Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi there... I'm a usual frequenter of the Monitor and Boa forums...I've had turtles in the past though mostly for rehab and release purposes and they were all aqautics (alligator snapper, painteds, red-ears etc) Well, 2 days ago I got a call from my local Humane Society...I'm on their rescue list for small reptiles, and was told someone had dropped an Eastern Box turtle off in a cardboard box in their garbige bins. I told them I'd take it.. It needs time to get back to health though. Its nail were heavily overgrown and it has a mild case of shell rot which I'm treating. I've trimmed her nails (I'm pretty sure its a girl.. short tail and no concavity on the Plastron) and given her a warm soak then a betadine and water wash down.. then applied Silvadene cream to the shell rot areas. She doesn't look too underweight... is active though she does have a mild Respiratory infection as well.. I can hear it in her breathing.. I'm treating that with elevated temps until I can get her into a vet on Monday for a general check up and some antibiotics. My question is on food.. cause she is eating already. She ate some dandelion greens, a few mealworms and some apple earlier with Calcium powder sprinkled on. I've also offered her some Extruded horse feed I've got that I soaked in water.. (Its made of Soy, Rice, Corn and bran) which she seemed to like as well...I offered a bit of hard boiled egg and a cut up pinkie to her as well...Though these she didn't touch.. could be she's full...I'll try those again tomorrow. I guess what I want to know is if I'm doing things right for her at the moments.. Her temps are around 75 on the cool end up to 87 on the warm end of her enclosure... I've got her on newspaper for now so I can watch for a stool sampe to take with me to the vets. I did add a hide box so she'd feel more secure.. a shallow water dish from a large plastic plant pot bottom...

Any suggestions on anything I could change to make her more comfortable would be helpful. Thanks alot..
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Lucien

1.1 Columbian Redtail Boa (BCI)(Sutekh and Isis)
3.5.3 Leopard geckos (2.0 Blizzards (Caine and Goliath), 0.1 Tangerine Albino (Tequila Sunrise ...Tiki for short), 1.0 Rainwater Albino (Mycah), 0.4 Poss. Het. Albino (Annika, Lace, Rain and Aris) and 2.1 dbl. het blizzard x tang albino (Malice, Malfeas, and Mystic))
0.1 Savannah Monitor (Kiros)
13 rats
2 Dogs (Loki and Storm)
3 cats (Ashe, Sahara and Hercules)
6 Fish (4 Red Danios, 1 Cardinal Fish, and 1 Tiger Barb)
8 Ramshorn snails
"And a Partridge in a Pear Tree!"

get the warm side up closer to 90 degrees, up the humidity, this will help with the URI, I dont have any personal experience with shell rot so I can't help you there, news paper isn't a good substrate but since you're waiting for a stool sample I guess it'll work for now, once you get that get her on some peat moss/top soil mix, this will also help keeping the humidity up.
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My Site
1.2.1 Terrapene Carolina Triunguis
0.1 Nymphicus hollandicus
1.1 Melopsittacus undulatus
1.0 American Cocker Spaniels
1.0 American Short Hair? Cat
1.1 Rouen Ducks

yeah, I guess you got plenty of pinkies around huh?

well it sounds like overall you are doing a completely outstanding job! I mean really really good! general experience with other herps certainly translates. you're aware of health issues and are prepared to see the vet, are pretty well on with the diet, good temps, etc. I, too, use betadine/water rinses frequently as prevention, it's just good external antimicrobial practice.

food offerings sound really good, though the mice are not really a staple to them in the wild, so I wouldn't expect her to be crazy about it. it is true however they will occasionally catch a small rodent, bird, etc. but it's rare.

she would get plenty of D3 from the liver and kidneys of the mice, as snakes do. I'm assuming though when you say they are "cut up", that the bones have been removed or you are just offering the organs? and hard boiled egg with shell on, yes? good calcium. everything else food wise is really good, and you can try some other fruits, veggies & insects or worms. dandelion greens are good...collards are best due to calcium/phosphorus ratio. Ca of 14:4!!!!

Tess Cooks site has a good diet reference page:
www.boxturtlesite.org/diet.html

www.boxturtlesite.org/min.html

since you have experience with snakes and monitors,( which I also have many years experience with. one of my first snakes was a Western Diamondback ), and you know they have much reduced need for UVB due to uptake of D3 from their particular prey, so most keepers do not have UVB lights...I would suggest one for her if you haven't done it already.

Mick

Thanks for the info and the pages. I do plan on putting her on a soil mixture as soon as I do get a good stool sample for the vet. I have a lot of experience with nursing sick animals period. I've done rehab work on small mammals and reptiles for a while now. Much of that care translate into a general knowledge on how to treat various things. The shell rot isn't too bad.. the damage doesn't go really deep and she's only got about 4 pits in the surface of her shell... they've been cleaned, swabbed out and Silvadene applied. The pinkies have been sliced up though all internal organs and everything have been left including bones.. Hard boiled eggs with shell... mixed in a bit of calcium supplement for her as well. I won't need the UV light since she'll be outside every day for at least 2 hours for real sunlight. Far superior in my eyes when compared to any light that can be manufactured. UV output with those can be questionable as I've learned in the past... Daytime temps here in Vermont are up there in the 70's finally most days so she should be good out there for a couple hours basking. I went out and dug up some earthworms for her too.. she sucked those down like they were going out of style *L* So tomorrow I'll go out and get her more. The Vet's going to have to cut her beak back a bit... its slightly overgrown... and her breathing isn't quite as bad as I thought it was. Mostly she makes the loud breathing noise when I pick her up. Not sure if its a turtle version of a hiss or what but she doesn't have any clicking in her normal respiration. We'll see what the vet says but I wanted to make sure I had her comfortable enough for the weekend.
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Lucien

1.1 Columbian Redtail Boa (BCI)(Sutekh and Isis)
3.5.3 Leopard geckos (2.0 Blizzards (Caine and Goliath), 0.1 Tangerine Albino (Tequila Sunrise ...Tiki for short), 1.0 Rainwater Albino (Mycah), 0.4 Poss. Het. Albino (Annika, Lace, Rain and Aris) and 2.1 dbl. het blizzard x tang albino (Malice, Malfeas, and Mystic))
0.1 Savannah Monitor (Kiros)
13 rats
2 Dogs (Loki and Storm)
3 cats (Ashe, Sahara and Hercules)
6 Fish (4 Red Danios, 1 Cardinal Fish, and 1 Tiger Barb)
8 Ramshorn snails
"And a Partridge in a Pear Tree!"

With all of the vitamins, anthrocyanins, flavonoids and other healthful compounds they're loaded with, combined with the fact that Easterns in particular seem to love them and eat them very readily, you might want to consider adding them to your list of foods to offer regularly.
Stephanie

Hi Steph,
Read my post above...
If you'd like a start on the thornless "Black Satin " Berries;
I'd be more than happy to send you them. I don't sell these;
they would just be complimentary.
Sometimes it's a fight as to who will eat them first; between my boxie, my Siberian Husky or myself. They are sweet and glossy when ready to be picked. I'd had them many years.
Ric