I have a sick baby eastern box turtle. Her siblings are all fine, but her shell is softening where the carapace and plastron meet. Also, some of the scutes on her plastron are getting reddish, like they're infected or something. I've separated her from the others and started treating her with Zoomed repti sulfa dip once a day. She's eating well and active. She gets supplements twice a week and natural sunlight as often as weather permits. Inside she's under a 5.0 UV light and there's a small under-tank heat pad at one end. I use slightly damp organic cypress mulch as a substrate and change it every other week. She has a dish of clean water available at all times. She eats dusted crickets, freshly molted mealworms, chopped greens (turnip, collard, etc.), and zoomed natural box turtle food. The vets I've called say she's too small to attempt antibiotic shots and recommend euthanasia. She's too spunky to just give up on! Is there anything else I can do, or just wait and hope she recovers?
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3.7 ball pythons
1.4.14 Eastern box turtles
1.1 corn snakes
0.1 scarlet kingsnake
0.1 bearded dragon
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sick baby (kinda long)
Replies (1)
Be sure the UVB blub is brand new. It sounds like you are doing a good job raiser her and obviously your other turtles attest to that.
Give the turtle plenty of TLC, be sure no extra stress occur to it. It sounds like it has a blood borne infection, but you never can tell, miracles do happen. I used to hang a cross over my sick turtle's pen 
Did the turtle have a cut on her shell? Have your turtles been fed live aquarium snails or live feeder fish? Some carry parasites. I do not feed babies anything that might infect them because it is true, their small size makes dosing them with antibiotics or other meds is harder, but not impossible!
I used an oral antibiotic for a baby turtle and he survived. He is still with me, missing one arm because it was rotting when I got him and was amputated once he got bigger. Ask your vet if he'll proscribe oral antibiotics to try as a last resort. Just add a drop to his food once a day and then soak several times.
Feed the turtle waxworm, things high in fat so she has reserves to fight this illness. Soak her in Pedilyte as well as water for the extra electolytes. Anything to give her that extra edge. Good luck! Tess
