Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Or rather, I found a male res about 5 inches in diameter with a broken shell. It's a precarious situation because the shell is broken in the bottom of its carapace beneath its head and left front leg(about 2 inches in length and half an inch in width,) hanging by its skin, and IF NOT CONNECTED AND GRAPHED SOON MAY DIE AND LEAVE THE RES COMPLETELY EXPOSED INTERNALLY in this vital area!!

Pleas help me find out HOW TO ATTACH THIS SHELL IMMEDIATELY!?

Thanks.

I think your best bet is to get it to a vet as soon as possible! Are there any vets in your area that treat reptiles? Maybe you could do a search and find one reasonably close by. Good luck!

fiber glass cloth and resin is used alot to fix shells. Would be what the vet would do if it can be fixed at all. Good Luck
-----
Even if your on the right track you will get run over if you just sit there
19 leos,1.1 redtail boas,1.1 rainbow boas,1.1 cornsnakes, 1.0 tokay gecko,1.0 veiled cham, 6 dogs and a cat. Oh, can't forget Tater my parrotlet.

You can try having the vet wire the plate back in place and then patch over with fiberglass, but my experience is that when sections of plate are disconnected from the main shell like that (as opposed to just cracked/fractured) the broken section will not graph back ...the blood supply to the broken section has been disrupted beyond repair. Better then to have the vet just cut the broken shell section off from the skin flap and if needed stitch the skin area up and let it heal. The turtle can do fine if an area of shell is missing from around the periphial.
-----
_____

PHWyvern