Even animals want changes

It was not easy for me to layout Wendy's habitat because I have to be sure she will be out of danger at all times. Oh well, if you notice, there is a difference from the first photos of her new home, from the ones I'm now posting. It was Wendy who made the change, so all I have to do now is to observe if she can really cross her bridge, though I noticed she's now enjoying going under it, so in the first photo, you probably won't find her, unless you'll zoom in the photo.

A new home for Wendy

My pet green turtle, Wendy, is now more than a year old and has grown as big as the round stone that was already present in her pool since she was a baby and less than half the size of the stone. She obviously deserves a bigger dwelling place, so we got her a bigger aquarium, but I don't intend to fill it with water. The glass all around will simply serve as the fence of her habitat, which consist of a small oval basin for a deep pool, a rectangular tray for a shallow pool, and a short branch of a tree to serve as a bridge, since turtles love crossing bridges. I have to create a practical habitat for her for easier weekly or bi-weekly maintenance.

I can never take Wendy for granted because of a miracle that she has shown us. You'll get my point if you've read one of my earliest post, Miracles Are For Animals Too.

Her space is also very practical because it is next to our kitchen sink and is situated at the northern part of our house where the green turtle symbolizes strength especially when alone, based on Feng Shui.

A symbol of strength and excellent Feng Shui

Among all the living things mentioned in this blog, the best “character” that can symbolize strength is Wendy, the green turtle or terrapin. In my post Miracles Are For Animals Too, I’ve shared how she was able to survive after being sick and without taking in any solids for five straight months. Most probably, somehow she has sipped the vitamins and nutrients in her rice washing pool, but I’m not sure of that because she rarely moved at that time. Was it possible that the nutrients were just absorbed by her hard body?


I’m again showing you her photo in that March post where she was already well and energetic. That was only four months ago, but look at her now! I’ve chosen her current photo for my new blog title, if you’ve noticed (though not the whole photo), because as a blogger I want to be influenced by her strength and longevity, and because those are also the qualities I wanted my blog to achieve.

In Feng Shui, the terrapin is a very powerful symbol but should be placed at the North part of the house. According to Lilian Too, “since one is the number of the North location, and the terrapin in feng shui is associated with the North, a single terrapin represents excellent feng shui. Do not worry that the terrapin will feel lonely. This is a creature who is a natural loner and is happiest when alone. If the terrapin you keep dies, simply get another one. This simply means your pet has successfully protected you from a minor disaster.”

Miracles Are For Animals Too

About the same time we bought my pet turtle, a baby terrapin we named Wendy, our pet cat named Ping was limping because the whole of his right hind leg was fully stretched on air behind him. The veterinarian said his bone was broken and advised we try to give him Seven Seas multivitamins but cannot promise Ping’s leg will go back to normal. He was given a regular dose of the multivitamins which incidentally was the same brand we were giving Lyca, our special child. After a week, Ping’s leg returned to normal. The veterinarian was surprised with the outcome, she said that it was a rare case so she’s going to present the case to her colleagues (photo of Ping the cat was shot by Lauren Venida).

When I went to Singapore in September last year, I delegated Wendy’s feeding to my daughter and Lyca’s care giver. Maybe I was wrong to make two persons responsible for Wendy’s food because she was probably overfed while I was away. When I arrived home after a week, Wendy wouldn’t eat. I tried other kinds of food but she still wouldn’t eat. She looked sick and wouldn't move so I used rice washing for her pool and would just immerse her there, hoping she would get nourishment from it, but also tried putting a few drops of the Seven Seas multivitamins. She had no improvement after a month, in fact she even became blind. I thought it was hopeless to bring her to the veterinarian since she was dying. Nevertheless, I continued to change her rice washing pool everyday with the multivitamins every other day. That went on for two months until we noticed that she was no longer blind but still wouldn’t eat.

After five months without food except for the pool of rice washing with a few drops of Seven Seas for Wendy, I chanced to buy pellets made in Germany for baby turtles at a pet shop. We were all very happy that Wendy finally liked the food I gave her, so I stopped the rice washing with drops of vitamins. Wendy is now very active and domesticated, trying to reach every person she sees, her long neck stretched to the max.