Rescued Florida Soft Shell Turtle Lake Isabella California

[EppsDynasty]

Thank you for taking care of her!

Thank You. This is another truly special experience our whole family is getting to go through. And she's back in the house, next to the wood stove and in 8-10 inches of water. This time up on milk crates so the warm air will get under the tank. 75 degrees in water for the first time in no telling how long.

 

[EppsDynasty]

WILMA is her name ... the family has spoken.
We will be keeping the tank clean of anything to be easier for cleaning for now. The injury under her chin is the same fungus color as under her plastron so it will be treated also. As stated by @Markw84 she can be a little feisty, her neck is very long and flexible. If she had no love for humans before it's going to be school time. I tomorrow will try to touch this area or see if I can. If it's a no go we will buy Terbinafine capsules for oral dosage. I have read about using an earthworm as a vehicle to get the meds into the turtle. Tomorrow is going to be fun.

 

[Yvonne G]

Once you get her healthy and the fungus cleared up cold weather won't be a problem, they hibernate.

 

[EppsDynasty]

Here’s an update


We have covered all fungus areas with the fungicide cream, 2x now. In the second pic you may notice her color is back and her right eye algae sluffed off as did on her nose. Her wounds do not look so angry, they look so much better. She does have a big wound under her chin that has fungus, algae really not sur at this point. She did let me put cream on it, she looked at me intently while i did so but did not bite. Living in the kitchen with what she has had to go through hopefully makes her a people friendly turtle...fingers crossed. I built her a hospital tank setup today with it's own filter system, this will be where she spends time recovering during the days. This will also be where she will be until we are comfortable with her going into the big pond. Nights in the house and days in the sun will be the prescription for now, I've also upped the temp to 80-82 degrees. She seems to be comfortable up to about 85, then she starts looking for shade or cooler water. Having her enter our lives makes me wonder how many of these large turtles are surviving in lakes all over the place. Inventors are told to solve a problem, must be more "Problem" turtles out there.

 

[Chefdenoel10]

You truly are a hero.
Thank you for all of your hard work.
She does look a lot better and trusting of you as to let you put cream on her wounds.
Must have been really painful and wanted help so badly…☹️
Keep up the good work and for God sake…
PLEEEEEEASE keep us updated!!!!!

I won’t sleep well until I know she is getting better!!! Flippers crossed 🤞
Poor little legs need some strokes by a loving hand. (Just make sure she doesn’t take them off with a nibble!) 🙏🌹♥️

 

[ALICE_in_Wonderland]

Thank you so much for rescuing and caring for her!! Just curious why did you call fish and game?

 

[TammyJ]

Wonderful progress! Have you tried any food yet? Also, please don't get to thinking she loves you too, ok? Watch yourself handling her.☺️

 

[EppsDynasty]

Thank you so much for rescuing and caring for her!! Just curious why did you call fish and game?

The original post and video on Face Book prompted calls to Fish and Game by residents. My wife having the local Wardens number from a previous Rattlesnake situation called him . She explained the situation we were in to care for the turtle and he responded with "I have no objection to you capturing the Turtle." Once we did have Wilma in hand she also let him know that, the response was "You guys are good ... great job." Our good friend also called the Warden and was told "They know what they're doing." So why did we call .... in the end now we are in pretty close with the local Warden and will be first on the call of any animals that need the "Dynasty Touch."

Wonderful progress! Have you tried any food yet? Also, please don't get to thinking she loves you too, ok? Watch yourself handling her.☺️

We did try a sardine (in water no salt added), she looked at it but a no go. I feel there may be something wrong with her jaw, it could just be the wound but not sure. I am full prepared to take the bite if need be, of course not if I don't have to but I'm not going to be scared of it. She does wiggle a little and she's not like all cuddly with me (yet) but she maybe just maybe know what it is we're doing for her. And of course she won't fall in love with me ...I'm an a**hole. Ha thought you'ld get a chuckle from that. Thank You @Yvonne G for the info it will be a bit easier when she can hibernate. And to you thanks @TammyJ, you are another one always there ...Thank You.

 

[EppsDynasty]

1 more thing ...
Good Morning Wilma ...It is such a treat to wake up and see her, she looks at you with such a precious stare. Some may think having a 200 gallon stock tank in the kitchen is crazy, with the way she looks at you it would be crazy not to have her in the kitchen. To those of you that remember the golden age of television might be able to guess what comes to mind when I say "Good Morning Wilma."

 

[TammyJ]

1 more thing ...
Good Morning Wilma ...It is such a treat to wake up and see her, she looks at you with such a precious stare. Some may think having a 200 gallon stock tank in the kitchen is crazy, with the way she looks at you it would be crazy not to have her in the kitchen. To those of you that remember the golden age of television might be able to guess what comes to mind when I say "Good Morning Wilma."

Wilma Flintstone..

 

[EppsDynasty]

Wilma Flintstone..

Yabbba Dabbba Doooo .... Yes.

