Gulf Coast Box Turtle

Yvonne G

Old Timer
TFO Admin
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
93,391
Location (City and/or State)
Clovis, CA
Last Autumn I took in a nice female Gulf Coast turtle. She had a hair-line crack front to back along the side of her carapace. When I first got her the crack was weeping a tiny bit, and she didn't use her back legs - just dragged herself along with her front legs. However, when you touched a back leg she would withdraw it, so I had hopes maybe it was just a bruise and she would eventually recover. So I set her up in a hospital tank over the winter.

This Spring it looked like she was getting around pretty good, still not 100%, but moving and occasionally using her legs, so I put her outside in a small box turtle habitat. I left her there for about a week, but she really never moved or ate (she had been a big eater over winter).

Last Friday I picked her up for an inspection and she had foam around her mouth, crusty eyes and looked pretty sick, so I brought her in the house and started her soaking in Terramycin water. I left her soaking for a couple hours, and later on, when I looked in on her, her eyes were open and looking good. Her mouth is still a bit on the pale side, but no longer foaming.

I have a big plastic tub, about maybe 3' long, and I made a little habitat in there with substrate, plants, a hiding place and a waterer. She was in there all week-end, with morning soaks in Terramycin. She ate.

This morning as I was walking by her enclosure (which is outside) and much to my horror, the back of her shell that was showing out the front of the hiding place, was covered in tiny maggots. I thought, "Oh NO! Is she dead?" But when I tapped on her, she withdrew her legs.

When I picked her up, the majority of the maggots were on her cloaca, which was red and swollen. So, in the house again. As I was washing off the maggots, I saw that there were many, many of them actually inside the cloaca. I don't know if they will seek refuge up inside the turtle to get away from the water she's sitting in. I took the round end of a flat toothpick and got as many maggots as I could see out of her, but I can't go inside the turtle too far, so don't know if there are more in there. After her soak, I'm going to squirt some mineral oil up into the cloaca area.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to make sure I've got all the maggots out of her? Do you think it would be ok to squirt peroxide up there?

gulf coast box turtle 7-5-18.jpg

It looks like just soaking might do the trick. Before I came here to start this thread, I had her all cleaned off and all visible maggots washed off except for what I couldn't get to inside her cloaca. As you can see, there are now many maggots on her shell, climbing up the walls, and floating in the water. Looks like Miss Turtle will be spending quite a bit of time in the soaking tub today.
 

KarenSoCal

Well-Known Member
Tortoise Club
5 Year Member
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jul 8, 2017
Messages
5,750
Location (City and/or State)
Low desert 50 mi SE of Palm Springs CA
Last Autumn I took in a nice female Gulf Coast turtle. She had a hair-line crack front to back along the side of her carapace. When I first got her the crack was weeping a tiny bit, and she didn't use her back legs - just dragged herself along with her front legs. However, when you touched a back leg she would withdraw it, so I had hopes maybe it was just a bruise and she would eventually recover. So I set her up in a hospital tank over the winter.

This Spring it looked like she was getting around pretty good, still not 100%, but moving and occasionally using her legs, so I put her outside in a small box turtle habitat. I left her there for about a week, but she really never moved or ate (she had been a big eater over winter).

Last Friday I picked her up for an inspection and she had foam around her mouth, crusty eyes and looked pretty sick, so I brought her in the house and started her soaking in Terramycin water. I left her soaking for a couple hours, and later on, when I looked in on her, her eyes were open and looking good. Her mouth is still a bit on the pale side, but no longer foaming.

I have a big plastic tub, about maybe 3' long, and I made a little habitat in there with substrate, plants, a hiding place and a waterer. She was in there all week-end, with morning soaks in Terramycin. She ate.

This morning as I was walking by her enclosure (which is outside) and much to my horror, the back of her shell that was showing out the front of the hiding place, was covered in tiny maggots. I thought, "Oh NO! Is she dead?" But when I tapped on her, she withdrew her legs.

