Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Santa Claws brought me a new computer!!! It's great, it's fast it WORKS!!! YAY

Cookie the foster turtle was very sick as I suspected, after a week of nebulizer treatments the vet put her on Baytril, then on Christmas Eve I took her in at 8am & the vet put a feeding tube in her. She would not eat, period.
Vet thinks that this infection is related to her original injuries, she plans to redo the whole shell repair when Cookie is feeling better. She did pop off the acrylic on her plastron & I'll be darned, that break is already healed!

Cookie has improved dramatically since she's gotten enough food into her b/c of the feeding tube. More than likely by next week she can get started on redoing any part of the shell repair that needs work.

Kibbles the baby who's shell was getting too soft has also improved dramatically with lots of added calcium & that UVB bulb I installed for it. Kibbles the baby never lost it's appetite so vet never even needed to see the baby she said just feed the calcium coated insects, use the light daily & go from there. I can just barely feel softness now so the baby should be fine.

I am so happy to have a computer that works. I hope the rest of you have had a great holiday!!
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PHRatz

Wow, I admire your dedication to Cookie, hope he starts feeding well soon.
Well Santa was supposed to bring my wife and I a new computer too, but Santa procrastinated so hopefully he will deliver this Saturday
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1.0 pastel ball python
0.1 mojave ball python
0.1 normal ball python
0.2 3-toed box turtles
2.3 eastern box turtles
0.0.5 3-striped mud turtle
1.0 northern diamondback terrapin
2.1 tiger salamander
1.1 red-sided garter
1.0 anerythristic red-sided garter
1.1 Iowa snow plains garter
1.1 Het butter stripe cornsnake
0.1 anerythristic motley cornsnake
1.1 Blue garter (Puget Sound)

>>Wow, I admire your dedication to Cookie, hope he starts feeding well soon.
>>Well Santa was supposed to bring my wife and I a new computer too, but Santa procrastinated so hopefully he will deliver this Saturday

Well thank you! Cookie was/is everyone's special project, so we just can't stop fighting for her. My summertime teaching partner for our kid's class is the person who found Cookie dog chewed at one of her pet sitting jobs, last June. She's the one who got her to the vet in the first place then I was going to do Cookie's nursing care.

I took Cookie after she'd spent a few days with the vet then found that she had worms and she became increasingly stinky. I took her back to the hospital where the vet found she had 3 types of worms and maggots in her flesh wounds...so she ended up staying in the hospital for another month or so.

By the time the vet was ready to release her from the hospital my teaching partner was too intimidated by all the problems Cookie has & was afraid to try to keep her herself. She's more of a dog/cat/horse person- not an experienced reptile keeper so she wanted me to keep Cookie until she gets well. I don't know if my partner is still going to want Cookie in a year or 2 when she is finally recovered or not but she's still my foster turtle, not my turtle.

Cookie was doing fine here then began to eat less & less...then I heard the snuffling sounds. Vet ran some blood work last week & found a raging infection but didn't culture it so I'm not sure what it is exactly. Baytril is working so no need to culture right now. We can do that if need be though.
After all the work we've all put into this turtle since June, we just can't give up now. Too many people are involved with this turtle, she's lucky that so many people love her.
She got the name Cookie because she is one tough cookie.

I hope you do get the new computer Sat.
It's a WONDERFUL thing to have!!!!!
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PHRatz

It is great to hear that Cookie is progressing, as well as little Kibbles. I'd love to see a recent picture of Kibbles now that you're pimpin' a new processor

Maybe you will have to rally Santa for a new camera next year!!

>>It is great to hear that Cookie is progressing, as well as little Kibbles. I'd love to see a recent picture of Kibbles now that you're pimpin' a new processor
>>
>>Maybe you will have to rally Santa for a new camera next year!!

OH Yeah!!
I have a new scanner/fax/printer/copier thingie going on here too (don't know how to use it yet lol) but the computer will read the memory card right out of the camera too.
I took new pics of Kibbles and Cookie a couple of days ago...I just need to get computer nerd uhmmm I mean husband to show me how to get this stuff online & I'll post when he does.
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PHRatz

Looking forward to it.

Wow, Ratz, I read the post above regarding all of Cookie's maladies. I had been incredibly busy this past year, and missed many of your posts of late. It is absolutely amazing that this little girl is still with us. It sounds as if anything that could have gone wrong DID! I hope that you and your Vet. are recording the details of all these cases...there is much to learn from the both of you!

