Our time with her was short. We rescued Valvet from the water cutoff valve at Easter this year. She was so dehydrated that she could not open her eyes. In just a few minutes, she looked better and was then eating and functioning quite well….we thought.

Last Sunday, she started to look lethargic. When I picked her up, the underside of her shell was soft to the touch. Some online research said it was probably a severe calcium deficiency and that most don’t recover. We know she was eating, so we can only assume that she was already deficient when we got her. Monday morning, we learned that she did not make it through the night. I buried her in a little spot behind our garage. Turtleor genuinely seems confused. She’s much more animated than usual and seems to be looking for her baby sister.

We’ll miss you, little Valvet.