Reptile & Amphibian Forums

well, my co-worker brought the little guy/girl to me late this afternoon. I'm not sure what to think. It doesn't look as bad as I thought it might but I'm no expert on rehabbing injured tortoises. All mine have been C.B. and I've never had any problems like this in the 7-8 years I've kept torts. I called a few vets and they were closed already and Fish and game gave me a rehabber but it's not easy getting a hold of them. I plan to take him to a wildlife rehab as soon as I can get a hold of them. One fish and game person actually told me to let nature take it's course but I said it wasn't nature that caused this damage!! It was someone's pet that shouldn't have got a hold of it. anyway if any of you guys could give me your thoughts i'd like to hear. I do think he should make it.
Chad

N/P

N/p

N/P

This is another shot. He has two puncture wounds on top.

Believe it or not it's chances might be better in the wild. That could have easily been done by a fox or a raccoon. (I know you said it wasn't)
By taking it in you are actually adding to the stress of the trauma which I believe is probably greater than that caused by the damage. Just think of what it's like to acclimate a healthy WC animal.
I would probably take it in but just wanted to point out the reality.
It does look like it might have punctured the edge of the lung but the little guy doesn't look any worse for the ware.
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Ed
Tortoise_Keepers-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
Trying to keep the fun in Chelonian care

yea u can let him go. it looks ok. that will heal up on its own. i find turltes with much more seriuos damage(gun shots,animal bites,and even found a turtle that had a big chunck out of it shell most likely from a saw) in the wild that have survived.

CrazyCody

I am a licensed rehabber and I would NOT recommend putting him back no matter what caused the injury. A rehabber is not going to keep it they are going to fix it, make it healthy and let it go. Don't just let it go in that condition it will surely die of infection and it LOOKS like it can be easily treated. For now just keep the turtle comfortable I wouldn't even worry about trying to treat the wound leave that to the rehabbers.

Where are you located?

Try to get someone tomorrow and let them do what they are trained to do, again I would NOT let it go.

Christina
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0.0.1 Hatchling Indian Star Tortoise (Sitara)
1.1 Russian Tortoise (Willy & Mikey)
0.1 Ornate Box Turtle (Lily)
1.0 Red Eared Slider (Chester)
0.0.2 White's Tree Frog (Kermit & Phil)
0.0.1 Red eyed Tree Frog (Justin)
0.0.1 Big Eyed Tree Frog
0.0.2 Bubbling Frog
0.0.2 Tiger Leg Tree Frogs (Akari & Shiro)
0.0.3 Amazonian Milky Tree Frogs
0.0.1 Dwarf Megophrys
0.0.2 Rainbow Burrowing Frog/Ornate Hopper
0.0.1 Asian Blue Webbed Gliding Tree Frogs
0.0.1 Albino Pacman Frog
0.1 Praire Dog (Timmy)
0.2 Chinchillas (Layla & Snickers)
0.3 mice
0.1 dog (Holly)
2.0 Cats (Champ & Bear)

Oh and a husband

Chad -

Given a choice, it's usually better to let them heal on their own. They can recover from some nasty injuries. Bringing them into captivity increases stress and probably affects their ability to heal. Since you've already got the animal, it would be best to get it to a rehabber and get it on some topical and maybe systemic antibiotics to prevent infection. It doesn't look that bad, but it is hard to tell.

One important thing is to find out exactly where it came from. Gophers need to be released back in their home ranges or they will start roaming, looking for home (and get whacked by a car in the process). In addition, releasing gophers in a different locations can spread and has spread URTD caused by Mycoplasmas. The injuries might not kill the tortoise, but a relocation outside its home range might. Be sure and give the rehabber the location where the animal should be released. If the rehabber knows what they are doing, they won't release it anywhere else. There are many homeless gophers that can't be released since they came from unknown sources.

Dan

hopefully you can get it to a rehabber and they can help him/her out. i know that i'd personally have a very difficult time just letting it go in that shape... could get infected or something.

let us know how it turns out!