lbailey4487
Active Member
Hello, again, everyone! I have been on the forum for a couple months, looking for information on giving the best life to my new Russian tortoise, Ziggy. The information I’ve found here has been invaluable. My local vet for my dogs isn’t a reptile vet and admittedly knows little about them. He has given me the contact info and helped me get set with a reptile vet. That’s not the current issue. I took Ziggy over to see my vet just for an initial once over and stool testing after getting him. Which led to him calling me yesterday looking for help for a situation that came up this past week. I have contacted a WV rescue that has experience working with DNR concerning box turtles. But if I can’t get help from them by tomorrow, it’s likely two box turtles will soon die. I copied and pasted my follow-up message (I called yesterday) below. Can anyone here offer any ideas???
Hello! I spoke to one of your friends/workers on the main contact line yesterday about help for two box turtles that came in to our local vet (Princeton, Mercer County). Without intervention, these two will die. Any ideas?
Summary of the info I provided yesterday:
A local woman found two box turtles in her yard and decided she wanted to keep them for pets for her daughter. Unfortunately, to her that meant keeping them in a plastic storage box in her yard. Just dirt, nothing else. She has been going to YouTube to get ideas for how to get them to “hibernate”. She did bring them to the vet first last Wednesday, because both have obvious infections. The female has an infected and swollen ear, the male has a similar eye. Both are described as cold and lethargic. The vet gave both shots of B-12 and an antibiotic (I think). She brought them back again on Friday for more antibiotics. Neither looked significantly better, though the female seems to have responded slightly better than the male. They are supposed to come back in tomorrow, but the lady is insisting that there should be no more changes for care, as it’s the same condition she’s already paid for. The vet did tell her that he’d waive his visit fee but she still needed to pay the cost of the antibiotics. He is going to try to educate more tomorrow, though he’s doubtful it will help much. She did ask the staff member that called to remind her of the appointment if there was a rescue she could give them to. We are hanging hope for the turtles on that comment. We think she may surrender them tomorrow if we have something in place. I am willing to help any way I can. They haven’t been in captivity long, so would likely be good candidates to treat and release. The complicating factor being the changing weather. My vet called me because he knew I recently adopted a Russian tortoise from a rescue and thought I might have ideas for someone to contact. I’m a straight-up newbie who just loves tortoises and turtles. I chose a Russian tortoise because of the similarities they have to box turtles and box turtles being illegal to have in WV. I am learning every day how to do best for my guy. And I got him from a rescue group near Wilmington, NC. I’m not even going to toy with taking WV turtles across state lines…. We know if we contact DNR, we will be told to release them. My vet’s opinion is they will not survive long in their current state.
Any ideas be greatly appreciated! I will help coordinate, acquire, transport, etc on this end any way I can.
Hello! I spoke to one of your friends/workers on the main contact line yesterday about help for two box turtles that came in to our local vet (Princeton, Mercer County). Without intervention, these two will die. Any ideas?
Summary of the info I provided yesterday:
A local woman found two box turtles in her yard and decided she wanted to keep them for pets for her daughter. Unfortunately, to her that meant keeping them in a plastic storage box in her yard. Just dirt, nothing else. She has been going to YouTube to get ideas for how to get them to “hibernate”. She did bring them to the vet first last Wednesday, because both have obvious infections. The female has an infected and swollen ear, the male has a similar eye. Both are described as cold and lethargic. The vet gave both shots of B-12 and an antibiotic (I think). She brought them back again on Friday for more antibiotics. Neither looked significantly better, though the female seems to have responded slightly better than the male. They are supposed to come back in tomorrow, but the lady is insisting that there should be no more changes for care, as it’s the same condition she’s already paid for. The vet did tell her that he’d waive his visit fee but she still needed to pay the cost of the antibiotics. He is going to try to educate more tomorrow, though he’s doubtful it will help much. She did ask the staff member that called to remind her of the appointment if there was a rescue she could give them to. We are hanging hope for the turtles on that comment. We think she may surrender them tomorrow if we have something in place. I am willing to help any way I can. They haven’t been in captivity long, so would likely be good candidates to treat and release. The complicating factor being the changing weather. My vet called me because he knew I recently adopted a Russian tortoise from a rescue and thought I might have ideas for someone to contact. I’m a straight-up newbie who just loves tortoises and turtles. I chose a Russian tortoise because of the similarities they have to box turtles and box turtles being illegal to have in WV. I am learning every day how to do best for my guy. And I got him from a rescue group near Wilmington, NC. I’m not even going to toy with taking WV turtles across state lines…. We know if we contact DNR, we will be told to release them. My vet’s opinion is they will not survive long in their current state.
Any ideas be greatly appreciated! I will help coordinate, acquire, transport, etc on this end any way I can.
