Reptile & Amphibian Forums

About 10 days ago we brought home a RES that had been kept by a child in a quart size Critter Keeper for 2 1/2 years. It had been given Reptomin, but it sat in 1/2" of water with no basking, no UV of any kind. The poor thing is only about 1 1/4" long.

He seemed to respond well to our tank setup. He was eating, and swimming. He was weak, but was doing remarkably well. The thing I was most worried about was that all the scutes around the perimeter of his shell were soft.
Not spongy, but they had "give" when gently pushed.

Yesterday we awoke to find 2 of them had snapped off and one is very very loose. There was no blood but I applied antibiotic ointment anyway. It looked like the shell was "dead" in that area.

Can anyone help? Can he live? Will he heal? Is there anything else I can do to help him?

run him to the vet! It's dietary, he needs his dark greens and UVB big time. Maybe a vet could give him a boost in the calcium dept.

I've been trying to find a vet out here that knows reptiles, but no success so far. (We're in the middle of nowhere-if he was a cow or a pig I'd have no problem)

I know it's dietary, and we're loading him up with calcium supplements and UVB. I'm just afraid it's too little too late. 2 1/2 years is a long time. I will continue to look for a herp-vet but welcome any other suggestions.

Strange as it sounds, he is happily swimming, basking, eating and behaving like a happy, healthy turtle in all other respects.

Hmm, just a thought, if there is no damage to the body underneath, I don't see how it could hurt him. If you are correcting the dietary problems, I would say he should recover, although his shell may never be perfect. Just watch him closely, if he gets an infection he can get very sick very fast. A vet would be able to administer a calcium shot, and if need be prescribe antibiotics. Maybe you can find one willing to do it, even if he doesn't know that much about turtles. I would try to find a reptile rescue group, they are probably more used to seeing turtles in that kind of situation.
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A mans got to do what a mans got to do. A woman has to do what he can't.

Mom to:

1 little boy born 7/19/04
2 male RES, born 1999
1 ribbon snake, age unknown
3 FBT, ages unknown
1 female bearded dragon, born 5/2002
1 male lab mix, born 5/24/03
1 female calico cat, born 6/7/04

It's great you rescued this little guy. What a miserable life he had. I'll never understand why people don't do more research on a pet before they get it...

Anyway, you may find a vet or herp organization at one of Melissa Kaplan's pages. Try this webpage and click on the link also.

http://www.anapsid.org/societies/index.html
Melissa Kaplan's vet list