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The story so far:
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My ex-wife wanted to get a snake for some reason but I was not
keen on that idea as I like snakes just as much as Indiana Jones. Then, like it
was meant to be, a co-worker was moving and had two red-eared sliders he needed
to give to a caring family. I figured they would be a perfect compromise and we
picked up Boy and Girr.
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They were originally given to us in a 15 gallon tank and didn't even have enough
water in it for them to be half-way submerged. We figured out pretty soon that
they should have much more water than that and filled the tank half-way with
water and put something in there for one of them to bask on.
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Not too long after that, we realized that the 15 gallon tank was not even big
enough for the two of them, so we bought them a 30 gallon tank and a better
basking ramp so they could both bask.
Not too long after that, we realized that even the 30 gallon tank wasn't really
big enough for the two of them and bought an 80 gallon tank and this seemed to
work for the time being but I really wanted a pond for them.
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When we bought the house, I kept them outside in the 80 gallon tank until the
750 gallon pond was complete. Now we had a 750 gallon pond with two turtles but
word quickly got out and one of my ex-wife's students couldn'take care of Henri
anymore so we let her live in the pond.
Then the next year, another student coudln't take care of his turtle, Chompers,
so we added her to the pond as well. A day after adding Chompers (this is most
likely just a terrible coincidence), Henri was attacked by something and had to
be put to sleep. That same day, I went to lowes and bought a ton of chicken wire
and constructed the Henri Long bird shield to protect the pond from any
potential birds of prey (I assume that is what attacked her, but I will never
know for sure).
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In late 2009, we picked up Tito and Professor Chaos from a dollar store and put
them in the 30 gallon tank. Sadly, the professor just passed one day from
unknown causes. A few months later, we picked up Rowdy and Bean to keep him company.
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In early 2010 two different colleagues of my ex-wife found a baby desert
tortoise each and she agreed to adopt them. We named them Tortelinni and Monty.
They need their own seperate habitat (inside in a custom made box for now) as
they are not aquatic turtles like the rest and cannot live in or around the pond
as they will drown.
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In a bizzare twist, In November of 2010 my wife suddenly, without warning, moved
out of the house. Among many other things, she didn't address how we would handle the 9 turtles we had
together (6 of which we had because of her) nor did she mention them at all
during the divorce process. It is costly and hard work to take care of all of
them by myself now but I do it with a smile on my face. Honestly, being
completely modest, they are better off with me.
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Now, the four adults, Boy, Girr, Chompers and Six share the pond with Tito,
Rowdy, and Bean. I keep the two desert tortoises inside because they are still
babies. And, lastly, I now have 8 slider hatchlings in the house in a 10 gallon
tank. I have no idea what to do with them.
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