Saying Goodbye

Last July, we stumbled into caring for 2 (at the time ugly) turtles. After months, they really grew on us and we rather enjoyed having them around. A few weeks ago, we noticed that Frenchy (the smaller turtle) looked like the bottom edge of her shell had been damaged. As if Crush (the big one) had been nipping at it. We also noticed that Frenchy began spending all her time on top of the rock even when it was time to eat. We began to worry and talked about letting one of the turtles go since clearly they were not getting along. Then last Sunday we noticed that we could see Frenchy's ribs and we thought, oh boy, we need to act now. So we rigged up a divider in the tank to keep them separated. All looked well that evening because Frenchy was swimming and moving all around and technically she could keep away from Crush. Anyway the next day when I went out to feed them I noticed that Frenchy did not move to get the food. I didn't really think anything of it because she was usually rather timid. But then a few hours later, Jason came home and went out to check on them and Frenchy was still in the same exact place she had been earlier. This seemed odd. So after a closer look, we determined her eyes looked a little clouded over and we gave her a poke. Our suspicions were correct, Frenchy passed on. We found a small box and we buried her in the backyard. I wanted to say something or draw a picture with Navie as a memorial but as it turned we weren't actually that "close." It was rather disheartening to discover her but everyone seems to be dealing with it alright. This was natural pose Navie had as we dug the hole for Frenchy. Navie did however sacrifice a rock from her rock collection to leave with Frenchy.