When I picked her up, the majority of the maggots were on her cloaca, which was red and swollen. So, in the house again. As I was washing off the maggots, I saw that there were many, many of them actually inside the cloaca. I don't know if they will seek refuge up inside the turtle to get away from the water she's sitting in. I took the round end of a flat toothpick and got as many maggots as I could see out of her, but I can't go inside the turtle too far, so don't know if there are more in there. After her soak, I'm going to squirt some mineral oil up into the cloaca area.

Does anyone have any suggestions on how to make sure I've got all the maggots out of her? Do you think it would be ok to squirt peroxide up there?

View attachment 244116

It looks like just soaking might do the trick. Before I came here to start this thread, I had her all cleaned off and all visible maggots washed off except for what I couldn't get to inside her cloaca. As you can see, there are now many maggots on her shell, climbing up the walls, and floating in the water. Looks like Miss Turtle will be spending quite a bit of time in the soaking tub today.
So it makes one wonder what the underlying problem is? Constipation? Did she pass something that scraped her, leading to the raw cloaca?
Can you give turtles cactus or cucumber or anything to make them poop?
I'm so glad you are caring for her...it gives me hope that she will be ok.
As for the maggots, they clean out infection, and may have saved her life. But still...YUCK!
 

Yvonne G

Old Timer
TFO Admin
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
93,391
Location (City and/or State)
Clovis, CA
Well, no more maggots in the soak water, so maybe they're all out of her. But darn it! Now I see a swelling on the right side of her head. Looks like she's growing an abscess. This poor turtle can't get a break!

gulf coast box turtle 7-5-18 a.jpg
 

wellington

Well-Known Member
Moderator
10 Year Member!
Tortoise Club
Joined
Sep 6, 2011
Messages
49,661
Location (City and/or State)
Chicago, Illinois, USA
Wow, would have thought maggots would do that. I think your right, the soaking might do the trick. Maybe some foods to get her pooping a lot might help flush them out too.
Poor thing, one step forward two back. She might need a long stay inside
 

Yvonne G

Old Timer
TFO Admin
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
93,391
Location (City and/or State)
Clovis, CA
So it makes one wonder what the underlying problem is? Constipation? Did she pass something that scraped her, leading to the raw cloaca?
Can you give turtles cactus or cucumber or anything to make them poop?
I'm so glad you are caring for her...it gives me hope that she will be ok.
As for the maggots, they clean out infection, and may have saved her life. But still...YUCK!
I'll try to find a big, fat juicy worm to entice her to eat. If that doesn't work, canned cat food usually does the trick. Being in the house now I won't have to worry about ants and flies on the cat food.
 

Bambam1989

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 15, 2017
Messages
3,112
Location (City and/or State)
East Texas
I just want to run this by you.
When I was fresh out high school I got a job as a kennel hand at our vet clinic. One day when I was giving a dog a bath that was only there to get a bath and a nail trim. As I was working the soap into the dogs fur along it's back, I realized something was crawling out of the dogs fur trying to escape the soap. To my absolute disgust (I have issues with maggots) they looked just like little maggots!
I immediately asked for one of the vets to come and look. According to the vet it was tape-worm larvae. He said the dog was apparently so infested that they were literally swarming out its bum and up into its fur.
Could something like this be the case with your tort, an extreme parasite load?
P.S. that wasn't a very good vet and he could have very well been full of malarkey.
 

Yvonne G

Old Timer
TFO Admin
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
93,391
Location (City and/or State)
Clovis, CA
Nah. . . these really are maggots. UGH! tape worms? Yuck!!! I have cats and fleas (occasionally) so I recognize what tape worm segments look like. Very similar to what's on my turtle, but you usually only see one or two segments around the anus of a cat or dog. There were hundreds of maggots on this poor turtle. HOpefully they're all down the drain now. Time to bleach out my sink.
 

mark1

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Dec 31, 2015
Messages
1,932
Location (City and/or State)
ohio
I've had turtles with deep wounds infested by maggots recover , and I do know I didn't get them all out …… I did stop new infestations …..…… my opinion is to have maggots there is some dead tissue , i'd consider antibiotics , injectable ones , but i'm pretty pro antibiotics , I've never had the bad experiences with them I read about on here …...
 

