All Turtles Message Board

brinnan · Level 1 Joined: 10 Jun 2005 Posts: 15

This morning one of the security guards at my school handed me a box with a turtle in it. I work at a school in the heart of Chicago, miles away from any parks, streams, or ponds. There are barely any trees. Anyway, this turtle was hiding under his car and then moved out and started crossing the street.

The turtle is obviously a red eared slider. He was dry as can be this morning. I put him in some water, and he drank for several minutes. Later he enjoyed swimming and eating a ton of turtle pellets.

He has huge back claws (thus the he), and is very skittish around people, though he is already losing that as I have been feeding him.

If he is wild, and I can get him healthy, I'll release him (somewhere with water though!). Otherwise, we have an empty 55 gallon tank we can set up for him. I care for 2 RESs in another room, and I have a red footed and a greek tortoise.

My problem is that he has a very beat up shell. He has many dents, it is very flakey, and there are some white patches on it. He also appears underweight to me. Does anyone know what could be causing this? What should I do to help him? Is it serious? The poor thing was so dehydrated this morning that his eyes were all shrivelled up. He is already clear eyed and sticking his head out more, and his energy is way up, but I want to help him. He could have been killed by a car, a dog (lots of pitbulls all around), or any number of things. He must want to make it!

ETA: Here are some pictures of him.
I added some pictures so people could see. Here is his shell:

The picture isn't great, but you can see at least one of the white parts. The flakiness already appears a little better. The white parts concern me. Could it be a fungus?

This is a bit of his face. He was hiding and didn't want to come and have his picture taken. He really is quite cute. Just as I took it, he gave a sudden kick and jumped back into the water. He's strong!

The bag is there because I was holding him with it for the picture since I can't find my gloves for a moment, and I don't know what bacteria the little guy might have.

VersteckterGeist · Posted: Fri Jun 10, 2005 6:28 pm Post subject:

[color=green]that's a very sad situation. (that his shell is so messed up). it's really nice of you to take care of him!

my first choice would be to take him to the vet, to get a check up to make sure he's really okay.

this is a snipped from a website on how to care for it, note how it says to use this in conjunction with a vet visit.

you should probably keep him in a warmer area because he'll need the warmth to speed up metabolisim to help his shell grow. you might want to consider giving him an extra bit of food too, for energy. Smile

and i'd make sure he had a calcium block in there and some vitamin a (carrots)

brinnan · Level 1 Joined: 10 Jun 2005 Posts: 15

Thanks.

dixieee · Posted: Sat Jun 11, 2005 9:39 am Post subject:

welcome to the board rescuer Smile

now this is a real rescue

some parts of the shell look in a bad condition but the falkey parts, could it be shedding scutes?

check this for another treatment http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/medshell.htm#Treatment

good luck and keep us posted
_________________
Wed 10/27/2004 is the worst day..i lost my best friend Leo

so now i have a female RES, Green, and a cute stupid male YBS, Mint

5/4/2006 RIP Lemon, u were my first rescue and i'm so proud of u. will never 4get u

yaya · Level 4 Joined: 10 Jun 2004 Posts: 558

could it be a turtle who was release by someone?? the way u explain ur surrounding it seem kind of a miracle the turtle did not die of dehydration..
and it seem like it got use to u quickly...just a taugh,before u release him in the wild....
and btw,(it's hard to tell from the pic)u said that he had huge "back" claw... from what i read, it's the front claw who suppose to be longer then the back one..(for a male)
keep us post!
_________________
i'm not a expert,i just try to help....

brinnan · Level 1 Joined: 10 Jun 2005 Posts: 15

Well, the little guy is still with us. He does have a rather nasty looking crack on his shell near his tail. I'm taking him to the vet tomorrow to have a look at him and see what we can do.

What does shedding scutes involve?

He is still eating healthily, and he even took a couple of pieces of carrot from me. He is not trying to bite in any way, but he is definitely losing any fear of me in his struggles to escape. I just took him out to the balcony in a big tuperware container to get some sun. He managed to climb out of it! I had no idea sliders could climb like that!

He must be rather old as he is very large (though fairly flat), and when he sticks his head out, he is huge!

It is very possible that he is an escapee from somewhere, though I have no idea where. I know there are no turtle owners on the school block or the two blocks on either side (one iguana is the only reptile). I wondered if a kid stole him from somewhere and let him go, but out two RESs are fine and healthy upstairs. Also, from the look of his shell, he must have been through a lot, as well as his incredibly thirst and his huge hunger.

Does anyone know of any good rescue groups in Illinois? I'd like to find him a really nice home, otherwise I will probably end up keeping him. He just deserves a chance after having been through so much!

dixieee · Posted: Sun Jun 12, 2005 12:19 pm Post subject:

hmm yeah he might have been for someone since he's getting used to u that fast..shedding scutes looks pretty much like finger nails coming off (somehow Surprised

)

anyways, as long as he's eating this is a good sign and will help a lot in healing..he looks very thankful to u Smile

_________________
Wed 10/27/2004 is the worst day..i lost my best friend Leo

so now i have a female RES, Green, and a cute stupid male YBS, Mint

5/4/2006 RIP Lemon, u were my first rescue and i'm so proud of u. will never 4get u

brinnan · Level 1 Joined: 10 Jun 2005 Posts: 15

Well, I think I will name the little guy Resputin. He survived a lot-- much like Rasputin, but he is a RES so Resputin fits better.

Anyway, while feeding him just now (can I feed him too much? He's just so hungry) I noticed he has a big cut under his chin. It is scabbed over and the scab is beginning to fall off. I just really wonder what he's been through.