We received a call from a friend that met someone that had a RES that was hit by a car, then we waited ..............2 Days went by then they finally called. As just a coincidence we spoke with the NC Turtle Rescue and were informed on the procedures they use on Box Turtles the day before .... No coincidences, everything happens for a reason. This Turtle was in desperate need of someone to help instead of just tote her around trying to figure it out. For those of you that know me when they finally called and asked "When can you pick it up?" I responded with "Right now, right this second, now" We were glad the damage wasn't worse and that she had a chance to live so we jumped into action to get it secured.
The floater piece had to be placed into position without any places to allow it to 'Rest' meaning we would have to hold it in place or create something to hold it in place. We chose a swivel used for fishing, gluing it to the floater and allowing to dry. You can see it hanging in the pic. Once this was fixed to the shell we now had something to hold on, grab and help put the piece in place. The super glue and baking soda process is a must, the glue takes forever to dry especially the 'Gel' form. But without the 'Gel' we would never have been able to 'Bridge' the hole where some piece of bone (shell) was missing. The gel followed immediately by Baking Soda allowed us to create a patch over the hole and secure the 'Floater' in place. Once we started to get the shell in place where it stopped moving or flexing she started to relax, it was a pretty emotional part of this process. She is in pain and suffering being toted around without any real answers then you could visibly see her start to relax..... man what we do is so rewarding. We had to make a decision on the shell fractures/breaks .... they do not line up perfectly anymore so do we use considerable force to try and get them back in line or do we just fix in place the shell and allow it to heal on it's own in the position it's in ........ We decided to glue it in place, there was no way of prying the shell back into it's original place. We got it very close and just had some edges that didn't go exactly back in place, not bad but it's not perfect. But really was there anyway to EVER get it back to where it was? It's only off by very small increments and we feel if it heals up she'll be fine with a little misaligned puzzle piece shell. We are thinking of getting her into the vet for a precautionary antibiotic course, what do you think? We of course cleaned it very well before any glue or manipulation of the shell. What a sleepless night thinking about her and I'm sure a few days of thinking constantly of her, here are some pics.
The floater piece had to be placed into position without any places to allow it to 'Rest' meaning we would have to hold it in place or create something to hold it in place. We chose a swivel used for fishing, gluing it to the floater and allowing to dry. You can see it hanging in the pic. Once this was fixed to the shell we now had something to hold on, grab and help put the piece in place. The super glue and baking soda process is a must, the glue takes forever to dry especially the 'Gel' form. But without the 'Gel' we would never have been able to 'Bridge' the hole where some piece of bone (shell) was missing. The gel followed immediately by Baking Soda allowed us to create a patch over the hole and secure the 'Floater' in place. Once we started to get the shell in place where it stopped moving or flexing she started to relax, it was a pretty emotional part of this process. She is in pain and suffering being toted around without any real answers then you could visibly see her start to relax..... man what we do is so rewarding. We had to make a decision on the shell fractures/breaks .... they do not line up perfectly anymore so do we use considerable force to try and get them back in line or do we just fix in place the shell and allow it to heal on it's own in the position it's in ........ We decided to glue it in place, there was no way of prying the shell back into it's original place. We got it very close and just had some edges that didn't go exactly back in place, not bad but it's not perfect. But really was there anyway to EVER get it back to where it was? It's only off by very small increments and we feel if it heals up she'll be fine with a little misaligned puzzle piece shell. We are thinking of getting her into the vet for a precautionary antibiotic course, what do you think? We of course cleaned it very well before any glue or manipulation of the shell. What a sleepless night thinking about her and I'm sure a few days of thinking constantly of her, here are some pics.
