Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ken mentioned how tough box turtles really are.
This morning I remembered something about a box I saw 4-5 years ago when I was teaching my annual summer class for children.
On the last day of each session it's always parent's day so we let the kids do show & tell because the parents can bring the pet & then take it home.

One year a mom brought in an adult female box turtle, the whole carapace was broken & it wobbled all over the place as she moved because it was still attached to the turtle but broken in large chunks. I was horrified when I saw this.
The mom said "but we found it this way." I though yeah and???
She wasn't bleeding, I could see her body through the breaks but it looked like her breaks had healed around the edges and she wasn't infected.

I thought to myself OH MY GOD how can you look at this & not DO something about it? ok so if you found a dog with broken bones.. you'd just leave the dog broken?

The odd thing was the turtle didn't seem to mind, she was walking around, eating, acting normal, & didn't seem to have a problem being busted up like that.

I did tell the mom why the turtle needed to be repaired & gave her a list of local vets who could do this.
She wouldn't leave the turtle with me so I hope the mom did something about it.
The bad thing about this class is that each session lasts only 2 weeks. Parent's day is the last day of each session. I have no way of knowing whether this family did something about the turtle or not.

My point though is that I was really taken aback by how normal this turtle behaved.
That really is a testament to how tough they are.
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PHRatz

WOW!!!!

There must be a biological mechanism that desensitises these animals to pain. I frequently find Turtles with missing limbs and severe shell damage.
Fortunately, nature serves these animals well, leaches to clean blood, maggots to debride necrotic tissues etc. I will post some pics later of Box turtles I have found with severe shell damage that had healed in nature.
Some time ago, I worked as a care taker of Primates (Rhesus and Pig Tailed macaques specifically) in a Behavioral Science Lab. These animals would sometimes inflict severe injuries on one another (bite off digits etc) outside of the blood, the animals behaved as if nothing at all had happened to them.)
Thanks, Leo
Skin & Scales

>>There must be a biological mechanism that desensitises these animals to pain. I frequently find Turtles with missing limbs and severe shell damage.
>>Fortunately, nature serves these animals well, leaches to clean blood, maggots to debride necrotic tissues etc. I will post some pics later of Box turtles I have found with severe shell damage that had healed in nature.

I'd like to see those!

>>Some time ago, I worked as a care taker of Primates (Rhesus and Pig Tailed macaques specifically) in a Behavioral Science Lab. These animals would sometimes inflict severe injuries on one another (bite off digits etc) outside of the blood, the animals behaved as if nothing at all had happened to them.)

That's very interesting.. I wonder if they do feel the pain but they hide it so as not to appear weak?
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PHRatz

That's just amazing, Ratz! As you describe it, I can almost picture the turtle's shell just a-floppin'. I encounter nearly 200 box turtles a year on the roads around here(one year I'll do an actual formal count). I've seen some pretty amazing injury recoveries, but nothing like you've described. Before this, the worst I had seen was a picture of a female Diamondback Terrapin with like no face! She was fully healed and laying eggs at the time. I still don't know how the poor thing ate.

Animals in general are amazingly tough. Of course, then there's my Staffie. He's a big, bad, strong bulldog that laid prostrate and whined all evening on Wednesday from getting a simple Bordetella shot. He was up like a jackrabbit when it was dinner-time. Then, it was back to the fluffy dog bed for more pitiful moaning. I think he just wanted some pity .

>>> Before this, the worst I had seen was a picture of a female Diamondback Terrapin with like no face! She was fully healed and laying eggs at the time. I still don't know how the poor thing ate.

Oh my gosh I wonder what had happened to her. Maybe a natural predator attack? Poor thing! Laying eggs at the time though, can you imagine all the stress on her little body? yikes

>>Animals in general are amazingly tough. Of course, then there's my Staffie. He's a big, bad, strong bulldog that laid prostrate and whined all evening on Wednesday from getting a simple Bordetella shot. He was up like a jackrabbit when it was dinner-time. Then, it was back to the fluffy dog bed for more pitiful moaning. I think he just wanted some pity .

ROFL!! I know what you mean there & yes when they do that I think they do just want pity. LOL
IMO it's the large breed dogs that usually want to be lap dogs more so than some of the little ones like our little weiner dog.
They crack me up.
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PHRatz

My dachshund had a flair for the dramatic when it came to vaccines: after a shot, he'd limp around like he was in tremendous pain...but he'd be limping on the wrong side!!
I wonder if wild animals just have such a strong survival instinct that they just keep going, no matter what.