First off I must say that yesterday was filled with Wilma and it was a fantastic experience. To share my day with her is absolutely a day full of Love - I hope it's a two way feeling. Big Turtles need Big Love. Dealing with such a large Turtle is doing the usual BIG real BIG, it is getting easier though everyday. Each day it becomes routine and gets easier for both of us.

Her big day started with a good rinse off and light rub to help with the "Sliminess." She has a film of slime all over her whole body, and it stinks .. Bad. Washing her is such a hard task, she has so many wounds you do not even want to touch her out of fear of hurting her more. Her skin is so damaged it tears, rips and even comes off so easy.
We use this mat to try and make what she touches with her body a little softer than the dirt. Her moving around cause bleeding and tearing very easily. Here is a pic of what came off just on the mat.
After the wash comes the Fungicide Cream application. It is pretty bad in my opinion, I am no expert though on Shell Fungus. How much of this Fungus can a turtle handle without succumbing to it.
The wound under her chin has cleaned up a bit, a lot of nastiness has come off. This area is in the Danger Zone, but still no aggression towards us when treating it. The pic shows it, it's on the left side.
So after all the activity we let her rest, sit still out of the water to allow the cream to do it's magic. We only left her out for another 15 minutes dry docked, it was pretty warm so I was worried about her getting to hot and dry. Her's her new Hospital tank with filter system, Salt wanted to check it out.
So water is pumped out while in the Milk Crate, to stop her from being able to get to the pump. It then has to come up through the 16" of gravel (sand will top the gravel) before going back into the tank. This system was designed this way so I can easily take the tank away to clean easily. I added 150' to the Solar Water Hose I am using, to make warm water faster. Water from the well is 58 degrees and within 3 hours I was able to get the water up to 80 degrees.
She would slowly go in and out of the sunlight regulating her temp, by herself ... That's how it should happen. She spent the whole day outside in her new tank soaking up sun, what she needs to heal. While she was outside I completely cleaned and disinfected her inside tank, then left it in the sun for a little organic sterilizing. These 2 pics are her back into her indoor tank, very happy she looks. Yesterday and then last night were her most active times, it seems she is getting some strength back. Still no eating but I'm hoping that will happen soon. She does look more alert so hopefully we are on the right track for her to recover and live out a wonderful life filled with comfort not PAIN.

Having her has made me realize how wrong the water quality is in this lake for her. Our (lake)water here is terrible, every year a life threatening bloom of Blue Algae occurs. Dogs die every year from drinking this lake water. She was on the "Bad" side of the lake as well, the side where the Blooms happen.
I appreciate all the support and am so glad you, TFO is here for her and me.

 

[EppsDynasty]

It is with great pain I have to announce Wilma passed .................
About 30 minutes after posting she took her last breath, surrounded by love. I was afraid when the activity level increased it was not a good sign, holding on to the hope though that made it in time. She will never be forgotten and always have a place in our hearts.

 

[Alex and the Redfoot]

I'm sorry.. It's so sad and unexpected... At least she's got love and care at the end.

 

[Ink]

Sorry for your loss, thank goodness you helped her.

 

[Yvonne G]

Aw heck. I'm so sorry to hear this. "The dogs were playing with her." I'm sure this was a large contributing factor to her demise. No telling what kind of internal injuries she suffered. It's sad, but she served the purpose of giving you a bit more experience dealing with something like this. So it wasn't in vain.

 

[TammyJ]

I am so sorry. It was wonderful what you guys did. I think she was too far gone when you got her, and probably full of toxins. RIP Wilma! You had a ton of love, and we'll never forget you.

 

[zolasmum]

It is with great pain I have to announce Wilma passed .................
About 30 minutes after posting she took her last breath, surrounded by love. I was afraid when the activity level increased it was not a good sign, holding on to the hope though that made it in time. She will never be forgotten and always have a place in our hearts.

I'm so very sorry - but at least it happened in comfort for her, rather than pain - and aware that she was being cared for kindly and lovingly. Poor Wilma. Thank you so much for helping her , and for making her last days better.
Angie

 

[SinLA]

I’m so very sorry. Thank you for trying!

 

[Yvonne G]

Since she was slimey, another thing to keep in mind if there ever is a next time, you can use one tablespoon of aquarium salt per three gallons of water to kill off any bacteria that may be present. That seems like a heavy dose, so I never used that much.

 

[Chefdenoel10]

It is with great pain I have to announce Wilma passed .................
About 30 minutes after posting she took her last breath, surrounded by love. I was afraid when the activity level increased it was not a good sign, holding on to the hope though that made it in time. She will never be forgotten and always have a place in our hearts.

😖😖😖😖😖
WIIIIIIILLLLLMMMAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!

I was just reading the post above and couldn’t wait to say she was looking GREAT!!!! I was soooo happy!!!!

You TOTALLY just crushed me!
I am soooo unbelievably sorry for your loss!!!
I am only so glad she had you for the time she had left. But mostly … that you were there and she was not alone and forgotten.

I will continue to pray for her and hope she is now in a better peaceful place with God and all of her wounds healed.
God bless you for your efforts.
♥️♥️♥️🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