Another tank baby

[Jentortmom]

Well today I was looking on craigslist and I open an ad for a boxie (it had a picture). I about fell out of my chair, he is so deformed, when I got there 11/2 hr later he was in a 10 gal tank right next to the front door on alphalfa pellets, she said he just came out of hibernation (they keep his lights of and he stays under his hide) he is as dry as can be. Here is the pic the lady posted.... I will take more later...

 

[cvalda]

poooor baby! glad you are rescuing him!

 

[jlyoncc1]

Oh my goodness! Jen, so glad you got him. Is his shell hard? I can't even imagine. Poor thing!

 

[Jentortmom]

Luckly shell is hard, he is so friendly but he is having a hard time walking since his nails are so long and he can't bring them in... I am waiting for bed a beast to get soaked so I can put him on some of that with moss for right now. I thiught about putting him on towels w/ a humid hide until vet, but he is soooooo dry. I will post pics in a minute... He actually looks worse then that pic. The worst part is she said he has been to the vet twice once for vit deficincy, and once for a blockage...and they didn't say anything to her..Horrible, but he will go see my vet, that way he gets a good checkup. pics in a minute

 

[JustAnja]

WOW Poor little fella!

 

[wayne.bob]

i feel bad for the little fella. at least he is in your care now

 

[Coldliz]

Good thing you rescued him!! Will you be able to get him back to health?

 

[Jentortmom]

Here are some more pics, they are bad cause I had to use my phone.

 

[Jentortmom]

My guess is he is a hybrid...what do you think??

 

[Crazy1]

Oh, Jen such a poor baby. I hope it will thrive now that it's under your care, and will never have to see the inside of a tank filled with alphalfa pellets.

 

[Jentortmom]

Well I can say he is enjoying his new digs, buried himself right into the warm bedabeast. Coldliz, I'm hoping eventually his shell will recover some as he grows, but it will always have some damage. I worry most about his back end he has no tail and it looks like he might be a little swollen right there, plus he isn't really using his back legs and they are (can't remember the word) spread out and he doesn't bring them in. I am just glad I got to him first, I would hate for someone else to get him and continue on the same path to a dragged out death. And she was not very happy with me by the time I left, I gave her a piece of my mind and told her he was in horrible condition and it was HER fault not the breeders.

 

[jlyoncc1]

Good for you Jen. Glad he is happy now!

 

[egyptiandan]

He's all Ornate box turtle Jen. His back legs should gain some better use now that he's on a better substrate. With being on the pellets and not getting any traction to use his legs properly the muscles have atrophied. He definately had MBD, but with a good diet you should be able to reverse that. He might start to grow better on the good diet, as in get a more domed shell or the new growth will keep to the way he's growing now. Hard to tell until he starts and getting him outside will be key.
I'm glad you've got him now.

Danny

 

[Jacqui]

Lucky for him you saw that ad. Looks like he is a spunky little guy.

 

[jlyoncc1]

Jen, funny I was just on CL because I have been looking for a box turtle and boom there was the ad for your new little guy. Glad I didn't see it first or I would not have been sleeping!

 

[Jentortmom]

Well I didn't sleep even though I have him...I worried all night about him.. I am just glad I found him first otherwise someone might have taken him and continued to care for him the same way she did. I'll let you know what the vet says, I am going to see a new one that is closer to see how she does, after the answers I got last time for my little sulcata, I don't want to go back for more bad or unanswered advice/questions.

 

[jlyoncc1]

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

[Jentortmom]

I will, I am checking out a new vet on Friday..ugh I might just go to my current one so I can get in sooner.

 

[Jentortmom]

I called my current vet for turtles and torts and they said to bring him in today.

 

[Jentortmom]

So we went to the vet and I actually brought a few more for there health checks, anyways Doc trimmed his nails and his beak, and I really think he feels better, walking better. obviously he has MBD but other then that he appears healthy. Wasn't able to get fecal for worms, but I did get him to eats 4 crickets and a bite of greens. So for now I am going to soak him daily in vitamins, and then give him some at every feeding, and then we will move to the long process of teaching him to eat the good stuff and ditch the bad. I am going to use this diet schedule my doc gave me a while back for boxies and feed him daily for a while to try to get weight on, but he did gain a gram since yesterday so yeah!! for that.

And the other two I took checked out healthy like I figured they would, and found out that one of my boxies is actually a lot older then I was guessing her to be. Thirties or fourties apposed to 20s, anyway he took lots of pics of my female boxie to show how the shell is recovering completely on its own (she had an injury before I got her and she self healed0 and then of rocky the new baby to show people what bad care does.

So I will keep you posted on his growth and any other tidbits.