The Replacement Pets

A while back, we came across someone who was getting rid of two adorable chinchillas. I knew Asa would be in love with the idea of the adorable creatures, so I agreed to let them come and live with us. The problem? It only took two weeks for me to come to the realization that I am, indeed, allergic to chinchillas. Who knew? The boys took it very well (better than I would have, that's for sure!) and I promised them that we would get another pet. I was hoping for something low maintenance, something hypoallergenic, something easy.... turtles! Man, I have the best kids in the world. They jumped at the idea!

Now, we have a great little turtle habitat set up in their room. We had two goldfish, but after a very National Geographic quality attack, we are down to one. (We knew this would be the case hence the 13 cent goldfish!) It seems that the prices are jacked up on anything that has the word "pet" on it or is sold in a pet store. Turtles need some things... a heat lamp, a basking platform, UVB light... and these things can be crazy-expensive. Why? Because people pay. I, however, being the Queen of All that is Cheap, just couldn't do it. Instead, I went to Home Depot, bought a $7 mountable fluorescent light fixture and a $5 heat lamp fixture... went to WalMart and found a reptile heat lamp for 1/3 of what they cost at PetsMart, rigged up a shelf above the tank to mount the lights to... went back to Home Depot and found 4 suction cups with little hooks for under $1... and made the best Lego basking platform a turtle could ever dream of. The mounted lights actually work great since I don't have to worry about the boys needing to move them to feed the turtles and fish. It's all set up on a timer and everyone is happy! Now, when they grow we'll be hitting Craigslist for a larger aquarium, but that's a long way off.