Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ok, so junior recently had a mystery sore on his mouth which has since healed. now, though, the outer corners of his eyes are kind of pink and puffy. also, and this is what has me really worried, is that there are a couple of tiny white spots where new growth comes in between his scutes. at first i thought it was kind of a marbling effect, but closer investigation reveals that these little spots are perhaps a bit soft. also, on his underside, where his scutes meet they used to come out a bit -- almost like the opposite of pyramiding -- but now there is a bit of a tiny valley between the scutes.

am i making any sense -- does this sound familiar to anyone at all?

my original herp vet now works for the zoo full time so no dice. the last one i took him to, i don't know -- she seemed nice but the way she handled him made me feel that perhaps she's not very experienced with reptiles (not to mention that the staff seemed to be a bit surprised that i'd brought in a "turtle". i have the name of another vet, dr. brad wilson, that i'm going to try next, who is supposed to be an exotics guy.

if anyone can recommend a good herp vet in georgia i'd be very grateful.

nm

Contact the veterinary college in Georgia. Dr. Hernandez-Divers is one of the best. If they don't see public clientele, than go to www.arav.com for a list of members in Georgia. That'll be a start

Ian

I can only assume that is the wife Of Steven Divers who is one of the better herp vets in the UK (or used to be) I heard he moved to the US but didn't know it was in Georgia. That wouldn't be Atlanta by any chance????? That would be really neat.

Ed

>>Contact the veterinary college in Georgia. Dr. Hernandez-Divers is one of the best. If they don't see public clientele, than go to www.arav.com for a list of members in Georgia. That'll be a start
>>
>>Ian
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Ed @ Tortoise Keepers
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

there is a steven and a sonia hernandez-divers, and since he is apparently went to school in england, i'm gussing that they are the ones ej was thinking of as well. they are at the university of georgia in athens -- quite a hike from here -- and if i am understanding the webpage correctly they mainly take public cases on a referral basis from your regular vet.

i have an appointment tuesday with the local vet, so we'll see.

consider this...

mention both Dr. Divers to whatever vet you select. Most vets do network.

Ed

>>there is a steven and a sonia hernandez-divers, and since he is apparently went to school in england, i'm gussing that they are the ones ej was thinking of as well. they are at the university of georgia in athens -- quite a hike from here -- and if i am understanding the webpage correctly they mainly take public cases on a referral basis from your regular vet.
>>
>>i have an appointment tuesday with the local vet, so we'll see.
-----
Ed @ Tortoise Keepers
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

wow, I"m glad you've heard of them. Yup, I'm talking about Steve Divers and Sonia Hernandez, now S and S Hernandez-Divers. I took their basic reptile medicine course on VIN. and know them through that route. They both moved to the US and he now is teaching at the university of Georgia. (I think, I"m sure there are a couple of vet colleges in Georgia. I can check if you'd like. YOu can also locate him at www.arav.com or the Georgia Veterinary Medical Association.) His wife I think is pursing other biology PhD stuff and moving away from the reptile vet med.

I"ll be down hopefully sooner rather than later to take in some more continueing education on herp medicine and grab some of that famous Georgia herping

Ian

Hello Unchikun,
I know both Sam Rivera and Steve Hernandez-Divers personally, and both are excellent reptile vets. Unfortunately, Sam is no longer in private practice full time as you know, but still works one Saturday a month at his old office. You could check to see when he will be there next.

I can also save you some time regarding learning how to make an appt. at the Univ. of GA Vet Clinic. You can schedule an appointment for yourself (without need of a referral from your private vet) by calling 706.542.3221. Steve is the head of the Exotics department and rotates through the student clinic every two weeks or so. Make an appt. in the Exotics clinic when he is the supervising vet in the clinic. Your case will be assigned to a student since it is a teaching hospital, but the student will answer to Dr. Divers and will treat the animal according to his recommendations and advice.

The school is very easy to reach off of the highway in Athens and has its own free parking area right in front of the clinic entrance. If you want more info, just email me privately and I will help you.

Bill Zovickian

my boyfriend and i loved taking junior to dr. rivera -- the man very clearly loves what he does and takes a genuiune and active interest in his patients. he's seen junior for general check-ups/parasite checks, and has trimmed his beak, and always treated junior wonderfully.

i'm glad to hear that he does one saturday a month still -- as his old practice is nearly literally "around the corner" from where we live. i will try and give them a call tomorrow and see if i can catch him on the saturday... otherwise i may try the u.g.a. route, though as you're probably aware that is a *much* further drive so i'd rather see dr. rivera if at all possible, both for convenience's sake and for familiarity.

i appreciate your time in passing that information along to me!

well, junior just had his vet visit earlier today -- i liked the new vet, who seemed to be much more experienced in reptiles than the other one i recently saw.

the spots on he corners of his eyes are already getting a bit better -- one has mostly healed -- and the doctor said that he likely was irritated by something and did it by wiping with his arm or something. because it is healing he didn't seem to be concerned about it as long as it continues.

the "seams" becoming more prominent along his plastron also did not seem to concern him much. he said that as long as what is going on is symmetrical, it's likely just normal growth which will fill in. it's not like it's cracking or anything, but i hadn't noticed it being so prominent before.

as for the white spots in the new growth on his carapace, they aren't really soft, and any flakyness is consistent with little bits here and there on his shell. they have occurred before and eventually darkened, but again this hasn't happened to such an extent. he sais that it does not appear to be any form of rot or anything.

overall as far as his shell goes the vet says that it's probably just because he is growing now and such changes may be more noticeable because he is bigger.

junior has again earned a completely clean bill of health. i suppose that because a few things have been different about him lately, i panicked, thinking that perhaps they were symptomatic of a possible larger underlying problem.

thanks to all who have responded to my post. i truly appreciate that this community has so many helpful individuals who are looking out for each other!