Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I totally forgot to ask the vet about the type of acrylic she used on Chip but I will see her again in 3 days so I'll find out for sure then. I'll have a crowd with me that day, I'll make sure that one of them reminds me to ask.
Why I forgot is because I had to take 3 pets in today, found out that Chip is losing weight so in 3 days he'll have a feeding tube implanted.
Shell E the box turtle needed a beak trim but that was no big deal. The bad news was that one of my adored rat girls has a tumor so the day Chip gets the feeding tube, my Faye Dunarat will have the tumor removed & will be spayed. When they aren't even a year old it's worth it to spay them.
There was so much going on I just plain forgot even though I wrote it down & had the question on paper sitting in my back pocket!
I will find out because it's bugging me too, I'd like to know the name of it myself.
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PHRatz

thanks. no big rush. /p

Hey thanks for understanding.
I was so upset about having to have yet another rat operated on that it just went right out of my head. The good news is though since we started spaying them when they get tumors, it's stopped the tumors from happening at all for those who are spayed. They're prone to developing benign tumors that come back over & over but spaying stops them from cycling hence it stops the tumors.
I'm not too thrilled about Chip having to have another invasive procedure done to him either but we've come this far so we have to do it. ::::sigh:::::
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PHRatz

>> I'm not too thrilled about Chip having to have another invasive procedure done to him either but we've come this far so we have to do it. ::::sigh:::::
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>>PHRatz

indwelling pharyngostomy tubes are not invasive like major surgery..or at least our vet never made it appear so (but then she used to do a lot of them for us LOL).

just a local anesthetic, small slit through the neck into the throat, slide the tube through the hole and down into the stomach....wrap some white sports tape around the tube just above the neck to create two 'tabs' with which the vet can put a couple stitches through the tape and into the surface skin of the neck in order to keep the tube from pulling back out and then tape down the other end of the tube to the top of the shell and viola..all done.

The only way I can see it being a problem is if the turtle isn't too cooperative and needs to be knocked out - some turtles are too squirmy while others are like whatever and let you do the job without a complaint.

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PHWyvern

Wyvern that photo you posted depicts exactly what she's going to do. I've watched her do this with a different turtle before so I know it's not horrible but still... poor widdle Chipper.
Oh well it will make things easier for me, just push in some food & be done with it every day.
What foods have you used for these in the past Wyvern? Did you use the Oxbow or something else?
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PHRatz

good picture. When you procedures done to box turtles (question for PHRatz also...) do you need to keep them a dryer environment for a period of time? someone wrote about a 2 year recovery. How does that do with turtles? I live in Maui, on the rainy side. We have had 2 weeks of warm rain. Pix below of turtle that I am trying to mend from slightly broken shell. I put her outside in the same pen with my 3toeds (and several of the local bufo toads) because I felt that the privacy would help her recover. Was that an alright idea? thanks/p

>>good picture. When you procedures done to box turtles (question for PHRatz also...) do you need to keep them a dryer environment for a period of time? someone wrote about a 2 year recovery. How does that do with turtles?

With Shell E I kept her inside on clean towels because her injury had been a serious & bloody one. I wanted to be sure that she didn't get any dirt on the wound, & now with Chip I'm doing the same thing. Yes it took Shell E 2 years to recover, the vet thinks that Chip will take longer because basically his entire plastron was injured. After Shell E's 2 years spent in recovery, in the end she became a spoiled brat who enjoys going outside by day in the summer but wants back inside at night. I've found her at the front door looking at it as if to say ok I'm ready to go back in now. lol

>>I live in Maui, on the rainy side. We have had 2 weeks of warm rain. Pix below of turtle that I am trying to mend from slightly broken shell. I put her outside in the same pen with my 3toeds (and several of the local bufo toads) because I felt that the privacy would help her recover. Was that an alright idea? thanks/p

It depends on the injury if no dirt can get into the wound then outside should be fine & I do agree with the idea of giving them privacy. When they're injured they need to relax, they don't need stress added to their lives. In the wild it's survival of the fittest, one who has a problem will be stressed out trying to hide a problem from others while having to compete for food so they pretend all is well.. if you didn't feel well or were hurt can you imagine all the energy you'd waste if you tried to hide it? I think that's stressful for them so privacy is the way to go.
I feed the wild birds here, one summer I watched a poor one legged grackle keep a wing over his body to hide the fact that he only had one leg from the rest of the birds. He had to be stressed out, I don't think he made it through the winter that year because he didn't stay here as the others do through winter. Birds have to hide injuries in the wild, turtles would too, that's stress they don't need.
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PHRatz