acting up. I’m still a juvenile).

Here’s a photo of one of them with me. See the differences in size and colour? I used to be like that…

Finally, a photo of them being fed... with me keeping watch outside the tank.. =)

ten things about us

1) We are more afraid of the door slamming than of loud thunder.
2) We have our own personalities.
3) We may be docile by nature, but we bite at times.
4) We have our favourite hideouts which we faithfully go to everyday.
5) We get traumatised by our female owner’s flute blowing.
6) We appreciate manicures and pedicures – bring them on!
7) We can survive for more a week without food.
8) We get along better with some turtles than others.
9) We prefer to climb over obstacles than to walk around them.
10) We enjoy sun-bathing.

man and woman

Spent my day wondering about human relationships... this is what I found out:

Getting married is very much like going to a restaurant with friends. You order what you want then, when you see what the other person has, you wish you had ordered that.

Man: Is there any way for long life?
Dr: Get married.
Man: Will it help?
Dr: No, but the thought of long life will never come.

Why do couples hold hands during their wedding? It's a formality just like two boxers shaking hands before the fight begins!

Wife: Darling today is our anniversary, what should we do?
Husband: Let us stand in silence for 2 minutes.

It's funny when people discuss Love Marriage vs Arranged.
It's like asking someone, if suicide is better or being murdered.

It is difficult to understand GOD. He makes such beautiful things as women and then he turns them into Wives.

If u r married please ignore this msg, for everyone else: Happy Independence Day.

Before marriage, a man will lie awake all night thinking about something you say.
After marriage, he'll fall asleep before you finish.

There's a way of transferring funds that is even faster than electronic banking. It's called marriage.

Girlfriends r like chocolates, taste good anytime. Lovers r like PIZZAS, Hot n spicy, eaten frequently.
Husbands r like Dal RICE, eaten when there's no choice.

Man receives telegram: Wife dead-should be buried or cremated?
Man: Don't take any chances. Burn the body and bury the ash.

Prospective husband: Do you have a book called 'Man, The Master of Women'?
Salesgirl: The fiction department is on the other side, sir.

There was this guy who told his woman that he loved her so much that he would go through hell for her. They got married and now he is going thru hell.

Fact of life: One woman brings you into this world crying & the other ensures you continue to do so for the rest of your life!

Q: Why doesn't law permit a man to marry a second woman?
A: Because as per law you cannot be punished twice for the same offence!


I'm so glad I'm a turtle.

charitable deed

My female owner lives for the weekends only. She absolutely hates what she’s doing at work and her life. Every Monday, the countdown to the weekend starts. Every Friday, the countdown to the end of temporal bliss starts. Every Sunday, the blues start to sink in and the whole cycle kicks in again. So depressing. It’s really tough being a human eh. And when she can’t see beyond the next day, she takes leave. That’s what she did today – hump day of the week (since it’s the middle of a workweek). Not really sure what she did (coz she left home for a while) but when she came back, she was on fire! She took us one by one, first Dodo, then me, later Dona and lastly Nanook, and gave us a good long shell scrub. Believe me when I say that we have accumulated layers of dirt, dust and grime through the months of living in the Balcony (can’t remember when our last scrub was). My male owner normally undertakes this task but he hasn’t been around. My female owner probably got sick and tired of seeing us look like dusty desert tortoises and decided to do something charitable today. I can’t say that I enjoyed the process of being scrubbed and turtle-handled (she used a toothbrush so that she could reach in between the grooves of our shells) but the after effect is really good. After all, which turtle doesn’t like to feel clean and …. look green again?

big toe

My elder sister (also my only) asked me a really curious question yesterday. This was how the conversation went.

Nanook: Nooki baby, did you notice that male owner hasn’t been coming lately?

Me: Yes elder sister, that’s what I’ve been telling all of you!

Nanook: Really? I must have been too hungry to hear you properly. I thought you mean that male owner is ill.

Me: No no. What I said was, male owner and female owner got some problem, so maybe male owner will never come again.

Nanook: Huh? Never come again???

Me: Yes, never.

Nanook (with tears in her eyes): I miss smelling his big toe!

Me: *.*;;;

mine is longer

Did you know that the earliest known turtles existed about 215 million years ago? That makes us one of the oldest reptile groups, more ancient than lizards (some of them live in the balcony with us) and snakes (never saw one before).

215 million years is a long time, especially when you compare that to humans, who originated in Africa only about 200, 000 years ago. So, my lineage goes further and longer than my owners. Wahahaha.

