I like raising little turtles.
The scientific name of the turtle is the Chinese tortoise. This turtle is a native species in China and is very different from those wild Brazilian turtles.
There are three reasons for raising turtles.
First, it lives long.
The thousand-year-old tortoise is fake, but its lifespan is quite long. If you raise it well, you can send me away. The lifespan of Chinese tortoises is generally 60 years, while the life span of Brazilian tortoises is only 20-25 years. Every time I think about this, I worry about the old female tortoise that has been living in my house for 19 years. She is a very ugly Brazilian red-eared slider. I don’t know how many more times we can see each other again.
Second, turtles are cheaper than other turtle species.
In the pet market in Guangzhou, you can buy a turtle with a carapace of 3 centimeters for 5 yuan. Every time I see the prices of yellow-throated, crocodile, and tortoises, I feel that turtles are also noble and cheap.
The third reason is based on the second reason. The turtle has a certain probability of "inking".
The reason why the Chinese tortoise is called "turtle" is because of its black appearance. In fact, the turtle is blue-black, and inkization refers to the process of the turtle's entire body turning black, including its skin color, carapace, and eyes. But this only happens to adult male turtles, and the probability is very small. This is a metaphysics about raising turtles. Everyone who raises turtles hopes that their male turtle will turn into ink and turn into the legendary turtle.
If you think of a turtle as a human being, you can understand the psychology of a turtle breeder - watching a boy from a humble background transform into a rare man in the world as an adult.
So I raised turtles and bought small ones - I wanted to witness this process. The probability of a person from a humble background becoming a dragon or a phoenix among men is much lower than the probability of a male turtle transforming into a black man, so we simply place our affection on the turtle and hope that it will realize the wishes that people cannot achieve.
One winter when it was very cold, I wrapped a little turtle in a small square towel and took it home secretly, thinking it was hibernating. But unlike the turtle at home, it had no reaction no matter how much I poked it. Until one day, I couldn't bear it anymore and searched online to find out how to tell whether a turtle is hibernating or dead. When I put the little turtle in warm water, it floated... and I've been hiding the stiff skeleton for a week.
So I quickly put this poor little turtle to rest and buried it in a flowerpot on the rooftop, next to the grilled fish - that fish also had a hard life. When I was very young, a little goldfish died. I wanted to hold a cremation ceremony for it, but all the dead branches and papers were burned. It didn't turn into a pile of ashes like on TV. It was lying in front of me. It's a grilled fish, and it smells pretty good.
A zombie turtle and a roasted goldfish were buried together. I hope their souls don't meet, otherwise they will get together and criticize me for not placing their remains properly.
When I was in college, I was obsessed with the TV series "A Date with a Zombie". There was a zombie in it called "Nino", which means "Holy Infant". So I named the pair of little turtles I just bought "Nino" and "Nina" respectively. I like to give names to small animals, as if I have given them equal rights and made them unique.
There is an ancient traditional custom in China - a bad name makes a living. Those who have strong numerology and have loud names will probably have a difficult life in the future. It didn’t take long for Nino and Nina to get rotten skin. I thought it was because of poor water quality, so I put them in the sun for a few days and then replaced them, but the condition didn’t improve.
I couldn’t see them die, so I threw them into the school pond, euphemistically calling them “release”.
In fact, I also know that if I let them return to nature, they probably won't live long, but at last their life is no longer limited to a small box.
Later, when I passed the pond, my roommate would always put a hand on my shoulder and point to the pond with one hand:
With the experience of failure, I did a lot of homework and prepared it for the future. The little turtle was named Wangcai Laifu. The little turtles cost 5 yuan a piece, eat a small box of lifeblood turtle food for 25 yuan, live in a mansion that costs 100 yuan a set, and have a balcony, a sunlamp, and a filter, but they still get pneumonia.
I have thought many times that one day I would be a doctor who can help the world by hanging pots, but I never expected that I would become an expert in treating various turtle diseases. For pneumonia, rotten skin, and gastroenteritis, I prescribed the right medicines, including amoxicillin, potassium permanganate, and erythromycin.
