The Case of The Red-Eared Slider Turtle that Turned Bully

A gold medal in heaven for being a mom.  No lie! And limitless refills of hot coffee, too!

In a previous post (), I urged moms not to discount parenting as a good service.  I am here to tell you I have broke up wrestling matches between my kids in the car, at school and even at church.  Each time I remind myself of the service I am doing as a mom.  This week I have been in unchartered referee waters. And, I am chalking my fulfilled duties up as service.

For the last seven years, we have had the easiest pets in the world,  two red-eared slider turtles. Many Christmases ago I got these little guys or girls off Craigslist.  I mean, Santa, brought these little delights to my two youngest boys.  We love pets at the Pfalmer house.  We are just not always the best pet caretakers.  I think during these seven years we have buried seven hamsters (one was lost in the house forever and may still roam the air vents), flushed more fish than I can count and grieved the death of Cucumber, the chameleon. Through these seven years, the turtles have been easy and to my disbelief are alive! But God, you are a funny one with a good sense of humor.

After seven years, one of the turtles has developed an attitude problem and has begun to bully the smaller turtle.  Really? Can't we all love each other and play nice? I secretly believe the bully turtle started watching what was going on outside the tank, picked up a few Kung Fu moves and decided to be the next Bruce Lee.

What is one to do with a bully turtle?  You have to put him in time out, I mean separate him.  Not an easy task when you have only one tank.  I have been transferring one turtle from a rubber tote to the water tank every few hours, and have had to doctor the victimized turtle's shell from bite marks.

Above, the call of duty? Yes. Service? Yes. God with a sense of humor? Yes. Seriously who has to deal with bullying between turtles? Maybe we are more like animals than we think!