Sorry, cheap thrill. Just trying to entertain myself and encourage my siblings that this famine won't last! We will survive.

somebody help

I think my female owner thought that Dodo died. Coz she hasn’t been feeding us for days and Dodo resigned to a corner to hibernate (i.e. conserve energy). So when my female owner came home, the rest of us greeted her with good cheer. Dodo remained in the corner. My female owner wasn’t sure if Dodo was alive, so she squatted near Dodo and called his name many times. Dodo was very slow to respond (that’s quite unusual, given his eager beaver nature) and for those moments, my female owner was unsure of his status…. Anyway, as soon as my female owner was sure that Dodo was just in deep sleep, she fed us… a cursory meal as usual. Did I also mention that the balcony is getting very dirty? Somebody help us…

quiet

Life’s getting quiet for us. My female owner is either not home, or if she’s home, she gives us a cursory glance and walks away. She hardly appears in the living room anymore. I tried to do the Dodo thing and stretched as high as my little arms could lift me in order to reach her. But she just patted me on my cheek once … and walk away.

It’s really tough being turtles of separated owners.

pet therapy

We (the turtles) have not seen our male owner for the past two Sundays. Based on my reading of the stars… I think that my owners have broken up. The best give-away is my female owner (of course, since she takes care of us). She has been quite haphazard in taking care of us this past week. Our feeding times have been irregular, and if she feed us, it’s never enough. The feeding seems more like a cursory move, to make sure that at least we don’t die of hunger, while she nurses her broken heart.

Dodo, the most sensitive turtle among us, also senses that something is not right. He has been trying to find out more, by approaching my female owner in the rare occasion that she appears. Unfortunately, she rarely stays more than five minutes, so he has been unable to give her some pet therapy.

getting hot

Time passes slower when the weather gets hotter. Spend my days soaking in the wading pool alone. My other siblings prefer to sweat or hide it out in shady corners of the balcony. Looking forward to my birthday (and Nanook’s) in a few weeks’ time. We will be five years old then. Half a decade has breezed by and many more good years to come, I hope. Wonder if my owners will hold a birthday party for us.

a treat

Got a surprise treat from my female owner last night. You see, I was just soaking in the wading pool, enjoying the silence of the night… and a little moonlight (okay, I know it’s not real moonlight, just the lights coming in from the living room) when she came home from her usual Tuesday rendezvous.

Anyway, I saw her coming and I gave her the saddest look I could muster (you must understand that I was actually very happy to be alone in the pool, so this took quite a bit of effort). She returned me the sad look and…. gave me some food! Wah, a treat, considering that she just fed all of us the night before. My siblings looked on in envy and none of them climbed into the pool. Strange…

camera shy

My female owner bought her chio digital camera recently and had a whale of a time snapping photos of us in different poses and perspectives. At times, she would hold the camera really close to our faces, hoping for a good close-up. What she probably doesn’t understand is that we feel really threatened by the camera being so near (although it looks good in pink) and would naturally retract our heads into our shells. Then, she will scold us for being camera-shy and depriving her of that shot.

This is especially so for Dona. He will scramble away in haste whenever she appears with the camera. Maybe he’s conscious of his small size.

not here

It's night-time now but there's no sight of my male owner. It's Father's Day. Where is he?

Father's Day

Today is Father’s Day. As my female owner is like a mother to us, so is my male owner to us. He came over yesterday (Saturday) and gave us a good bath. Also scrubbed the balcony and fed us good good. Nanook, for some reason, was behaving anti-social and didn’t respond to the feeding. Instead, she went to a far corner of the balcony and faced the wall. Maybe she’s on a diet.

Haven't been coming on for a long while... because had so much fun the previous week (see previous poast), that I spent the whole week recovering. Terrapins are not known for their energetic nature you know.

Anyway, you might be wondering what I mean when I say that we "play". Each of us have our own version of play. Let me show you Dodo's version.

This is me, trying to climb out of the balcony, into the living room, for a walk.











This is me after a long day of play...

This is me. I look sad because I just made my female owner angry. It was feeding time. Having had my last meal 2 days ago, I was naturally excited and famished. I rushed into the feeding tank, together with Dona, my elder brother. In my excitement, I mis-cued and bit my brother’s arm real hard. In the mayhem that ensued (coz he struggled so hard), I held on even harder because I thought my female owner was feeding us live food (“wah, fresh food, so must hold on in case it escapes”).

