Herschel

We rescued Herschel back in February of 2018 when my old college professor told me he didn’t have time to care for him anymore and knew that I was already skilled in taking care of his type of turtle. We picked Herschel up from the proffesors job and immediately he lightened our hearts. Herschel had beautiful white skin with gorgeous markings all over, he would poke his little head out of the shoebox we were transporting him in and he seemed like a ball of sunshine. We noticed he was much lighter than the other turtle we already had, and much less active but we assumed it was just the conditions he was living in previously. We brought Herschel home and put him in a 70 gallon tank with our other turtle Douglas, and to our surprise Herschel sank to the bottom and was unable to swim – after speaking with the professor a little more we found out that Herschel never had enough water to swim in, just enough to lay in. But that didn’t stop our baby boy…Herschel spent the next four hours trying to swim to the top of the water, and eventually he made it up there. He loved to bask on the rock under his heat lamp and he was a great eater, he even taught Douglas how to “scavenge” for food. Whenever we would walk over to the tank, the boys would stop what they were doing and swim towards us, basically begging to be held. Unfortunately, Herschel was overall quite lethargic, we took him to the vet right when we got him and we knew he was sick, we did our best to treat him, we gave him the antibiotics he needed and made sure the tank had the right water conditions, but unfortunately the infection overpowered him and we lost him…Herschel was so much more than a turtle we had for a few months, Herschel was our sunshine, he was a trooper and a fighter and definitely someone who didn’t give up easily. He was a peaceful, sweet boy and he deserved so much better than the life he had before he lived with us. I constantly say “What if”…”What if we got him sooner” “What if we used a different antibiotic” “What if we never gave him antibiotics at all” but in the end, it doesn’t matter because his soul was too pure to remain on this Earth, and I know that he is happier and healthier over the rainbow bridge….I just wish he could’ve been happy and healthy with us here. Not a day will go by where I won’t think of him and miss him, but thanks to Andrea, we will now have his ashes forever and they rest in front of the tank where he once lived. Always remembered, never forgotten. We will miss you so much Herschel, I’m sorry we couldn’t save you.
Love Always,
Brandon and Issabella