Soaking with cracked shell

[amaya117]

A few days ago (2-3) my mom thought it was a great idea to put my Russian tortoise on our roof for sunlight(our roof has a flat top area) and walked away. I was not home at the time and my tortoise unfortunately climbed to the slanted area of the roof and fell. She cracked her shell near the bottom but thankfully not as bad as you would think(photos are when it first happened and today). I rushed her to urgent care where they gave me antibiotics and ointment to treat her. The ointment is to be put on the crack daily, while the antibiotics is every three days. She has a vet appointment today to talk about it more. She seems to be ok! Eating, moving, acting like her normal self! I'm currently keeping her in a bin with towels so the substrate I use (soil and hay) wouldn't get inside.

My main question is, how do I soak her? I keep reading how I shouldn't get the crack wet/submurged but the area is under her arm near her underside. Any ideas? I'm definitely gonna ask at the vet today too

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

A few days ago (2-3) my mom thought it was a great idea to put my Russian tortoise on our roof for sunlight(our roof has a flat top area) and walked away. I was not home at the time and my tortoise unfortunately climbed to the slanted area of the roof and fell. She cracked her shell near the bottom but thankfully not as bad as you would think(photos are when it first happened and today). I rushed her to urgent care where they gave me antibiotics and ointment to treat her. The ointment is to be put on the crack daily, while the antibiotics is every three days. She has a vet appointment today to talk about it more. She seems to be ok! Eating, moving, acting like her normal self! I'm currently keeping her in a bin with towels so the substrate I use (soil and hay) wouldn't get inside.

My main question is, how do I soak her? I keep reading how I shouldn't get the crack wet/submurged but the area is under her arm near her underside. Any ideas? I'm definitely gonna ask at the vet today too

Oh poor babyhow far would you say this fall was in feet? Whilst the crack thankfully doesn’t look severe, I’d be sure to keep an eye on any symptoms of a potential internal bleed, ie discolouration of her plastron, sudden lethargy/lack of appetite, walking weird etc

Yeah leave substrate for now, but for future reference I wouldn’t use hay as a substrate, it moulds with the moisture needed in the substrate(if it isn’t your enclosure has been too dry) plus they aren’t a grass eating species. For ‘soil’ definitely sick with damp coco coir once she’s healed up

In terms of soaking I’ll ask what @zovick thinks, hope your baby feels better soon!

 

[amaya117]

Oh poor babyhow far would you say this fall was in feet? Whilst the crack thankfully doesn’t look severe, I’d be sure to keep an eye on any symptoms of a potential internal bleed, ie discolouration of her plastron, sudden lethargy/lack of appetite, walking weird etc

Yeah leave substrate for now, but for future reference I wouldn’t use hay as a substrate, it moulds with the moisture needed in the substrate(if it isn’t your enclosure has been too dry) plus they aren’t a grass eating species. For ‘soil’ definitely sick with damp coco coir once she’s healed up

In terms of soaking I’ll ask what @zovick thinks, hope your baby feels better soon!

Took her to the vet and not one, but three different veterinarians said her crack is healing super good and that to finish her ointment and antibiotics and she should be ok! They put out there that we could do an x-ray, but they said they'd be surprised to see anything show up. Positives from her appointment!!

I got recommended to buy Bees Wax to put over the crack and continue soaking her than after a few more days of ointment.

 

[Littleredfootbigredheart]

Took her to the vet and not one, but three different veterinarians said her crack is healing super good and that to finish her ointment and antibiotics and she should be ok! They put out there that we could do an x-ray, but they said they'd be surprised to see anything show up. Positives from her appointment!!

I got recommended to buy Bees Wax to put over the crack and continue soaking her than after a few more days of ointment.

That’s fantastic news!! I’m so relieved for you

 

[zovick]

Oh poor babyhow far would you say this fall was in feet? Whilst the crack thankfully doesn’t look severe, I’d be sure to keep an eye on any symptoms of a potential internal bleed, ie discolouration of her plastron, sudden lethargy/lack of appetite, walking weird etc

Yeah leave substrate for now, but for future reference I wouldn’t use hay as a substrate, it moulds with the moisture needed in the substrate(if it isn’t your enclosure has been too dry) plus they aren’t a grass eating species. For ‘soil’ definitely sick with damp coco coir once she’s healed up

In terms of soaking I’ll ask what @zovick thinks, hope your baby feels better soon!

Personally, I would not soak that tortoise for a couple of months. Just feed it lots of high water content foods such as lettuces, zucchini and yellow squash, cucumbers, and cactus pads.