I knew I made a mistake when I heard her shouting at me. I let go immediately. Dona didn’t scold me or anything, but my female owner gave me a hard tap on my shell. Okay, I realised my mistake. Can I eat now?

selling dolls

A man and woman had been married for more than 60 years. They had shared everything. They had talked about everything. They had kept no secrets from each other except that the little old woman had a shoe box in the top of her closet that she had cautioned her husband never to open or ask her about it. For all of these years, he had never thought about the box, but one day the little old woman got very sick and the doctor said she would not recover. In trying to sort out their affairs, the little old man took down the shoe box and took it to his wife's bedside. She agreed that it was time that he should know what was in the box. When he opened it, he found two crocheted dolls and a stack of money totalling $95,000. He asked her about the contents. "When we were to be married," she said, "my grandmother told me the secret of a happy marriage was to never argue. She told me that if I ever got angry with you, I should just keep quiet and crochet a doll." The little old man was so moved; he had to fight back tears. Only two precious dolls were in the box. She had only been angry with him two times in all those years of living and loving. He almost burst with happiness. "Honey," he said, "that explains the doll, but what about all of this money? Where did it come from?" "Oh," she said, "that's the money I made from selling the dolls."

rampage

My female owner went on a mini rampage last night. She finally paid off all $24000 of her study loan and decided to reward her years of frugality with a brand-new digicam! The strange thing about it is that, while she was happy with her choice, her heart sank the moment AFTER she bought the camera. Too late for regrets. Female owner, you need to move on! Go figure how to use that chio pink camera…. then we can have many more happy snapping moments!

the saga continues

My male owner has been trying his best to coax Nana into the water and last night, he claimed that he did it! He even described the process to my female owner. Hold the worm in front of Nana, dangle it from left to right about six times, and Nana will go into the water.

My female owner then asked: “did you manage to get Nana out of the water?”

Male owner: “No, only into the water.”

Female owner: “what?! You left Nana in the water??”

Male owner: (‘.’);;;

still in the dark

My male owner still doesn't know how to feed Nana, after so many days. My female owner was a tad amused and a tad upset at the same time. Amused because he plays games like MapleStory. While he can gain control in such a high-level game, my male owner is unable to figure out such an elementary game.

Upset because... well... she's a woman so no real reason needed..

met my new friend?

Met my new friend? He’s called Nana, after my brother who died a few years back.

My female owner proved that she is the reigning turtle whisperer of Singapore. She managed to get Nana to jump into the water after a few seconds of adopting him.

My male owner took the whole night, and all he could do was to get Nana to look at the worm.

In fact, my female owner can get Nana to jump into the water, eat the worm, and jump back on the rock at will.

Somebody please help my male owner figure out this new pet… or else he will have no end from my female owner.

Now you know why we are living with our female owner…survival instinct.

my new friend!

adopt your own virtual pet!

the mysterious cat

My female owner does the darnest thing. Before I get rationed by her (of food) for saying this, I must remind her that my male owner said this of her. I, Nooki, am merely repeating what my male owner said. You see, she came home at 4am on Sunday. As she was unlocking her door, she saw a white cat sitting on the old armchair left outside her house (this armchair was left outside her house for people to wear their shoes). The cat was silent and still, quietly looking at her with his big round shiny eyes. The lateness of the night, together with the spooky demeanour of the cat, freaked her out and she scrambled into the house. She tried to redeem herself when she retold the story to my male owner and us, that she was just afraid that the cat will spring into the house, run straight to the balcony and pounce on us. Err… how would the cat know that there are terrapins in the house? Anyway, she didn’t manage to take any photos because her camera was spoilt (hint!) but she did find white fur on the armchair the next day, which basically proved that she was not seeing things. My female owner was fascinated by how the cat managed to find his way to the 9th storey to get to her flat. According to her, the cat looked very happy and contented with his find. She was left wondering how long the cat had been roosting outside her flat without anybody’s knowledge and whether the cat would return. To satisfy her curiosity, guess what my female owner did? She set her alarm at 4am on Monday morning to spy on the armchair. In the process of this, she actually woke up during the night (without the assistance of the alarm, mind you), struggled out of bed, searched for her glasses using her hands, and walked to the main door to check on the armchair. She repeated the process three times. Three times, she found the armchair empty. She got her answer. The cat didn’t return. Duh. My female owner does the darnest thing, doesn’t she?

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!

i wonder why

Been a long time since I posted a picture of myself. So I thought I better put one up, in case you forget how I look like.

This is a picture taken in April 06. On the left is me, and on the right is Nanook, my elder sister. The reason why the photo was taken is pretty obvious – my female owner is trying to capture our greediness in action. You see, that rectangular tank was our feeding tank (the old one – remember I told you that we got a new one recently?). We were hovering around the tank, trying to send the message that we were hungry and hence, waiting for some human intervention. We behave like humans at times right, hovering around something knowing that something good is going to happen (e.g. freebies)?

