Pet Parenting Returned

It's been years since I've been on this blog. I've moved on from animal care professions, but I'm still very much involved in animal care. Since my last post, we have two new additions to our family. Yes, now we have seven pet children. Not for the faint heart, ladies and gentlemen. We've found out that 7 is definitely our max capacity. The first is named Atlas, a Mississippi Map Turtle, who we adopted a couple of years ago. (Get it? Atlas/Map Turtle?) He was injured from another turtle which required a hand amputation and also developed shell rot and infections. He also had gut flora issues so he had trouble sinking. These medical problems have all been resolved, and he's been doing really well. Despite being one-handed, he does pretty well with swimming. So now our dining room looks like this:

I call him "The Goober" because he is just about the weirdest turtle I have ever come across in my life. Here's some pictures to show you what I mean:

He's the only turtle I know that loves to do planks in his tank. Our other addition to the family is Photon, a male beta fish. I'm not usually someone who would buy a beta fish, but he was extra special with his yellow/golden scales. He reminded my scientific husband of light, hence the name Photon. We got him the same day as Atlas, so about 2 years ago. Here's the handsome finned boy:

So in the future, I plan on continuing topics regarding animal care for your pets. I specialize in reptile care but will also try to sprinkle in cat, dog, fish, amphibians, and birds. Let me know if there is something in particular you'd like to know about! Thanks for reading! The next post will be about getting married with your pet children!