Anna feels more than a little duped into agreeing to adopt Dick and Phil by her daughter’s school friends. Daughters Tina and Jasmine however, love their new found pets in spite of the terrible stench they emit.
“I fight a constant battle against a foul tank” says Anna who admits to “gagging” when she walks in the room where they’re kept. Anna even has a pet name for the shameful smell and calls it TO – that’s terrapin odor to you and me “we’ve got TO not BO in this house”!
Anna is embarrassed by the problem and says the axe is poised for their exit if she can’t solve their problem. Poor Tina and Jasmine don’t want their mum to give Dick and Phil away.
Visiting the Pet Shame Clinic, Anna learns from Marc that this can be a common problem with terrapins and as a result many are abandoned. All is not lost however, and Marc quickly unearths that the terrapins environment is at the heart of the problem. Anna tells Marc of the current tank set up, which is little more than a small tank upended on a brick with an ordinary house hold lamp! Marc educates Anna and the girls about a proper terrapin set up and gives them a shopping list to include, a larger tank, a UV light, something to bask on and most importantly a filter to keep the water constantly cleaned.
Anna and the girls don’t waste any time getting a top of the range new home and all the other kit needed. Initially daunted by all the extra kit and gadgetry Anna finds putting it all together a bit complicated, however it’s not long before Dick and Phil are due back in the clinic to have another check up and to see if they can pass the sniff test.
