b'food as a means to increaseMay your thirstcalcium. The vet was well-meaningbutnotqualified.for lifeAndthefoodwastoorichnever run dryfor her. So Mort started lay-ing too many eggs. I woke upExperience the best ofone morning and there wasIrelands Pub traditionssomethingattachedtoher.Family Friendly OhmyGod,whatisthis?Good CheerWhatishappening?Well, she had prolapsed her uterus anditwasnowoutsideOktoberfest Menuherbody.Muchpanicen- The Best of The Wurst. sued. German Beers on Tap.Zahn and Crothers found avetnearPennStatewhoYour Choice!hadstudiedreptilesattheDine with usUniversityofPennsylvania. Bobby Crothers and Devon Zahn with sonShe was obviously super ex- Indoors or OutdoorsHenry. cited to have this really cool alignedwithhernaturalhabitat,case. She pumped Mort full of bar- Authentic Irish Cuisine, Irish Coffee, Zahn made routine runs to Walmartium so that she could get the visualFine Wines and Irish Whiskeyto buy containers of night crawlers.with the x-rays. The vet basically putworthy of Celtic KingsId keep a tub of worms in our re- the organ back inside of her. Fingers167 Maplewood Avenuefrigeratorandthenwewouldputcrossed, Zahn says. Maplewood Village 973-378-2222them into her tank, she says. It was quite gross,ST. JAMESS GATE APPAREL AND GIFT CARDS AVAILABLElike live spaghetti. Butstjamesgatemaplewood.comfeedingandcaringfor Mortquicklybecame a huge part of her life. Itwasabsolutelya requirementthatmy highschoolboyfriends would help me. I come with my turtle and that had to be OK. And,ofcourse,theDevon Zahn got Mort from a pet store in 1994. Little same would be true fordid she know that Mort would be a part of her adult her future husband. life.ThetwometwhileattendingUnfortunately,thesurgerydid PennStateUniversity.Shequicklynot take and the organ became ne-made it clear that Mort was part ofcrotic. After receiving a recommen-the package. Ill be honest. I wasntdationforaspecializedvetatthe quitesurewhatIwasgettingmy- UniversityofPennsylvania,Zahn selfinto,saysCrothers.Littledidand Crothers brought Mort to Phila-Crothers know that hed play a hugedelphia for a hysterectomy.roleincleaning,caringandevenThe doctors were all super excit-providing post-surgical assistance toed. I was in the waiting room hold-Mort. Oh, and he and the turtle evening a bucket with a turtle in it. Ev-became roommates while Zahn waseryone [else] was there with cats and finishing college. dogs. So, I was the star of the waiting But an event that happened dur- room. [.] The doctor actually got ing Zahns junior year at Penn Statea grant to help pay for it. It was su-almostcostMortherlife.Thisisper expensive for a college student, wherethesagaofMortreallybe- even with the grant, but it had to be gins, she says. During a visit to adone, says Zahn. They cut a win-previousvet,Zahnwasadvisedtodowintothebottomofhershell supplement Morts food with dry catand closed everything up. She was feature story /21'