A Story Of Survival - The Little Miracle
08 March 2007, 01:12 PM
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A Story Of Survival - The Little Miracle
A Story Of Survival - The Little Miracle
I just had to share this story with someone, about what the little miracle that happened last night.....
My girlfriend, Claire and myself recently (about 4/5months ago now) got ourselves 3 little Terrapins (http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...s/IMG_0216.jpg) and Snap, Crackle and Pop have been happily growing and playing in their water filled, sun baked, beach paradise....well, their tank anyway.
Last weekend we decided to install a new, larger external filter, as the one that came with the 'Terrapin Package' was not keeping the water crystal clear as we would like. This involved having 2 tubes going into the tank, one in-flow and one out-flow, both about 3cm in diameter. The in-flow pipe has a clip-on guard on it, to stop anything large (or alive) entering the pipe and eventually the filter. The outflow was to become Pop's arch enemy....
We got home to my Claires flat yesterday to find that, being the feisty little fellows they are, they had knocked the pipe guard off and Pop (the smallest one) had been sucked onto the out-flow pipe and his shell had such a good seal on the pipe and the filter had such suction that he was unable to swim free. Claire quickly turned the filter of, expecting Pop to swim away.....but unfortunately he sank limply to the bottom and didn't move. He was dead. He could have been stuck there all day for all we know. I reached in, pick him up and placed him on the side while I consoled my crying girlfriend. After a few minutes, Claire went to the bathroom to dry her tears and I took the opportunity to wrap the lifeless Pop in tissue and placed him in a small box.
When Claire returned, still obviously upset, she kept herself busy for 10mins, trying not think about our little lost friend. She then asked me if we could bury him in my garden as her flat does not have one, to which I agreed.
This is the amazing part......
Claire then asked if she could see him one last time, which i thought was a bad idea as it would only upset her again, but she insisted. So I opened the box, unwrapped him and placed him on my hand. Claire then gave him a little stroke on his head and to my absolute amazement, one of his back legs twitched!! We both looked at each other and then back at the still lifeless Pop, and decided it was probably just a muscle spasm that I have heard dead people have due to gases escaping and such. Claire then stroked his head again........and his leg twitched once more! Again we both looked at each other in shock. Pop then started to move his front legs...........he was alive!!!
He was clearly very groggy and barley moving, but he was alive! We continued to stroke him and encourage him with things like "come on mate.....you're alright!" and he seemed to be responding by lifting his head slightly. We decided to place him under the heat lamp in the tank, as they often sit there and sun bathe, and sprayed his shell with water because he was looking very dry (probably from being wrapped in tissue in a box for 15mins!).
Pop sat on the rocks in the heat for about an hour, slowly regaining more and more strength. He appeared to be hiccupping and foaming at the mouth, probably trying to get water out his lungs. After about an hour or so, he then leapt (possibly fell) into the water and began to swim around!!
When we left him late last night, he still seemed very dazed and a bit confused
but he was swimming around!! 
Pop has now been re-named Little Miracle
I just had to share this story with someone, about what the little miracle that happened last night.....
My girlfriend, Claire and myself recently (about 4/5months ago now) got ourselves 3 little Terrapins (http://i112.photobucket.com/albums/n...s/IMG_0216.jpg) and Snap, Crackle and Pop have been happily growing and playing in their water filled, sun baked, beach paradise....well, their tank anyway.
Last weekend we decided to install a new, larger external filter, as the one that came with the 'Terrapin Package' was not keeping the water crystal clear as we would like. This involved having 2 tubes going into the tank, one in-flow and one out-flow, both about 3cm in diameter. The in-flow pipe has a clip-on guard on it, to stop anything large (or alive) entering the pipe and eventually the filter. The outflow was to become Pop's arch enemy....
We got home to my Claires flat yesterday to find that, being the feisty little fellows they are, they had knocked the pipe guard off and Pop (the smallest one) had been sucked onto the out-flow pipe and his shell had such a good seal on the pipe and the filter had such suction that he was unable to swim free. Claire quickly turned the filter of, expecting Pop to swim away.....but unfortunately he sank limply to the bottom and didn't move. He was dead. He could have been stuck there all day for all we know. I reached in, pick him up and placed him on the side while I consoled my crying girlfriend. After a few minutes, Claire went to the bathroom to dry her tears and I took the opportunity to wrap the lifeless Pop in tissue and placed him in a small box.
When Claire returned, still obviously upset, she kept herself busy for 10mins, trying not think about our little lost friend. She then asked me if we could bury him in my garden as her flat does not have one, to which I agreed.
This is the amazing part......
Claire then asked if she could see him one last time, which i thought was a bad idea as it would only upset her again, but she insisted. So I opened the box, unwrapped him and placed him on my hand. Claire then gave him a little stroke on his head and to my absolute amazement, one of his back legs twitched!! We both looked at each other and then back at the still lifeless Pop, and decided it was probably just a muscle spasm that I have heard dead people have due to gases escaping and such. Claire then stroked his head again........and his leg twitched once more! Again we both looked at each other in shock. Pop then started to move his front legs...........he was alive!!!
He was clearly very groggy and barley moving, but he was alive! We continued to stroke him and encourage him with things like "come on mate.....you're alright!" and he seemed to be responding by lifting his head slightly. We decided to place him under the heat lamp in the tank, as they often sit there and sun bathe, and sprayed his shell with water because he was looking very dry (probably from being wrapped in tissue in a box for 15mins!).
Pop sat on the rocks in the heat for about an hour, slowly regaining more and more strength. He appeared to be hiccupping and foaming at the mouth, probably trying to get water out his lungs. After about an hour or so, he then leapt (possibly fell) into the water and began to swim around!!
When we left him late last night, he still seemed very dazed and a bit confused
but he was swimming around!! Pop has now been re-named Little Miracle
im touched
08 March 2007, 01:34 PM
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and encourage him with things like "come on mate.....you're alright!"
That line is Not-Work-Safe!!!!!!!!! I'm sitting in the office with tears running down my eye. I can just see it now:
A&E, tripple stab victim is admitted with a wound to a main artery. He's rushed into surgery and unphased the surgon puts his butcher tools down, strokes his head and says, 'come on little guy, you're ok'
08 March 2007, 01:37 PM
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We continued to stroke him and encourage him with things like "come on mate.....you're alright!"
PS Poor little bugger can't even commit Terrapin suicide without human intervention....stuck in a glass tank all day etc. All he wants is escape from this cruel world and his meddling owners intervene
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