Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,
about 4 months ago, i got an abused adult female 3 toed box turtle through a friend at work. I immediately brought her to the local herp vet. he told me that she had been neglected and starved for a long period of time. as a result, she had swollen eyes (vitamen A defeciency), a mishaped shell, crippled front right arm, and jaw problems. I began caring for her needs immediatly. i isolated her from my eastern boxies in a seperate 4' 2' rubbermaid, temperarly for the winter, with proper uv bulbs and temp of around 80F. i got her box turtle food to mix in with her favourites (because she is very picky), and rep cal herptivite to accompany her meals weekly. i tried feeding her mealworms, earthworms ect, but her jaws aren't strong enough to chew and swollow such live foods. at every attempt, the food continues to fall out of her mouth. i am now cutting up the earthworms and mixing them with the box turtle food to ensure that she is intaking proper nutrition. she still eats with difficulty, the food continues to fall out of her mouth. i was wondering if anyone has any suggestions to help me speed recovery. all criticism and suggestions are welcome, because i only want to see this poor girl healthy.

Thanks,
Ed

It may be essential that you take a plastic syringe and force feed her certain foods that provide vitamins and minerals that will help speed her recovery. Is she getting extra calcium?

When you inject it in, some of it may or may not stay down, but it is better than her not being able to ingest anything at all. There should be some guidelines to force feeding turtles somewhere on the internet. There are probably even box turtle-specific instructions.

Your efforts may or may not improve her strength and ability to control her motor functions and feeding. Unfortunately, when an animal has been neglected for long periods of time, serious neuro-muscular damage can ensue, and sometimes it is difficult to rehabilitate fully. There are countless success stories, however, so good luck!