To my sweet Benji

Benji passed away today. He has been sickly for a long time, and I've done everything I could to help him. As of recently, I had to hand feed Benji. I knew he was suffering, but it doesn't help any. I don't want to sound horrible but I was the closest to Benji out of any of my pets. Anytime I was upset I could just hold little Benj and he'd just calmly sit in my hand. People may not get my love for reptiles and amphibians, and I don't care. If you ever lost a pet that you loved dearly then you'd understand.

I got Benji when he was just a tiny toadlet. He was just out of the pond. There used to be this pet store by my house in TO called "Fins and Fangs." They were this awful pet store that sold a lot of sickly animals, and also had no idea what they were selling. Benji and Joel were labled as "Burrowing Toads" which I knew was not the correct name for them. Later I learned that they were Boreal Toads. Anyway, Benji was always so full of life. Even if he was slower than Joel and much smaller, he always tried to keep up with Joel. They were so close, too. Benji and Joel would always sit together in the cage. And unlike most toads, Benji (along with Joel, also) never minded being held. He seemed to enjoy it, even... as he would just sit there in my hand.

Benji had been getting worse lately, like I said, he had a lot of trouble eating. His little feet were deformed, which made it very hard for him to move. The last time he ate was a week ago, and it took him a long time to get it down. I knew that things were not good for my little Benji.

When I got up this morning, I noticed he had taken a turn for the worst. He was sprawled out and barely moving. I immediately took him out of the cage and he started secreting poison from his glands and convulsing.

I set him up a nice little resting place and stayed with him for the rest of the time. I didn't go to my first class today because I wanted to be there for Benji. He passed away about a half hour ago... and I just felt numb. I can't believe he's gone...