Director’s Thoughts – 10/25/19

I could have easily called this post – “Things I Never Thought I’d Do At Work”, but that was a little long, so here we are. Yesterday, I spent the majority of my day worrying over the library’s pet turtle. With a re-appearing mass near his rear leg, the staff was greatly concerned for the turtle’s welfare. This is not just any turtle. This is the library’s turtle, a true part of why so many kids come into the library. Only to say “hello” to Tera.

Turtle History

You see when I was a teenager working in the library in my hometown. We too had a turtle (and a hamster). I never knew turtles could have such wonderful attitudes. And after I went away to graduate school, my mom surprised my dad with a turtle of his own. If you ask my mom, my dad mentioned how cool it would be to have a turtle a number of times. If you ask my dad, he’ll say he never said anything of the sort.

So, a few years of taking care of the turtle, my dad calls me up with an offer. – he’d like to donate the turtle to the library. Well, of course, remembering what a cool turtle we had in my old library, I jumped at the chance. Ten years later and more tank cleaning than I care to remember. Tera’s still kicking butt and taking names. He’s super sociable with everyone who stops to say hello and when he’s hanging out in my office while I clean his tank, the kids are very upset they don’t get to see him.

Yesterday

After much back and forth yesterday, I called a local vet that also sees “exotic” pets beyond your typical cats and dogs. They took a look at the pictures we sent over and suggested I bring him in for a check-up. Have you ever tried to transport a turtle? It’s not very easy, but doable.

So two hours later, I get back to the library with a very healthy turtle (with trimmed nails) and a list of things we should keep our eyes out for in case he actually starts getting sick. Basically, he’s an old man and his skin is getting saggy… that’s all they could figure out! I finally got him back in his tank, wrote a quick email to the whole staff to ensure them that he was alright, and copied his health certificate for our public desks in case we have any concerned patrons.

I never would have thought I’d be taking a turtle to the veterinarian while working as a Library Director. But, what would I do if I was bored? This is probably a much better option. If you want to learn more about our turtle, check out our birthday party for him! (We also thought he was a girl for quite a while, which is why the birthday post uses female pronouns!)