Happy 2nd BLOGanniversary To Us

Who would have thought that we have gone through this long

When I made this blog…I thought no one would be interested with my turtles, but I made it anyway because I love them so much.

We would love to thank EVERYONE who had kindly spent their time to read about Kame, Kroten and Papoe.

Within 1 year from previous anniversary, we have changed the name only once, from Kame & Kroten’s Blog to Underneath The Shell.

In that year, I have lost my dear baby, Kame, but then gain new baby, Papoe. Farewell my lovely KameChan and welcome my new cutie, Papoe.

I can’t THANK you ALL enough for being there at my most vulnerable time, you have helped A LOT.

Wordless Wednesday – So Tired

Don’t you just love that expression!!

My Fat Kroten

Maybe I feed my turtles TOO often

I have noticed than Kroten gets fatter…slowly but visible. Let’s see some photos first

This is Kroten when I brought her home, the photo is not too good due to my mobile-phone cheap camera equipment

See how skinny she was. Her skin was wrinkle between her neck and her arm. She looked famished when I took her home.

She turns into a greedy little turtle..much greedier than Kame. Kame used to pick food, she would spit out the one she didn’t like. In Kroten’s case, she swallows everything on sight.

She grows up but still has her wrinkle a bit.

Kame’s Day and Underneath The Shell

There are so many things to write here, I am going to try to write them all in order.

First: Kame’s Day

Today is one month anniversary of Kame’s Death. I WILL NOT write about her death every month…but I will make 9th of every month as Kame’s Day, the day where I will share either memory of her of series of photos. I used to write Kame’s journal in My own blog (Polychrome Interest) in my native language, I will translate it into English and share it here.

As I have said before, I have sooo many photos of Kame and I want to share them all here even though she is no longer with us. There will be 2 days special for her photo, every 9th of each month and every last Wednesday.

Please don’t be bored with my sweet Kame-chan

As a tribute for all the great memories I had with her, I made this video.

Sayounara Kame, you will always be in my heart.

Papoe’s Set Up

It’s the end of March, which means that Papoe has been living with me and Kroten   for almost 3 weeks now. When Papoe first came, I only put her in small container because his new house hadn’t been prepared yet….and I am not sure how great he is in swimming. After seeing him swimming eagerly in Kroten’s tank (of course without Kroten swimming along, she might think that Papoe is her new food…Papoe is still really small), I decided to set him a new ‘swimming room’ for himself.

Kame’s tank is now used by Kroten because that tank has clearer plastic and I love seeing my turtles swimming here and there in the tank. I give Kroten’s old tank o Papoe.

See the picture on the right>>>
I only filled 1/5 part of the tank because, once again, Papoe is still very small. I rearranged Kroten’s old basking area into something shorter (see the original basking area>> here, Kroten’s old basking area was on the right) so that Papoe can easily climbs it.

I also adjusted Kroten’s old water filter to be the right height for Papoe’s water level. I only used half size of it and cover the bottom with hand-made lid.

Papoe turns out to be a great swimmer, just like most water turtle….but, Papoe’s small body is often carried away by the current created by the filter. It is so fun to see him swim so hard to reach the area with less current.

A week ago, Papoe was still very shy and only took a rest by hanging on the filter. (see the photo below)

Wordless Wednesday: Guard Turtle

This is Kame pretending to be a Guard Dog Turtle

PS. I really miss you Kame.

Introducing Papoe

First of all, I would love to thank each and every one of our beloved friends who had spared their time to comfort me in my most vulnerable time…you are all my angels (((((big hug))))

You guys really help me during my grieving time. Fortunately, I am not a person who grieved too long. Family, friends and faith helped pass through all the loss I ever had. I am not grieving again but that doesn’t mean I have forgotten about my sweet Kamechan…she will always be remembered (She is still in my phone’s wallpaper).

Apart from my friends, both real life and virtual, I also need another thing to get make me move on. When Kame left me, she took a huge piece of my heart…there is a hole in my heart, so big that it hurt terribly. I know that the hole will never be closed but I need something to at least patch the hole. I need to patch it up with LOVE…I need to love another being.

Yes…I have Kroten and she has her own huge place in my heart…but I need more!!!

I decided to find a new turtle to love…not RES, having another RES will only make my heart hurts. I needed another kind of turtle.

And HE FOUND ME on Sunday, March 11, 2012

(It will be his Gotcha Day)

Let me introduce you to PAPOE (Read: Paa-Poo).

He is a Pink Belly Short Necked Turtle from Papua. Isn’t he adorable?

Sorry Kame…It was my fault. Please Forgive Me

It’s been 3 days since Kame passed away (here)…I can finally feel a bit strength in my heart…and because of that, I can share this post with you all.

I did say in my previous post (here) that I didn’t know what had happened, I found Kame’s dead on the bottom of her tank. When my head got a bit clearer, I could think better and I believe that I was the one to blame for her death.

We were still on the still on settling down process and things still too messy around the house. I kept Kame and Kroten together in one tank for days!! I should have separate them as soon as possible…I shouldn’t let them stay in one tank TOO long.

Kame died of drowning because of me!!

Kroten is always the one who dominates the basking area, she might be the smallest in the family but she is the toughest one without a dount. Seeing Kroten on the basking area always made Kame reluctant to climb up there. I knew that, and that’s why I kept lifting and putting Kame on the basking whenever I saw her swimming all the time. But on Friday, I came home very late….no one took Kame and put her on the basking area. She must be really tired to swim and let herself drown

Kroten The Climber

Kroten has written her part of Mischief Monday once, Kame has also done it….now, it’s my time

I haven’t been doing Kame and Kroten’s differences lately…I know, I should have done it weeks ago. I will not make any excuse for my action but I will make it up to you by sharing my little girl, Kroten, and her unusual behaviour.

Both Kame and Kroten love to climb on my feet, maybe they think my feet are warm places. However, unlike Kame, Kroten seems to take the word climb or being on top of something to a new level in the turtle’s world.

Remember this photo?

Kame shared that photo when she claimed Kroten as the intimidator. Well, I should say that Kame was a bit exaggerate. Yes, Kroten could be mean sometimes (she tried to bite Kame once because her hand was blocking her) but she didn’t climb on top of Kame, like that photo, because she wanted to intimidate Kame…it’s simply because she likes to climb or be on top of anything….when I say anything, I MEAN ANYTHING!!!

This is her on my feet…this is a common act of both my turtles. She will climb on my feet from sideways and then adjusts her position to make it more comfortable.

Mommy’s Little Reminder

It’s been a while since my last writing for this blog. No, I am not going to write about Kame and Kroten’s differences…not yet. I am going to write about my little girl, Kroten.

First of all, I should tell you all that I am a slacker. I get distracted so easily. I always finish my job at the last minute. Fortunately, Kroten always there to remind me.

I am a teacher, therefore I always bring my work home, such as marking my students’ tests, home-works or assignments; typing questions for examination, typing curriculum and many other teacher’s homework. The problem is I often get bored and tend to do other things.

Here’s how Kroten help her mommy to stay on the job

I always did my ‘homework’ at night. Kame and Kroten are always around me, sleeping on their ‘bed’…but, every time Kroten saw me working, she would wake up and walked toward me. She sometimes climbed on my leg or just sat nicely near me. I would pet her or rub her shell. One night, I was marking my students’ assignments and started feeling bored, I took my mobile and started blog-walking, reading my friends’ blog. Kroten looked at me as if saying ‘What are you doing?? You haven’t finished marking yet!!’