This was taken from a box turtle that we have had problems with. It was donated by an elderly lady that fed him raw hamburger every day for 16+yrs. She had him in a 10 tank, and he is >600grams! The only other thing she fed him was tomatoes. We have had him for several months and he apparently is not dealing with separation anxiety well, as we have only recently gotten him to eat a tomato. Today was the first fecal sample I could get from him, and it consisted mostly of partially digested tomato along with a strange, green slimy material similar to the look of a green grape. On the slide I found over 2 dozen of the objects below. The 1st photo is at 100x, and the other 3 are at 400x. Despite my best efforts, I couldn’t match it up on my guide, except that it could be an oocyte of some type.



What could this be?



Could this be related to the diet of raw hamburger?



Obviously he has not digested much in the last 3-4 months. What could have the green slimy material been?



I hoping that whatever this is will explain his lack of appetite.



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...the oldest task in human history: to live on a piece of land without spoiling it."

Aldo Leopold (1938)



"Sometimes I think the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that none of it has tried to contact us."

Calvin and Hobbes (Scientific Progress Goes 'Boink', 1991)

[ Hide Replies ]

• Box Turtle fed hamburger, Parasite ID - Colchicine, Thu Dec 18 21:10:33 2003
• RE: Box Turtle fed hamburger, Parasite ID - lizardman, Fri Dec 19 02:30:12 2003
• RE: Box Turtle fed hamburger, Parasite ID - Colchicine, Fri Dec 19 08:50:23 2003
• RE: Box Turtle fed hamburger, Parasite ID - RaderRVT, Mon Dec 22 01:48:20 2003
• pollen spores - Colchicine, Mon Dec 22 06:56:50 2003
• RE: pollen spores - RaderRVT, Tue Dec 23 04:04:41 2003
• RE: Box Turtle fed hamburger, Parasite ID - herpDVM, Tue Dec 23 10:22:10 2003