Wheezie

In 1998, a friend of mine passed away. One of his turtles ended up in the pet store trade and when I realized that, I immediately purchased the animal and brought it home. This Heosemys spinosa was estimated to be about 15 years old in 1998 and still resides with me today. This turtle was immediately called Wheezie because he had a wheeze or whistle when he breathed. Several hundred dollars later, the veterinary determined that he had a slight nasal abnormally that caused the wheezing. That was 1998 and it hasn't changed and I no longer fret about the sound.



Lately I was becoming a little concerned with Wheezie's lack of appetite. I offered some of the usual favourites such as mango, banana, egg whites, shrimp and mixed greens. But to no avail. But I had noticed that with the schooling, I had been paying less attention to the turtle and offering him less 'run time'. Decided to start incorporating this back into his schedule and discovered a few things in the process.

It appears that Wheezie enjoys human interactions more than I had originally thought and seems to have developed a definite preference for the feline food options to his own.





















Here Wheezie is stealing various types of cat food. Both cats are old and were victim of the tainted cat food scandle in 2005 and as a result have kidney problems. Due to this they are on a low fat, low protein diet. Neither one of them are thrilled with the food but the alternative of regular cat food would be deadly to them these days. Personally, have stopped worrying about Wheezie's appetite and I think he has much more of an appreciation for the food the Mischief and Sporticus has!