The successive deaths of Wangcai Laifu made me understand that turtles are very similar to humans - they grew up in a greenhouse and were with turtles, and they contracted infectious diseases, both physically and mentally. on. Once they are taken out, just like those who have drifted with the crowd and suddenly have to think independently one day, they begin to panic and cannot adapt, and then die of diseases. This kind of infectious disease cannot be cured by the environment.
When I finally plucked up the courage to buy another little turtle, I no longer dared to name it, and I suppressed my love for it.
I don’t want to be disappointed again, so I don’t dare to hold out hope, let alone add another name to the death list. When I bought it, I posted it on WeChat, and a classmate named Gong commented:
Please stop raising turtles.
I didn’t take it seriously at the time, and it wasn’t until 10 months later that I began to miss this comment.
One day I found that it had symptoms of nail rot, so I put it on the balcony to bask in the sun, and then went to cook. When I looked at it again, it turned over with its legs in the air.
I called my roommate excitedly:
My roommate looked angry:
I quickly picked it up, like catching a piece of red-hot charcoal. The same thing - this little turtle with no name had a hot carapace and was already dead.
I was depressed for a long time afterwards because this was the first turtle I had killed.
Until one day, Ah Feng said that he had picked up a turtle, but he didn’t know how to raise it or where to throw it. At that time, a year had passed since the turtle sunbathing incident, and I once again mustered up the courage to take on the responsibility. I saw the photo he sent me and it was quite big, so I went to the pet market and bought a slightly larger glass tank. When I came back with the turtle tank and was about to go to Afeng's place, he told me that the turtle was dead... Fortunately, it didn't die in my hands this time, otherwise I would definitely not be able to recover.
In order not to let the new turtle tank and turtle food go unused, I gritted my teeth and bought two slightly larger turtles online. Compared with the original ones, Budweiser Wolfberry is considered a rare species, and Northern Jiangsu Golden Thread Tortoise is from Waitang, and its price is seven or eight times that of the previous ones.
They have caught up with the good times, and I am finally no longer a poor student, but a poor worker with a job.
I changed the turtle tank to a larger size, bought some iron gall sand and spread it on the bottom of the tank. I tore off the dried shrimps my mother sent me and fed them. I would eat them before every meal. Feed them first, then yourself, and they are very good and never have enough.
Every time I walk in the door after get off work, I will say:
Budweiser and Wolfberry are not good at words, but they welcome me with actions every time - they keep grabbing the glass jar towards me wall, and at the same time towards the dried shrimp in my hand. Their nutrition is balanced, including shrimp skin, mealworms, raw pork, live fish, and turtle food. On weekends, I set an alarm clock to let them enjoy the sun.
I think so, just forget about having a bad life, don’t suffer like a turtle like me.
Once a colleague said to me:
I was stunned for a moment, but when I saw my colleague pointing at the turtle tank, I immediately understood.
Of course, sometimes I also tease them about their bad luck, dating the wrong person, leaving get off work so late and letting them soak in shit. My roommates didn't dare to change the water for them. They would just nudge me to change the water quickly. It was so stinky. My poor Budweiser wolfberry lives in dire straits as soon as the holidays come.
In June of this year, when I was going to the pet market to buy a new home for Budweiser wolfberry on the subway, I grabbed the handle and saw the rows of seats like tombs, with neatly erected in front of the tombs. Monument, the rickety carriage rubbed against the rails, making a sharp noise.
I said to my friend:
After a pause, I continued:
Fortunately, under my careful care, Budweiser and Wolfberry I have survived one winter and successfully woke up from hibernation. When I came back to work after the Spring Festival, I pushed aside the coconut soil and said good morning to them who had just emerged.
The weather suddenly got cold half a month ago, so I once again arranged for Budweiser wolfberries to be buried. As a result, these two little guys refused to hibernate, so I put the turtle tank on the balcony and let them think about it in the cold wind.
Can't sleep. Like an old father getting up to see if his children are covered with quilts, he gets up in the dark to check on them. Baiwei obediently buried himself in the soil, and the wolfberry was alone in the cold wind and basking in the moonlight, and its back armor turned lime white. Then I covered them with soil, said good night to them, and then spread a layer of moss. Finally, don’t forget to sprinkle some water on the moss. Finally went to sleep peacefully.
I woke up early in the morning and found no trace of jailbreak. It's probably not dead yet. Very good. See you next year.
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