Anyway, the hidden point of taking the photo is that Dodo and Dona (my female owner’s terrapins – Nanook and myself belong to our male owner. Confused over ownership? Just remember that the “N”s belong to the male and the “D”s to the female but all four of us live together in the female’s house) were NOT hovering around the tank!

You get it now? My female owner wants to emphasise the “goodness” of her terrapins at the expense of us. Sigh… I wonder why.

eating plastic

Turtleland had a minor disaster in the wee hours of the morning. It started to rain heavily and a big gush of wind sent a clear plastic bag flying into our feeding tank.

My female owner woke up to this disaster scene where she found the plastic bag floating in the tank…. And small round holes in the bag. In an instant, she knew what happened – someone in our midst was so greedy, he/she stole a few bites of the bag! This is not good because it is potentially toxic.

My female owner had her suspect in mind but she did nothing about it. The consequence of eating plastic is in itself a punishment for the consumer. As for me, I’m not telling who it was.

exposure

my female owner decided to expose me to more humans (she said that it's unhealthy for my development to interact with only her and my male owner) and added a tag board on this blog for me!

So, please feel free to leave a message for me and I will reply in my own turtle time.

affair

My female owner came home late last night. We were all waiting anxiously for her as it was feeding day. She finally appeared at about 11pm. This was strange. She usually reached home by 9pm on a Monday.

I later found out that my female owner was late because she was having an affair. The truth was, she has music classes on Mondays and yesterday, she felt really fat and wobbly and decided that she needed more exercise to ooze out the excess oil. She gave music lessons a miss and went for a 4.5hr badminton spree. Hence, the affair.

The truth be told, for all her hard work, she still looks the same size…

best museum in Singapore - die die must go

Do you know that there are about 35 museums in Singapore and there is one for us terrapins/ turtles/ tortoises? It's called the Live Turtle and Tortoise Museum located at the Chinese Garden. Admission is $5 (that is about half month supply of food for all four of us). It is worth the distance and money, I promise you. The museum is opened by turtle lovers (there are many in Singapore, my female owner can attest to that) and houses more than 200 turtles and tortoises from over 60 different species. It has a petting corner which allows humans to get up close with some of these turtles and tortoises. Although the name of the museum conveniently left out "terrapins", I would say that we red-earred sliders make up a large proportion of the entire population there. Let me show you why...

Top: The beautiful landscaped turtle pond with hundreds of terrapins.

Below: My fellow mates waiting in anticipation for food.










Below: Friends on dry land











Below: The terrapin which caught my owners' attention.

it's a new month

It’s a new month! Many things to look forward to. First, there’s Mother’s Day on the 13th of May. Since I left my hometown many years ago, my female owner is like my mother to me. She takes care of most of my needs and makes sure that I grow up well, despite my traumatic childhood (a little more another day). So, it’s a day worth celebrating with her. Hmmm, just don’t ask me to lay an egg! Second, my birthday (and Nanook’s) is approaching! Okay, maybe not as soon as you would expect – it’s in July – but it’s soon enough to warrant some mention. Hint hint! Third, we have a new wading and feeding tank. It’s so much better than the previous feeding tank which has been around longer than me. It’s bigger and lower in height. This makes it easier for us to climb in and out of the tank. Will get my female owner to snap a few photos for you to see, then you know what I mean. Fourth, my female owner is working from home these couple of days. Wah, it’s a godsend for her and for us as well. She’s usually too busy to pay us much attention, but now, she can afford the time to let us out for a walk in the rest of the house! A whole afternoon of free-and-easy exploration around the house for us. It’s like being cooped up in a small cell for a long time and finally being let loose. The smell of freedom beckons!

