MoneyTurtles

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Hi everyone

I rescued a Chinese box turtle on Monday. She has been kept in **** poor conditions (no heat/UVB lamp, improper diet, extremely dry and dusty bedding) for many years. I knew shed be dehydrated but I was surprised to see she was worse off than I expected (pics when i first picked her up). She had significant scabbing/growths on either side of her mouth. I originally thought this might be aural abscesses but the vet didn't think so.

The vet gently removed as much of the scabbing and dead skin as he could with a saline soaked q tip and she looks much better but definitely not great (after vet visit). Vet also said she likely had a minor respiratory infection and gave her an antibiotic shot. We go back for another shot next week.

The vet is a certified herp vet but also didn't seem overwhelmingly knowledgable about turtle care. He didn't give me anything to protect the inflamed skin on her face and was wondering if any of you had suggestions? I've been searching around and saw mentions of vitamin e oil, coconut oil, olive oil, neosporin. Is there anything else I should be doing to keep this gal comfortable while she heals up? Are there any other issues you notice from the pictures? Thank you so much for the help.
 

crimson_lotus

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Looks like the scabbing/growths were located on the ear. Ear abscesses are quite common, my question would be if perhaps someone tried to remove them and they became infected causing the scabbing. @Yvonne G always has great advice when it comes to ear abscesses, if this is the case. Another option could be herpesvirus, which would also explain the drooling if I can assume the same for tortoises and box turtles. http://www.reptilesmagazine.com/Tortoises-Health/Herpesvirus-of-Tortoises-Chelonid-Herpesvirus/

Neosporin is what I would use, not so much the other oils but that's just me. Wish you the best for her recovery, and good on you for taking her in! The feet look very rough :(
 

Beasty_Artemis

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Omg! Those feet are so messed up! How does that happen?
I hope she gets better. That is sooo sad.
 

MoneyTurtles

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Looks like the scabbing/growths were located on the ear. Ear abscesses are quite common, my question would be if perhaps someone tried to remove them and they became infected causing the scabbing. @Yvonne G always has great advice when it comes to ear abscesses, if this is the case. Another option could be herpesvirus, which would also explain the drooling if I can assume the same for tortoises and box turtles. http://www.reptilesmagazine.com/Tortoises-Health/Herpesvirus-of-Tortoises-Chelonid-Herpesvirus/

Neosporin is what I would use, not so much the other oils but that's just me. Wish you the best for her recovery, and good on you for taking her in! The feet look very rough :(

Thank you so much for the input. I also thought it was ear abscesses, but once the vet got a good hold of her he was able to remove most of the scabbing and the ears looked more or less normal. One side looked a bit swollen, and he will take another look at that when we go back next week. The second set of pictures is a bit misleading. She got a force feeding and that little bit extra is on the side of her mouth. Thankfully its not puss or drool so I don't think its herpesvirus but I might be wrong. I'll see how she does and ask the vet about it. Hopefully some other people with experience in that area can weigh in.

I was thinking neosporing as well. I was sorta hoping there was a reptile equivalent but I suppose not. She was pretty stressed after being prodded at all day yesterday and dug herself into a hole. I'll put some on her after she digs herself back out for a soak
 

MoneyTurtles

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Omg! Those feet are so messed up! How does that happen?
I hope she gets better. That is sooo sad.

The feet are pretty messed up but sadly thats the least of our concerns right now. She can get around and dig fine. After everything else has been dealt with I'm going to start trying to trim her nails but I don't want to add any more stress to this gal's plate until her mouth has healed up and she recovers from RI. The vet said that the nail issues can come from serious vitamin A deficiency - which is likely given the few details I know about her past.
 

crimson_lotus

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don't get a vitamin a shot...if the vet recommends it then they are probably not reptile specialists
 

MoneyTurtles

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don't get a vitamin a shot...if the vet recommends it then they are probably not reptile specialists

Thanks for the input. My vet did say that he doesn't even carry injectable vitamins and the tube feeding my turt got yesterday should have plenty of vitamins for her
 

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