Yvonne G

Old Timer
TFO Admin
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
93,391
Location (City and/or State)
Clovis, CA
I've had turtles with deep wounds infested by maggots recover , and I do know I didn't get them all out …… I did stop new infestations …..…… my opinion is to have maggots there is some dead tissue , i'd consider antibiotics , injectable ones , but i'm pretty pro antibiotics , I've never had the bad experiences with them I read about on here …...
I've been using the Terramycin water soluble powder for over 25 years on turtles and tortoises. It works well for the types of illnesses that turn up around here (if caught early enough). I use injectable as a last resort. After all this time soaking it seems all the maggots are out now. Will just have to wait and see on the hind legs, and have to wait for the ear abscess to ripen. I have her set up in the house. Yet another indoor habitat. Oh well, such is the life.
 

orv

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Apr 24, 2014
Messages
383
Location (City and/or State)
Aguanga, CA
I've been using the Terramycin water soluble powder for over 25 years on turtles and tortoises. It works well for the types of illnesses that turn up around here (if caught early enough). I use injectable as a last resort. After all this time soaking it seems all the maggots are out now. Will just have to wait and see on the hind legs, and have to wait for the ear abscess to ripen. I have her set up in the house. Yet another indoor habitat. Oh well, such is the life.
At least she has someone who cares with you. I would have thought the H2O2 would have chased the maggots while cleansing the area.
 

mark1

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Dec 31, 2015
Messages
1,932
Location (City and/or State)
ohio
I've been using the Terramycin water soluble powder for over 25 years on turtles and tortoises. It works well for the types of illnesses that turn up around here (if caught early enough). I use injectable as a last resort. After all this time soaking it seems all the maggots are out now. Will just have to wait and see on the hind legs, and have to wait for the ear abscess to ripen. I have her set up in the house. Yet another indoor habitat. Oh well, such is the life.

I would agree on the indoor enclosure thing ......… what strength do make the solution you soak them in ?
 

Yvonne G

Old Timer
TFO Admin
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
93,391
Location (City and/or State)
Clovis, CA
I would agree on the indoor enclosure thing ......… what strength do make the solution you soak them in ?
The directions are a quarter teaspoon per quart of water, but I use a tad more.

Now that she's been soaking a very long time, I took a good look at her tail and the top layer of skin all around the cloaca is gone. Don't know if the maggots ate that off or if she had it for some other reason and that's what attracted the fly to lay eggs there. At any rate, hopefully she's clear of them. Cloaca looks good.
 

lisa127

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Feb 11, 2012
Messages
4,336
Location (City and/or State)
NE Ohio
Good luck to you and this poor girl!
 

Yvonne G

Old Timer
TFO Admin
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
93,391
Location (City and/or State)
Clovis, CA
I soak her in Antibiotics daily then place her in front of the food, but so far she's not eating. I have to go get some wiggly worms to entice her.
 

StephandTay

Member
Joined
Oct 2, 2016
Messages
44
Location (City and/or State)
Lodi, WI
Oh my! You are such a great tort mom! I have a thing with maggots too and do not know if I could even pick up my tort with them all over. Actually, maybe I have a "bug" thing cause I always treat my cat and dog for fleas or tickets so I don't even have to see them! Luckily, my Russian Tiny is an indoor tort so he is not exposed really. I do take him out in my yard often to get natural sun light and munch on whatever he likes in the yard but they are fast so I literally have to stand there and walk with him to make sure he doesn't take off!
 

Yvonne G

Old Timer
TFO Admin
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
93,391
Location (City and/or State)
Clovis, CA
No. And if I don't soak her every day her eyes crust over. I've started the carrot baby food soaks today and later I think I'll set her up in the same area where she spent the winter. Maybe a familiar setting will calm her. I'll put some Swat (a horse anti fly salve) on her shell to keep the flies off.
 

Toddrickfl1

Well-Known Member
Tortoise Club
5 Year Member
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 7, 2018
Messages
7,103
Location (City and/or State)
Ga
No. And if I don't soak her every day her eyes crust over. I've started the carrot baby food soaks today and later I think I'll set her up in the same area where she spent the winter. Maybe a familiar setting will calm her. I'll put some Swat (a horse anti fly salve) on her shell to keep the flies off.
That turtle is lucky she found you. We're all pulling for her.
 

New Posts

Top