Ken,
When I took in Chip all dog chewed & infected in 2005 I didn't expect him to live but he's doing great today.
Cookie came along in even worse shape than he'd been- the plastron & carapace were crushed together so she couldn't extend her head out, my pal thought she was dead but pulled on a leg & Cookie moved.
With all those parasites, infection from the wounds, I figured she'd never leave the hospital.
I am amazed myself that she's still with us.
I just hope she makes it.
It's really unbelievable how tough they can be!
I'll get pics online ASAP.
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PHRatz

Of course I am a reptile person but I have had dogs and cats growing up and it really pisses me off that people let dogs run loose unattended. We have a leash law in my state and my town for that matter, but it is not very inforced. One of my neighbors lets there yellow lab run wild in the neighborhood all the time and it pisses and [bleep]s in everyones yard but theirs, several of the neighbors including myself have reported it to city hall, but all the do is send a warning letter, which I sure gets tossed into the trash. I had to build a 6ft wood fence just to keep my box turtles and garden safe. It's just a matter of being responsible and being a responsible pet owner and respecting other people and other peoples property and animals and plants for that matter.
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1.0 pastel ball python
0.1 mojave ball python
0.1 normal ball python
0.2 3-toed box turtles
2.3 eastern box turtles
0.0.5 3-striped mud turtle
1.0 northern diamondback terrapin
2.1 tiger salamander
1.1 red-sided garter
1.0 anerythristic red-sided garter
1.1 Iowa snow plains garter
1.1 Het butter stripe cornsnake
0.1 anerythristic motley cornsnake
1.1 Blue garter (Puget Sound)

Oh I know how you feel about those leash laws...my gripe is the cat next door who poops under my porch every other day. We're pretty lucky in our neighborhood, there really aren't any dogs that roam around here but coyotes & foxes do.
However in town I know a lot of people have roaming dog problems.

Actually though with Cookie, Chip, and Shell E all 3 of them wandered into yards with dogs in the backyard so it's hard to blame the dogs in their cases. Dogs in their own yard are going to be what they are.
Shell E was my first to be vet repaired, she was found inside our fence bleeding next to the car 6 years ago. 2 big dogs lived next door at the time, thankfully they moved out 5 years or so ago.
With Hobo, he was taken out of a dog's mouth before he was seriously injured but grrrrr the man who owned the dog was standing there laughing about the dog holding Hobo by the tail & slamming him back & forth on the ground. My next door neighbor saved Hobo from a horrible fate.

Our only shelled pet that I'll never stop feeling anger for is the sulcata, someone dumped her in the country & shot her 3 times with a gun

Anyway I have one pic ready.. I'll do another post
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PHRatz

For some reason I was able to get this photo cut down to the right size but now I can't get Kibbles pics cut down.
DH is going to have to install my paint shop pro onto the new bucket of wires here so I can get Kibbles online.

This is Cookie on Christmas Eve when she got back from the vet, today she had her eyes open on her own & started wiggling a lot when I was feeding her. She's feeling much better today.
As soon as she eats on her own, the vet will take her back to check out/ redo the shell repair.

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PHRatz

Cookie has taken a turn for the worse this morning. Not feeling well at all, I've spoken to her vet about it & she's having one of her techs fill some prescriptions this afternoon when he goes in for Sunday hospital care.
Hopefully we'll get her turned around & not lose her.
:::sigh::::
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PHRatz

I am so sorry to hear that, Ratz. She looks like a stout little thing, hopefully she will pull through. With all of her problems, though, it is amazing that she has gotten even this far. Thanks, no doubt, to your care.

Yesterday I got the medications. Vet thinks that the feeding tube itself is causing an infection so she prescribed metronidazole and metacam which is an anti-inflammatory med.

I really worried that I'd wake up this morning to find her gone.
But yay I didn't, she is feeling better this morning. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed!
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PHRatz

as will we, keep our fingers crossed for cookie.
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1.0 pastel ball python
0.1 mojave ball python
0.1 normal ball python
0.2 3-toed box turtles
2.3 eastern box turtles
0.0.5 3-striped mud turtle
1.0 northern diamondback terrapin
2.1 tiger salamander
1.1 red-sided garter
1.0 anerythristic red-sided garter
1.1 Iowa snow plains garter
1.1 Het butter stripe cornsnake
0.1 anerythristic motley cornsnake
1.1 Blue garter (Puget Sound)

that is messed up about the sulcata, what a shame. Your right you cant blame the dogs, it's a moving chew toy to them.
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1.0 pastel ball python
0.1 mojave ball python
0.1 normal ball python
0.2 3-toed box turtles
2.3 eastern box turtles
0.0.5 3-striped mud turtle
1.0 northern diamondback terrapin
2.1 tiger salamander
1.1 red-sided garter
1.0 anerythristic red-sided garter
1.1 Iowa snow plains garter
1.1 Het butter stripe cornsnake
0.1 anerythristic motley cornsnake
1.1 Blue garter (Puget Sound)