Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Chip is infected as I thought so he's not going to be repaired for at least a week. He'll have daily antibiotics, medicated soaks, medicated ointment, freshly bandaged daily, & fluids if needed. Then if he won't eat on his own in a week he'll have a feeding tube inserted.
I know there's a chance he won't live but we're going to give him everything he needs to live if he can do it.
I just hope he'll start eating on his own, so far he's turned down everything I've offered but I'm sure he's really freaked out by being near humans all of a sudden.
He's going to stay at home for the week, he'll get more attention here than he would at the hospital so we'll see how it goes. Wish him luck!
-----
PHRatz

KEEP US POSTED !

I will Mark!
He doesn't look bad this morning but I am disappointed that I still haven't been able to get him to eat.
I even tried the monkey see monkey do method yesterday. I put food on the turtle plate (a flat paver brick) and had Charity eat in front of him so he'd get the idea but he still refused food after I took her away. I knew he wouldn't try to eat while she was eating but I thought he might get curious about the food after she was taken away... darn it!
We'll try food again today, he should be ok without food for a few days as long as he stays hydrated. After all if he hadn't been hurt & he was still outside he'd be underground right now not eating anyway. I sure hope he makes it, I hate it when these injured ones don't pull through.
-----
PHRatz

Yesterday around noon he had his 2nd dose of Baytril, his 2nd soak in the medication, ointment applied, bandage changed & then I opened his mouth & put a live mealworm in.
He acted like he wasn't sure about that but he ate it.

Then in the evening I took him out & put a few more worms in, one at a time & by the time he got a 2nd one he chewed a little, swallowed then looked like hey this isn't bad stuff. lol
I didn't give him very many, didn't want to overwhelm him then he had some fluids after that. He looked a whole lot better yesterday evening than he did in the morning. Hopefully he'll improve every day & will do very well when the shell repair begins again.
:::keeping fingers crossed::::
-----
PHRatz

It's always a good sign when they eat, in my opinion.
I hope he makes a full recovery.
Stephanie

Good news! We are all pulling for Chip.

Lori and Yurtle

Today I was more encouraged than ever before. Chip didn't seem very perky yesterday, I put a mealworm in his mouth but he spit it out. Then I put a live lobster roach in his mouth, he spit it out.
I mixed up Reptomin with water waited for it to turn to mush then I scooped it into a 3cc syringe, pried his mouth open and put some food in. I've had success with this in the past, I don't force the food down them with a syringe because I don't want them to aspirate.
So with Chip as with others in the past I put the food in the front of his mouth & when he closed he had a choice, he could spit it out or swallow. He swallowed it on his own.
I got a total of 3cc of food into him over the course of about an hour or so. This morning I took him to school so that my lab animal students could do his treatment. A turtle isn't exactly a lab animal lol but he's a good animal for them to deal with since none of them ever have dealt with a turtle before.
He was so active while at school, I have never seen him so active & looking good. He's about to get more food now, I think getting a good meal into him has really made him turn a corner today. If he'll just get through the repair next Monday, he should be home free!
::::still crossing fingers::::
-----
PHRatz

Sounds like you are headed in the right direction. keep the updates coming !

Mark

He just woke up a few minutes ago. I'll let him relax for a while before we do anything today.
He ate again yesterday afternoon, about 2cc worth of a mixture of different turtle pellet foods. I'm thinking as long as that infection clears up & we get him built up with more food over the weekend then his repair job that's coming on Monday should go well for him.
I so don't want to lose him because he's a fighter who really wants to live. I can't help but chatter on & on about him so I'll update more of course.
-----
PHRatz

This afternoon he's feeling a whole lot better, better than ever before. He's starting to really fight hard over the Baytril injections, fighting with me is a great sign IMHO. I just have to explain to him that he has to give it up because he won't win lol.

He's well hydrated & hasn't needed any fluids yet today. His eyes are open & look bright, he's not eating on his own but not fighting with me for putting food in his mouth. So I think I'll try putting him in the bathtub with some live crickets & see if he'll go after them on his own.
STILL crossing fingers though because I know the upcoming repair is going to be hard on his little body.
I have really high hopes for him today.
-----
PHRatz