The sulcatta pictured suffered an impact-inflicted fracture wound.



(The African Spurred tortoise' shell had an actual break as I mentioned below, it was considerably worse than a fracture. A fracture of course would be a crack or series of cracks of the bone. In this case the tortoises organs were clearly visible and the bone was seperated.)L



Certain species of terrestrial turtle seem particularly capable of recovering from such maladies (in this case I draw from your description that the reconstruction certainly helped) and this comes of little suprise.



(Yes, turtles aquatic and terrestrial sometimes fair very well to trauma in nature, whether it be missing limbs or damage to the shell. In this case because of the degree of damage to the African Spurred Tortoises carapace, it was a live or die situation. I moved swiftly and I was successful. Because of the magnitude of the damage, whether this occured in nature or captivity, without treatment, this Tortoise would be dead.)L



However, you mentioned that Benny was three years old upon injury. That is a very young turtle for a sulcatta. You mention danger in repairing/reconstructing shell problems in very young turtles because of the risk in malformation as growth progresses. Though this is true, there is an upswing to this matter. Since the shell grows so quickly in young turtles (by comparison to mature animals), fractures and other such maladies can heal more rapidly (albeit sometimes more awkwardly). Benny's shell is certainly a bit deformed, and more importantly, incomplete. Fortunately, this doesn't matter when it comes to a captive animal with little worries about marauding heyenas.



(Yes, Benny was three years old and about 8 or 10 pounds at the time of the damage. When I speak of danger using the sealant method on very young turtles, it is in reference to that rapid growth that you mentioned, this is the very reason for the developemental problems. The sealant prevents a small shell from expanding beyond the capacity of the actual seal and rather grow outwards and evenly, a baby turtles shell will become grossly deformed when the entire shell is sealed. This was frequently seen in the pet trade of the seventies when juvenile turtles were sold with painted shells. When I made the comment about the possible damage to a younger turtles shell by sealing it, I was refering to a total coverage of the shell with a sealant as would be done with the Diamond Back terrapin posted below. There was no concern about stunting the DBT's shell as the turtle was already about to maximum size. In addition, there was no concern about Bennys shell becoming mishapen because it was a rather small area of coverage comparatively. The deformation in the photo of Benny above is not from the sealant, it is from the trauma originally caused to the shell.)L



As the female Malaclemys pictured in the thread that started this discussion appears quite mature, the healing process might not occur any more rapidly in a manipulated state than it would were the turtle simply living normally (insomuch as a captive turtle can).



(well, the point that I was trying to stress was not in consideration of how "fast" we can get the shell to heal, but rather that we can give it a chance to heal at all. A shell damaged to the extent of the one in the Diamond Back Terrapin photo below has a much better chance of recovery when sealed rather than unsealed and exposed to the elements.

I believe you mentioned something yourself of other possible problems of having damage to the kratin on the dBT's shell. Something in evaporative water loss. I'm sure you know that there would be less risk of evaporative water loss after being sealed than with a shell that was left unsealed.

All i'm doing here is broadening a persons chance of helping his turtle. It's not something everyone is going to jump into wanting to do and this is why I suggested that he not take my word for it but speak with his vet on the subject first. This diversity in opinion is what makes the world go around.)L



The last consideration could be that the injury to the carapace in the Malaclemys was not fresh. You were lucky to get to the sulcatta immediately. This can make a big difference when it comes to salvaging tissue (that will in turn regenerate scute keratin) on the carapace. It should not sound morbid so much as curious for me to ask, were any pre-treatment photos taken of Benny, so as to showcase the progress?



(I was fortunate to get to the AST quickly, many other variables could have made waiting a tragic or considerably more difficult situation. However whether the damage to the DBT's shell were fresh or not, it was not trauma to the bone as in the tortoise, it was trauma to the Keratin. As long as there is healthy contact of the keratin to the bone at any location on the shell, the keratin will continue to grow. In retrospect, Whether the turtle were to regenerate keratin beneath the sealant or not, the sealnat will still take the place of the job the keratin originally did. For that reason alone, its worth a try to seal the shell. In respect to Benny, my first concern was to remedy the damage to his shell. I have no earlier pictures of his damage. Actually as you can see by the photo, the damage was already primarily healed before i even took that photo.

Like I said, this is what works for me and I will continue in this direction should the situation ever warrant that type of care again.

In closing to this topic, I hope that you understand that this is a simple forum and it would be unrealistic to give every case senerio possible in each post that someone responds too. This is why when I make a suggestion of importance, that the person recieving the message is welcome to e-mail for more information. Thanx and peace. Leo)
Skin & Scales

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