Students fed pencil erasers to our class turtle

[reefiniteasy]

I'm posting this as a form of therapy, and to share my turtle's positive prognosis. So I was absent from school the Friday before Veteran's Day. When I returned to work on that Tuesday I found pencil erasers on the floor all around my turtle's habitat. Buzz is a Pink Belly Sidekick Turtle and he lives in a medium WaterLand Tub. At one point in time he fit in the palm of my hand, now he is a whopping 2.2 pounds. The habitat is quite large and my students love it. Anyway, I picked up the erasers and fear began to creep over me. I started my weekly water change and my worst fear was immediately realized. There were eraser fragments in the tub. Turns out 3 students from my fourth grade class tossed in a bunch of pencil erasers the day I was absent. Buzz, being the eating machine that he is, consumed all of them. I took Buzz to the vet that Wednesday. $150 and and 1 x-ray later, we found about 11 foreign objects inside Buzz, we assume they are erasers. With no possible treatment other than time and possible surgery, we waited 17 days to see if he would be able to pass the erasers naturally. The most recent x-ray shows less foreign objects. The vet is satisfied with the progress being made and has determined that surgery is not necessary at this point. I'm very thankful, surgery on Buzz could be upwards of $1,000. We will go back for another x-ray in a month. I'm in this mess for a total of $270. Now I have to decide if I bring him home for good or build a screen top for the tub and leave him at school. (Just want to add that my surface skimmers are attached to the tub with custom mounts from @cromag27 at OctoAquatics)

 

[reef lover]

Ohh poor guy! I hope he passes the rest of them! And i vote take him home...4th graders..kids in general...dont understand quite the consequences of what they do.

 

[Auquanut]

I hope you have a really big chalkboard, cause I would have 3 students writing "I will not feed Buzz pencil erasers" exactly 1 bzillion times on said chalkboard. Would that not be appropriate? Maybe they could write really small.

Glad Buzz is going to make it. I personally would leave him in the classroom. I'm sure all of the GOOD kids really love him.

 

[Jon Fishman]

Sounds like something I would have been right in the mix with when I was that age

 

[Goose91]

I thinl its important they know what they did. They probably love the turtle and would hate to know they hurt it. But they need to know their actions have consequences. So show em the bills and the xray and explain to them how eraser bits is not at all their natural food source and how it could potentional be deadly.

 

[Jon Fishman]

Also.... That is a crazy-elaborate setup. I don’t know anything about turtles, but that looks impressive

 

[Mical]

+1 on positive prognosis - hang this on Buzz's tank

 

[Magellan]

If you post the x ray, those kids will try and see what else they can get inside of him. Little monsters. Talk to the parents. Show them the x ray and bill. Explain that capitol punishment is PROBABLY too much for their kids.

 

[Katrina71]

Poor Buzz. I would absolutely hold the kids accountable. I would display the X-ray pics and make them see how damaging it was. I would also send a note home requesting *Donations* for his medical care. Most of those kids are learning from him. It's a good thing.

 

[Gw2kpro]

Sorry about Buzz. Hopefully he pulls through

IMHO a positive that can be taken out of this bad situation is to use the x-rays, and your sincere hope that he pulls through, as a lesson about taking care of the environment and animals in general.

Even if it doesn't "hit home" for the kids that fed him the erasers, it would surely hit home for some.

 

[motortrendz]

What grade is this. My wife's a teacher and when I showed her this she got mad! She was like where was the sub... how come they didnt see this. Poor turtle.

 

[reefiniteasy]

What grade is this. My wife's a teacher and when I showed her this she got mad! She was like where was the sub... how come they didnt see this. Poor turtle.

So I have a science block, meaning along with art, music, and PE, we see every class on a 9-day rotation. So I have about 60 different classes. There was a sub in the room but they were obviously not paying attention. Usually art, music, and science cover each other's classes and we don't use subs, this absence was last minute and the secretary put a sub in my room. Anyway we still don't know who the kids were. Based on a lunch conversation that was overheard we know the class, just not the three students. Every kid in the building has seen the x-rays and it has made for great conversations and learning. Several classes even started turtle funds with kids bringing in their spare change. I'll never find out who did it and I'm okay with that. We will probably leave him at school as we don't have the space for his habitat at home.

