ID and HELP! PLEASE!

[jamesstill84]

I think I found a Terrapin in the middle of the road on my way home. My neighbor apparently ran over it on accident, so the shell has a gash in it. He's still very active though. Is there anything I can do to help his shell seal itself back up? Could someone ID him for me? Any suggestions at all are welcome.

 

[Chris Anderson]

Its a Box Turtle and it needs to be taken to an emergency vet hospital. Look in the phone book and try to make a couple calls, I'm sure they can advise you on where the best place to take it is but it needs veterinary care if it has any chance of survival.

Chris

 

[cam191919]

eastern box turtle, take him to a wild animal rescue shelter or he'll most likely die from that gash

 

[jamesstill84]

Thanks!

 

[Vicious_Fish]

Yeah that's a male Eastern Box Turtle and I agree, take him to a vet ASAP. That's a very traumatic injury he sustained. But reptiles have remarkable abilities to heal so there's still some hope that he'll make it.

 

[jamesstill84]

There is only one place in my area that could operate on him and I have no way of getting there. I've been researching online and they recommend cleaning the area with Acetone, then sealing it with multiple applications of an epoxy. He's up and moving around. I've given him strawberries, celery, and carrots to eat.

 

[Nora]

Hi James - it really seems like you want to do well by this boxie. I have to tell you that the shell repair is not the tricky part of the damage - it's the internal injury that most likely occurred at the same time. Turtles can surprise - both good and bad - but the chances of this turtle pulling through in the long haul without vet care really are slim. See turtles may not move slowly compared to the cartoons of our childhood but they do other things incredibly painfully slowly compared to other animals - like heal or die. Trust me on this one - I've been caring for box turtles for 30 years now - more than half my life, and there are more and more that survive the type of injury this one has - but with vet care, meds and the like.

Here is a link to licensed rehabbers in KY - give a call to a few nearest you, they can put you in touch with a vet and given that it is a wild animal most likely provide supportive care as well.
http://www.tc.umn.edu/~devo0028/contactA.htm#ky

 

[jamesstill84]

Thanks very much. I'll give one of them a call.

 

[kayla25690]

Updates?

 

[jamesstill84]

We cleaned the wound, used some epoxy and sealed his shell back up. We kept an eye on him for several days. He has been released back into the wild. We watched him take his first steps back to nature. He sat there for a while looking around, figuring out where he was. I think he liked hearing the birds chirping again and such. He hung around for a few hours, then when my wife and I were getting ready to leave, he started wondering around.