It’s been a really stressful past few months. My indoor pets suffered something even worse that has cost me not only thousands in vet bills but also many beloved pets. I kept my baby turtles, juveniles, and weaker adults inside in a variety of enclosures. They got extra care and treatment compared to my adults outside. I work during the day so I spend the early mornings and nights with my turtles. I keep axolotls as well as a planted fish tank. I also have 3 sand boas, a leopard gecko and 2 horned lizards We had an ant infestation in our kitchen months ago and my roommates bought ant killer. I told them don’t even spray that near my room door knowing that it was toxic to my pets. Then it started happening. A turtle in my room would get lethargic, eye swelling, breathing issues and then it would pass away. This only took less than 2 days to occur from a completely healthy turtle. I didn’t even connect the ant killer because it had been so long since I’ve seen it used. What tipped me off was the sudden death of my planted tank. Not much besides contamination causes everything to die overnight. My axolotls began to get sick and by the end of the week I had lost 8. I found the empty ant killer bottle and asked my roommates where they sprayed it. They didn’t go near my room but went around an intake vent. They also sprayed outside around the house. I ripped the vent off the wall and found what happened. The filter was half the size of the opening. In the ac unit itself was the same issue. It pumped the ant killer into my room since I’m the first room the ac hits, it sprayed it over my tanks. The stuff becomes inert when dry so nothing happened to my snakes and lizards. But my aquariums, turtles, even my worm farm crashed. I packed up all my turtles and moved them to my gfs who was kind enough to let me keep them there after seeing me breakdown at the vets office hearing that they all need to be treated immediately before any more succumb. My roommates didn’t know so I can’t blame them. They have no access to my room so they didn’t see what was happening. The last sick turtle was on fluids at the vet and given meds. She’s on the second round of antibiotics and has finally eaten and opened her eyes. My adults and remaining babies are safe. My axolotls are finally showing signs of healing. I plan to move out in the spring. It’ll be a big move but the safety of my pets comes first.