Friday the 13th

Friday the 13th. My female owner gave notice to this date with just a passing thought. My female owner is not superstitious by nature. She treated this day as any other – just another working day separating her from the impending weekend. In case you are not aware of which Friday the 13th I’m talking about, it’s the most recent one in April. Alas, this day was not to be the same. For one, I suffered another prolapse in the morning. She was irritated. So was I. Anyway, she engaged the SOP – confided me to the Sick Bay. I was angry. I struggled but how can I overpower a 50+kg human right? So I did the next best thing – I threw a tantrum but my female owner was heartless enough to ignore me and went to work. I never saw her till the next day (Saturday) in the afternoon. What happened was that at 2315 on Friday the 13th, she was called to attend to a case whereby 2 of her colleagues were missing at sea (yeah, just as the well-known unlucky day was almost over). The call of duty kept her working all through the night, till 1500hr on Saturday. That means that she was awake for more than 30 hours! Anyway, her colleagues were found dead in the vessel. This sudden loss of life for 2 healthy men was shocking for her. The fragility of life. The many people she has taken for granted, thinking that they will live for many decades to come. The impact of a life on many others. The meaning of life. The purpose of living, only to die anytime, anywhere. If the same were to happen to her – to lose a husband after a few years of marriage – would it be better to have not married at all? To become a widow of an infant child, would it be better not to experience the joy of motherhood? This day became more poignant for her as her favourite terrapin, my eldest brother, Nana, died on Friday the 13th too. He plunged to his death and she never saw his body. His death was a rude shock for her. I was only a young and small terrapin then, but Dodo used to tell me stories about him and maybe one day, I will tell you too. Her conclusion to these events? Better to live than never live before. Appreciate life, seize the moment, don’t procrastinate in building relationships.

to all those with dreams

Once upon a time there was a bunch of tiny frogs who arranged a running competition. The goal was to reach the top of a very high tower. A big crowd had gathered around the tower to see the race and cheer on the contestants. The race began. Honestly: No one in crowd really believed that the tiny frogs would reach the top of the tower. You heard statements such as: "Oh, WAY too difficult!!" "They will NEVER make it to the top." or: "Not a chance that they will succeed. The tower is too high!" The tiny frogs began collapsing. One by one. Except for those, who in a fresh tempo, were climbing higher and higher. The crowd continued to yell, "It is too difficult!!! No one will make it!" More tiny frogs got tired and gave up.... But ONE continued higher and higher and higher. This one wouldn't give up! At the end everyone else had given up climbing the tower. Except for the one tiny frog who, after a big effort, was the only one who reached the top! THEN all of the other tiny frogs naturally wanted to know how this one frog managed to do it? A contestant asked the tiny frog how he had found the strength to succeed and reach the goal? It turned out... that the winner was DEAF!!!! The wisdom of this story is: Never listen to other people's tendencies to be negative or pessimistic because they take your most wonderful dreams and wishes away from you -- the ones you have in your heart! Always think of the power words have. Because everything you hear and read will affect your actions! Therefore: ALWAYS be POSITIVE! And above all: Be DEAF when people tell YOU that you cannot fulfill your dreams! Always think: God and I can do this!

what is life?

My female owner is a busy woman. She believes that life is about living in the present, putting the past behind her and not fretting about the future. Out of the three, she finds the last one - not fretting about the future - hardest to follow. However, her point is that one should not worry too much about the future, until he is unable to live happily in the present; one should not be held captive to past mistakes or failures to the point that one is not able to enjoy the present, because he is living a life full of restrictions and fears. As a result of her philosophy in life, she is busy. Busy living life the way it should be - full of happy moments, laughter, friends, pleasurable activities, family and ... pets. yeah, that includes us! I take after my female owner in this respect. Life is enjoying each day as it comes, having peace and stability in my home, being loved and cared for by my owners and knowing that I'm always surrounded by my family. What is life for you?

where is she?

My female owner has been missing in action for a few days now. She comes and goes with the wind, hardly spending more than 5 mins with us on days when she turns up. I wonder what happened to her.

This is a photo of me, taking a momentary pause in my meal to think about her. Yah, even though we are solitary and shy, we have grown accustomed to humans in more ways than one. So we still need the occasional human contact to feel happy and loved.

Hope to see her basking in the balcony together with us again!

we are not so slow after all!

Two turtles crossing the road hit each other head on and were both knocked unconscious. The policeman who was summoned to investigate the accident tried to find a witness, but only found a snail nearby.

"Did you see the accident?" the officer asked. "Can you tell me what happened?"

"Yes I saw it" replied the snail, "but it all happened so fast !"

a special day

Today is a special day. Read on...

SMS conversation between my female owner (F) and my male owner (M) today.
Time: 1318. Topic: Arrangement to meet later in the day.

(F, 1318):If you can really reach at 3pm then you come my house ah.. Or else MRT... how?

(M, 1334, note that this is the ONLY time-lag in the entire conversation): MRT bah can walk walk abit (F, 1338): Okie okie. I wanted to show you Nanook's egg... She laid one egg... (M, 1339): I come over your place. Get a small box, i bring sand (F, 1341): Cheh.. Got egg then you so excited. Happy April's Fools Days! (M, 1345): Lolz u got me good good... Got me all excited our first turtle egg... The turtle of interest? My beloved sister, Nanook! Isn't she cute?? She still doesn't know that she was used by my female owner to play a prank on my male owner.