Gulf Coast Box Turtle

[KarenSoCal]

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.

Is the crack on her shell closed? Is there any odor? Wondering if the Terramycin water isn't getting down into there?
Has the abscess on her head been opened yet?
How about her cloaca? Skin healing?
Just looking for causes of continued infection...

 

[Yvonne G]

Is the crack on her shell closed? Is there any odor? Wondering if the Terramycin water isn't getting down into there?
Has the abscess on her head been opened yet?
How about her cloaca? Skin healing?
Just looking for causes of continued infection...

When she was first given to me the crack was slightly weeping, but that has since stopped.

I lanced the abscess two days ago. It was quite full of hardened pus.

The cloaca is no longer raw.

 

[KarenSoCal]

I'm out of ideas. Sure hope you can get her eating! If anyone can do it, it's you!

 

[Yvonne G]

Yippee, yippee, hooray!!!!!!

It's been almost a year since I took in the female gulf coast box turtle that had been hit by a car.

To refresh your memories, she had a hairline crack on her carapace that oozed a bit of serum, and she didn't use her back legs. They weren't paralyzed because she could withdraw them when I touched them, but when she moved around the enclosure, she pulled with her front legs and dragged the back legs.

After spending the winter in a hospital setting, earlier this year I felt she could benefit from being put outside, so I put her in a smaller area that housed younger box turtles. She just stayed hidden all the time. I would place her in front of the food and next time I saw her, she was in her hiding spot.

First part of July I picked her up. She had crusty eyes, foam at her mouth and her underside was covered in maggots. So back into the hospital she went. At this time I also discovered that she had an ear abscess.

She cleared up nicely back in the hospital setting, and started eating again.

This a.m., now a month or so of being in the hospital, I set her down on the floor so I could change her bedding (using paper towells for substrate), and off she scurried, using ALL FOUR LEGS!!!!!!! She wasn't extending her back legs all the way, but by golly, she was using them!

So, she walks, she eats, her eyes and nose are clear, the shell no longer weeps. It's time, once again, to try to get her back outside. I'm trying to figure out a way to do it so that I don't set her back again. I'm thinking of blocking off a very small portion of a box turtle yard, so she feels closed in and safe, with plenty of hiding spots. And I'll have to try to remember to look for her and check on her several times throughout the day.

I'm SO GLAD to see her using those back legs!

 

[KarenSoCal]

Yippee, yippee, hooray!!!!!!

It's been almost a year since I took in the female gulf coast box turtle that had been hit by a car.

To refresh your memories, she had a hairline crack on her carapace that oozed a bit of serum, and she didn't use her back legs. They weren't paralyzed because she could withdraw them when I touched them, but when she moved around the enclosure, she pulled with her front legs and dragged the back legs.

After spending the winter in a hospital setting, earlier this year I felt she could benefit from being put outside, so I put her in a smaller area that housed younger box turtles. She just stayed hidden all the time. I would place her in front of the food and next time I saw her, she was in her hiding spot.

First part of July I picked her up. She had crusty eyes, foam at her mouth and her underside was covered in maggots. So back into the hospital she went. At this time I also discovered that she had an ear abscess.

She cleared up nicely back in the hospital setting, and started eating again.

This a.m., now a month or so of being in the hospital, I set her down on the floor so I could change her bedding (using paper towells for substrate), and off she scurried, using ALL FOUR LEGS!!!!!!! She wasn't extending her back legs all the way, but by golly, she was using them!

So, she walks, she eats, her eyes and nose are clear, the shell no longer weeps. It's time, once again, to try to get her back outside. I'm trying to figure out a way to do it so that I don't set her back again. I'm thinking of blocking off a very small portion of a box turtle yard, so she feels closed in and safe, with plenty of hiding spots. And I'll have to try to remember to look for her and check on her several times throughout the day.

I'm SO GLAD to see her using those back legs!

Wonderful news! Great job caring for her!