Busy Paw Life_Texas
New Member
*Is this shell rot or from predators?
*Is the red tone on the face and some red spots on the legs from dehydration?
*What home remedies, specific diets, or medication should I seek?
I recently adopted an ornate 3-toed box turtle found in a young couple's yard and would not leave which led them to finding another option. The turtle looks in bad shape around the edges almost looks like shell rot but also due to predators. The eyes seem almost bloodshot possibly from stress. Once I brought it home I provided fresh strawberries and it ate all with no hesitation, left the live mealworms rolled in powdered calcium, and left the fresh veggies I warmed up. My other turtle stole those off the plate shortly after. The turtle had laid in the water bowl drinking minutes at a time which got me thinking of major dehydration. Unsure of its past environment but it came from the wild and guessing it was not getting a rich diet or very smart with predators. I recently purchased organic raw unrefined coconut oil to rub on the shell to help.
I saved another ornate turtle from my area 5 months ago today. Shelby wandered into our pool and would not leave, so I built a nice-sized outdoor enclosure to keep her safe from my 3 huskies and is feeding daily to every other day on a high rich fresh diet: veggie salad mix (warmed w/water), fresh strawberries, tomatoes, bell peppers, live mealworms rolled around in calcium powder, and live crickets 2-3x month. Her water is filled up fresh daily. She came to me very healthy with no damage to her shell or obvious distress.
Here's what was beautiful and changed my perspective on turtles' reputation for being solitary reptiles. I stood sitting in a chair nearby watching for 2 hrs straight to inspect the new turtle's behavior primarily checking signs of health conditions. Shelby was in the other end of her enclosure exploring and I had her meet the new turtle. She was a little timid at first but then just took her leftovers and went straight to her hiding rest spot under her house. Normally Shelby will go under and rest there for a while, but I noticed she stuck her neck out just watching the new turtle walk back and forth stressing itself out and looking for an escape. All of a sudden Shelby comes out from her house and walks across the entire enclosure to the new turtle (I thought to myself, is this the territorial thing happening) then walks back to her safe spot and does this 2 more times. The new turtle got the hint (and so did I realize) and followed her back to her spot. Just to make sure, I lifted the house to see and they were just resting side by side. Shelby is a very special turtle and is extremely aware of her surroundings and has always been so careful with me when eating from my hand directly and has trusted me to eat out of my hand like live crickets or strawberries. She even enjoys me rubbing her against her shell and letting me clean her face area. This was a wild turtle... Regardless of what others say about turtles, as of today, I will never assume all turtles are alike. I believe every living thing should be allowed to have a companion in life and we as humans should not assume they are all the same.
*Is the red tone on the face and some red spots on the legs from dehydration?
*What home remedies, specific diets, or medication should I seek?
I recently adopted an ornate 3-toed box turtle found in a young couple's yard and would not leave which led them to finding another option. The turtle looks in bad shape around the edges almost looks like shell rot but also due to predators. The eyes seem almost bloodshot possibly from stress. Once I brought it home I provided fresh strawberries and it ate all with no hesitation, left the live mealworms rolled in powdered calcium, and left the fresh veggies I warmed up. My other turtle stole those off the plate shortly after. The turtle had laid in the water bowl drinking minutes at a time which got me thinking of major dehydration. Unsure of its past environment but it came from the wild and guessing it was not getting a rich diet or very smart with predators. I recently purchased organic raw unrefined coconut oil to rub on the shell to help.
I saved another ornate turtle from my area 5 months ago today. Shelby wandered into our pool and would not leave, so I built a nice-sized outdoor enclosure to keep her safe from my 3 huskies and is feeding daily to every other day on a high rich fresh diet: veggie salad mix (warmed w/water), fresh strawberries, tomatoes, bell peppers, live mealworms rolled around in calcium powder, and live crickets 2-3x month. Her water is filled up fresh daily. She came to me very healthy with no damage to her shell or obvious distress.
Here's what was beautiful and changed my perspective on turtles' reputation for being solitary reptiles. I stood sitting in a chair nearby watching for 2 hrs straight to inspect the new turtle's behavior primarily checking signs of health conditions. Shelby was in the other end of her enclosure exploring and I had her meet the new turtle. She was a little timid at first but then just took her leftovers and went straight to her hiding rest spot under her house. Normally Shelby will go under and rest there for a while, but I noticed she stuck her neck out just watching the new turtle walk back and forth stressing itself out and looking for an escape. All of a sudden Shelby comes out from her house and walks across the entire enclosure to the new turtle (I thought to myself, is this the territorial thing happening) then walks back to her safe spot and does this 2 more times. The new turtle got the hint (and so did I realize) and followed her back to her spot. Just to make sure, I lifted the house to see and they were just resting side by side. Shelby is a very special turtle and is extremely aware of her surroundings and has always been so careful with me when eating from my hand directly and has trusted me to eat out of my hand like live crickets or strawberries. She even enjoys me rubbing her against her shell and letting me clean her face area. This was a wild turtle... Regardless of what others say about turtles, as of today, I will never assume all turtles are alike. I believe every living thing should be allowed to have a companion in life and we as humans should not assume they are all the same.