Also.... That is a crazy-elaborate setup. I don’t know anything about turtles, but that looks impressive

Yeah... that setup is a long story. 4 years ago a parent dropped off 4 yellow belly sliders in a beat up 20 gallon long aquarium and a brand new Fluval 406 canister filter. They had just recently lost their home and were moving into a hotel. You see, what people don't realize is that right outside the Disney World gates, on 192, there is a strip of hotels that house a large homeless population. We have roughly 100+ homeless students that live in those hotels. So anyway, this family could not keep their turtles in the hotel. Someone in our front office had the great idea that Mr. Sadowsky would love to take them in science block. The parent gave them up and just asked that we take good care of them. That night we raced out to buy a new 40 gallon breeder. I built a pvc basking dock and hooked up the Fluval 406 and we were off to the races. Petco had just finished their $1 per gallon but the manager wouldn't extend it for us even after we explained the situation. I'm still angry about that. Now feeding 4 yellow bellies is expensive, so I reached out to Hikari and they donated a year supply of their Saki Hikari food. Another teacher also took one of the turtles so I had 3. I had them from August to the following August. The family that gave me the turtles, ended up moving away. It was nice because the two boys kept telling everyone they were their turtles and I had to always correct and be like they belong to everyone. That summer I purchased the WaterLand Tub and Fluval FX4 to properly house 4 medium sized turtles once I brought them back to school. Anyway, on the first day of the following school year the father showed up and demanded he get his turtles back. I lost my ****! My principal at the time told him to take a hike. We then found out from the school board attorney that because I had never filled out a donation form, I had no legal right to keep the turtles and they had to be returned to the family. I didn't know that form existed. Anyway, they took the turtles. So here I am almost $1,000 invested in a new habitat and no turtle. That's when I got Buzz, our Pink Belly. They have a long lifespan, I think it's like 30-50 years. He'll be with us a long time... As long as my students don't kill him.

 

[User]

Take the turtle home, then next day, when the kids ask where he is, you explain that it appears that some erasers accidentally somehow fell into his habitat, show them the X-rays, then explain that, tragically, he passed away due to intestinal complications.

Before end of class- the other kids will rat the culprits out, and then you call their parents to have them split the vets bills. Assure them you won't be pressing animal cruelty charges and, while saddened, you are willing to drop the issue and let them remain in your class.

Some may say thats a bit brutal. i saw they need to learn some respect and understand that consequences for actions are a thing

 

[hubcap]

I could *never* be a teacher.
I'd do something along the lines of telling the class that I had a special lunch planned for them......get em all excited thinking its pizza.....or mac and cheese.....or chicken nuggets...….
And just bring out plates of pencil erasers and just sit back and enjoy every second of their misery and disappointment.

So, my hats off to you, and every other teacher out there, that have *mountains* of more patience than I.

 

[flsalty]

I'm pretty sure that back when I was in fourth grade the nuns would have made us eat the remaining erasers.

 

[Terri Caton]

The other kids know who did it for sure. They will give some grief to the ones who did it.
I'd definitely email the parents a letter with the x-rays/bill and ask them to have a conversation with their kids regarding kindness to living things. Probably won't change the kids who did it but you never know. It might even inspire a kid to go into a related field! Every influence can be life changing for kids growing up.

 

[Magellan]

If you want to find out, just offer $20 bucks to anyone willing to tell you anonymously. For 4th graders I bet you could get the job done for $10 or even $5! Then you know which parents to send the bill to.

 

[User]

If you want to find out, just offer $20 bucks to anyone willing to tell you anonymously. For 4th graders I bet you could get the job done for $10 or even $5! Then you know which parents to send the bill to.

Paying cash money to a bunch of 10 year olds to snitch on 3 people is going to get you 80 different suspects...

 

[reefiniteasy]

Take the turtle home, then next day, when the kids ask where he is, you explain that it appears that some erasers accidentally somehow fell into his habitat, show them the X-rays, then explain that, tragically, he passed away due to intestinal complications.

Before end of class- the other kids will rat the culprits out, and then you call their parents to have them split the vets bills. Assure them you won't be pressing animal cruelty charges and, while saddened, you are willing to drop the issue and let them remain in your class.

Some may say thats a bit brutal. i saw they need to learn some respect and understand that consequences for actions are a thing

I thought about bringing him home and telling the kids he died but I can’t do that to them. 99.9% of the kids are great. Also, I can’t force the kid’s family to pay anything unfortunately. This isn’t the first time I’ve dealt with this. Three years ago a kid tossed in a green Crayola crayon. For that we didn’t need an x-ray. The vet said a mushed up crayon won’t show up on an x-ray. The vet cleaned out his mouth and they gave him a dose of activated charcoal to prevent absorption or chemical poisoning, I don’t know, something like that. He pooped green for a week.

The few issues we have pale in comparison to the learning experience. The most important thing I use the habitats for is teaching responsibility. When you commit to the care of an animal, you see it through. I’m willing to pay for a few vet visits if that’s the price of the experience.

 

[Magellan]

Paying cash money to a bunch of 10 year olds to snitch on 3 people is going to get you 80 different suspects...

Not if multiple people name the same suspects. You could also just say “reward”. Let 4th grade imaginations work for you.