Animal News at the Green Acres Cottage

We have had a lot of excitement around here lately.......ever since Miss Molly came to live with us.
Someone dumped her next to our property about 7 months ago.   How can someone be so mean to a lovable dog?  Well, Miss Molly is full of it.  I am guessing someone had enough of her. 

We are on the 4th Golf Cart seat to replace thanks to Miss Molly.

She also chews all our sprinkler heads.  Last month I got a water bill over $800 because she chewed the top off the sprinkler controls while we were gone. And our electric gate stopped working today.  My husband noticed the antenna is all chewed up.   She is quite the hunter too.    She will catch and kill anything that comes into our yard.  Everyday I find dead rabbits, squirrels, gophers, birds,crows,  mice, etc.  She goes after just about everything that moves, which might also include something that already lives here too.    My question is, How much would you pay in Vet bills for your pet turtle?   Keep that thought in your mind, we will get back to it later!

I have two African Spur Turtles.   Charlie and baby Charlie.  (They are not related)  Charlie is HUGE, weighs over 60 lbs (I can't pick him up) and baby Charlie looks like a dwarf  next to him.

Just the other day my husband completed a area for baby Charlie to live in till she gets bigger.  She cannot run free through the yard like Charlie does, she is just to small.  Big Charlie tries to ram rod any of the dogs if they even think about going near him.  He can handle himself so we don't worry about him.

Here is the fenced off area my husband built for Baby Charlie right in front of my Potting Shed.

As soon as he got done he put baby Charlie into the area and went to Home Depot.  While he was gone, one of the workers heard Buck our Rottweiler barking like crazy at Molly.  He hurried down to see what all the commotion was.  Now, Buck is a big dog, almost 150 lbs and he tolerates Miss Molly but he always likes to alert us when she is doing something wrong.

Well, it seems Miss Molly jumped over the black rod fence into Baby Charlie's area and chewed her top shell open.

It was awful.  I freaked out when I got home and scooped up Baby Charlie and hurried down to the Animal Hospital.  You could actually see inside under her shell and can see it moving from her heart beats!

When I brought baby Charlie inside the animal hospital and asked if they could help my pet turtle because my dog tried to eat it, I looked around and saw the look of shock on every one's face in the waiting room.  Hmmm, I thought, are they shocked because it's a awful sight or they can't believe that I would actually spend money on a pet turtle?

They couldn't help me there and sent me to someone that could about 35 miles away.  So I drove there and sat till 10:30 pm in the emergency room and waited for my pet turtle.  They told me all they could do is clean out the wound and wrapped it up and said I had to bring it to a "turtle specialist in the morning" somewhere else.   They came out and gave me this sad looking turtle all bandaged up and a HUGE bill in the emergency room.  I started giggling because I couldn't believe this turtle bandaged up and that I was going to pay this enormous emergency room bill and I still had to take her to a turtle specialist.

So the next day I took Baby Charlie to the Turtle Specialist.  Yes, they actually have Vets that specialize with turtles!  They had to give her xrays to make sure she had no internal damages to her organs and he told me that if she survived a week, she will survive the infection.  They gave me shots that I had to give Baby Charlie every 72 hours and they fiberglass her shell closed!

The Vet told me that baby Charlie will get around 200 lbs and 3 feet long.  So it will be a life long thing for her to go to a turtle specialist and get her shell re-fiber glassed as she grows bigger.  Are you thinking the same thing I am?   $$$$$$$$$

So my question before was, How much would you pay in Vet bills for your pet turtle??  Oh my gosh, every time my husband asks me how much I spent on Baby Charlie I can't look at him straight in the eye and turn my head away.  I still refuse to tell him or anyone else how much I spent. 

This is baby Charlie today.  I faithfully gave her those shots and she survived the infection!  She is eating, walking around her little area which I might add now has netting around to keep out Miss Molly.  Also the shock collar for Miss Molly worked great too.......every time she would get near baby Charlie I would zap her!!

I might add that Molly has met one animal in our household that she avoids and will not give eye contact with.  She is afraid of Evil Kitty!

Showing Some Pink in the Garden Today

Today for Pink Saturday I have walked through my garden and snapped some pictures of some pretty pinks!

This is Charlie our African Spur Turtle. He must weigh over 60 lbs. You can't tell in this picture how big he really is. I cannot pick him up he is so heavy! He has the run of the yard and the dogs are scared of him! They tell me he will get around 200 lbs one day. I feed him vegetables so that he will leave my garden flowers alone.

Yum, look at all these pink peaches on one of our peach trees! While I was walking around with my Grandson taking pictures today we came across this baby scared bunny. We picked him up and I put him in a box and my Grandson fed him some cabbage and grass. When our son came to pick up our grandson he was not happy with Grandma sending him home with a pet bunny. I love being a Grandma!

For more Pink Saturday posts, please go visit Ms Beverly at How Sweet the Sound!

Charlie the Turtle Has A New Friend

We have the best family pet, a African Spur Tortoise. His name is Charlie and he is about 20-25 years old. He will live over 100 years old, so he is considered a youngster in Tortoise world. He weighs around 40 lbs right now and they tell me he will get between 150 to 200 lbs.! Yipes! They also tell me he will be over 3 feet long! I sure hope I live that long to see this boy mature! He lives and roams in our secured yard which is 3 acres

The other day one of our friends gave me a turtle he found in his yard. To all our surprise, it is also a African Spur Tortoise! Charlie was very interested in his new little friend. The little turtle is exactly 6" long. That will give you an idea how big Charlie is by comparing them in this picture.

We were all standing around watching to see how Charlie would react to his new friend as I was taking pictures. Charlie would follow the little turtle around and change his direction. He was very gentle with the little turtle. At one time he actually turned and started charging us to keep away from the little turtle!

The little turtle is still to small to leave out alone in the yard with Charlie but for right now he lives in a little home we have made for him. Everyday I let the little turtle out to play with Charlie on the grass.

I haven't named the little turtle yet. Any good ideas??