Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i got a call early this morning from a girl i work with... a lady brought a female box turtle that she saw her neighbors dog attacking up to the store... (ill never figure out why people bring injured animals to a petstore instead of a vet)..

i went and picked her up about an hour ago.. she seems to be ok, most of the wounds were superficial with the exception of a missing eye... it looks like the dog got her by the face, a cut under her chin and the eye completely gone.. the eye socket looks clean, no puss just clear fluid leaking out.. my vet friend kelly happened to be at the store when i picked her up.. she took a look at her and is going to give me something to put on the eye tomorrow...

shes a huge female, the biggest wild one ive seen, and has lots of scars from old injuries and some shell disfiguration that looks like a previous encounter with a dog.. the lady who dropped her off said that thier neighborhood was expanding and that they had recently obliterated the last remaining forest area for new houses... my question is, after she has recovered will she be able to survive in the wild without an eye? and also, if her home was just destroyed can she be placed at another site? i have my doubts about the answers to these... i imagine that losing an eye will severely lower her chances of survival especially if the territory that she is familiar with is gone.... i dont really need another turtle, but ill keep her if that is her best chance of surviving.. shes going back to the vet tomorrow for a full checkup to make sure there is nothing serious that we missed.. i need advice on this please..
-----
my pets: clown treefrogs, reed frogs, big eyed treefrogs, tiger leg monkey frogs, gray treefrogs, milk frogs, cuban treefrogs, whites tree frog, green treefrogs, squirrel treefrogs, blue webbed gliding treefrog, red eye treefrogs, chameleon treefrogs?, mossy treefrogs, dusky salamanders, tiger salamander, box turtles, mud turtle, map turtle, yellowbelly slider, florida softshell, two saltwater tanks, five cats, two chinchillas, and a boyfriend.

In which state are you located? In this case, I'd probably recommend she become a pet, if your state allows it. If the habitat is gone, and dogs are roaming the area unsupervised, then there's likely no place left for her to go. Relocating a box turtle is not an option.

I know of someone in TX that has been looking for a couple of female eastern box turtles (he doesn't want to breed at this time, thus the desire for females) and is more than wiling to take in "scratch and dent" animals so long as they can still hibernate. Contact me if you'd be interested in getting in touch with him.

Katrina
-----
1.2 Eastern Muds - Fred, Ethel, Edith
0.1 Iguana - Tiffel
0.1 Bearded Dragon - Foster
Foster turtles: More than I'd like the husband to know about.

I have a captive three-toed box turtle which rescued from a pet store. At the time of the rescue, he had a severe eye infection secondary to a vitamin A deficiency. He ultimately recovered but lost all use of his right eye.

He is normally housed with two female T.c.triunguis and often needs extra care at feeding time; his field of vision is halved, and he even seems to not be able to 'intuit' that a prey insect has moved into his 'blind spot', and thus gives up on the prey intem altogether. He also loses out in breeding competition when we occasionally place him in a 2.3 breeding group. Even in the 1.2 group, he attempts mating much less often than our other male in a 1.1 group.

So, it seems to me that a one-eyed turtle is at a distinct disadvantage. Keep yours in captivity.

Hello: I have encountered E. Box Turtles with one eye in the wild. They do lose eyes naturally sometimes thru infections. She should do fine after the eye and wounds heal. They are very hardy. Finding a wild spot won't be easy to let her go. If you know where other wild boxers roam let her go there. I have many
turtles with handicaps that do fine, (missing legs, etc) donated
from a local vet. If you are looking for someone to donate to I would gladly accept and care for her and pay for the shipping.
Good Luck

Tom

i suppose i should focus on getting her fixed first... the vet said that except for the eye, she should heal fine... all the bite marks were superficial and none of the shell was shattered.. she actually ate today, which amazed me since every other time i have aquired a boxie, they have been quite stubborn about feeding.. this is day 3 that ive had her, and shes wild caught, but she ate about 6 wax worms, 3 earthworms and some strawberries... i did notice that when the worms left her line of sight, she completely lost track of them... she didnt turn her head to find them or anything... just moved on to the next one.. shes going back to see the vet in a week to make sure the eye (or lack of) is healing properly.. ive basically decided not to make a decision at this point..

i will keep both of those offers of possible homes for her in mind, if you want to, send me your email addresses and if i decide not to keep her or release her ill get in touch..

thank you all for your advice..
-----
my pets: clown treefrogs, reed frogs, big eyed treefrogs, tiger leg monkey frogs, gray treefrogs, milk frogs, cuban treefrogs, whites tree frog, green treefrogs, squirrel treefrogs, blue webbed gliding treefrog, red eye treefrogs, chameleon treefrogs?, mossy treefrogs, dusky salamanders, tiger salamander, box turtles, mud turtle, map turtle, yellowbelly slider, florida softshell, two saltwater tanks, five cats, two chinchillas, and a boyfriend.

How is she doing??????

shes doing great.. she actually eats more readily than all my other boxies, as soon as she sees me walk onto the porch with a plate of food shes on her way over... the wounds on her shell have healed (all very minor scratches) so i took her out of her tiny iso tank and put her out into a bigger area with my other females, she can see them through a temp wall of plexi i put up, but is still separate thus far.. shes been dewormed and her eye is healing nicely although its still in the process. i think next week she will be introduced to my females, but im going to keep her away from the males until she is completely better... shes oddly the least shy of my whole group, even though ive had some of them for quite a while and she was definitely wild before the dog bite incident.. im still trying to decide what to do with her but im getting attached now so i might end up keeping her...
-----
my pets: clown treefrogs, reed frogs, big eyed treefrogs, tiger leg monkey frogs, gray treefrogs, milk frogs, cuban treefrogs, whites tree frog, green treefrogs, squirrel treefrogs, blue webbed gliding treefrog, red eye treefrogs, chameleon treefrogs?, mossy treefrogs, dusky salamanders, tiger salamander, box turtles, mud turtle, map turtle, yellowbelly slider, florida softshell, two saltwater tanks, five cats, two chinchillas, and a boyfriend.