Help! Hole/opening in turt's back leg?

[cheloniac]

I just noticed this evening while holding my younger box turtle that there was something on her right hind leg. After I picked it off I noticed quite a few pieces of wet debris the same color as her plastron. As she kicked around I lifted the skin up and noticed an opening in her body where the debris was coming from. It was a wide opening where the skin of her leg meets her plastron and appeared to go deep inside of her body. I will be taking her to a vet on Monday morning (or sooner if I manage to find one open on Sundays) but was hoping to get any kind of clarification on what I could be dealing with, and if anyone has any tips in the meantime. My best guess thus far is shell rot though it seems to be mainly her skin except maybe the very edge of her plastron where it touches that area of skin. I greatly appreciate any information.

 

[ascott]

Did you run your finger along the edge of the shell to see if there is a rough spot...if yes, then use a gentle nail file and run along the edge of the rough spot....this will at least stop the edge from continuing to raw up the leg.

If the leg is indeed injured...I would do a few warm water flushes of the injured area (you a squeeze bottle and fill with warm clean water) a few times a day...then you will want to keep the tort away from fly exposure...they will lay eggs in the open wound and that creates a gross problem for the tort....

If you keep the tort indoors I would increase the overall temps to no less than 80 degrees while the healing occurs....I also would avoid fully submerging the tort for soaks until the area begins to close up...you would not want fecal matter setting into the open wound....and since alot of tort find soaks the best place to poo you would be exposing the tort to that risk...

 

[lynnedit]

Please let us know if you were able to take your turtle to the vet and what the outcome was!

Does your turtle live outside?

 

[cheloniac]

No, she's indoor only except on really nice days I set them out in an enclosure on the deck for a few hours. As for the vet, it went well! I was so relieved. She had irritation and the start of an infection in that area (which was starting to get under the other rear leg as well) from trapped dead skin. The vet said it's most likely that she's either too wet too often or that she's not drying properly after soaking, which made perfect sense because she HATES to bask and always runs straight to her hut. She got an antibiotic injection today and her wound cleaned out really well. I have to dry dock her for two weeks, along with cleansing her wound with a curved syringe, Betadine and Q-tips every day, and then applying a cream afterwards. But she'll be just fine and her skin will start growing back in 2-3 weeks.

 

[lynnedit]

So happy to hear that!