Reptile & Amphibian Forums

On August 5th my 4 year old Slider Mikey received a tremendous neck wound. He had a large amount of skin on his right neck peeled back and away. I took him to a secondary vet as mine was not in. Mikey received a few sutures but there was too much damaged skin and he has a gap which is “filling in” he has a tape bandage around his neck with a blue self stick as well the vet says she does not want us to get it wet so since August 5th he has been dry docked and will not eat or drink, (expected from a water turtle).

Once a week he has been brought to the attending vet for a swim and feeding. He has been ignoring his reptomin food sticks while there so before he leaves he is tube fed. My wife and I have noticed he is very lethargic and has had considerable weight loss. We were informed he has lost 100grams since we brought him in. I am getting concerned that the constant dry docking and lack of food may lead to a larger health problem very quickly. The vet told us to stay the course but everything in the brain says something in wrong and he is dehydrating rapidly. I have tried to give him water through a medicine dropper but he will not open his mouth.

I am curious if anyone has had similar experiences with dry docking and can lend some advice. I am really close to saying forget the vet and dropping him in some water each day for piece of mind.

Thanks for reading
Rus

In my opinion, put him in about 1-2" of water so that his neck wound won't get wet. That's the solution. Res's can slurp water just like a snake. He may even eat a few pellets. You can put him in there for maybe 30 min. 3X a day.

Moreover, get a second opinion. Yet perhaps the vet thinks there's internal injury so the turtle can't drink or eat. I don't know.

Yet it sounds dire and I'd go with giving him a little water.

I would say go check with a different vet, doesn't sound right to me. One of my RES had a very bad neck wound as well and all I did was cleaned the area and then moved him into his out enclousre with warm(around 80 degrees, maybe a little warmer) and good filtration with clean water and a good basking spot. His wound eventually healed and has had no problems. From what I know and what I have heard it is not good for turtles to be out of water like yours, a few hours each day is no bad but having no way to submerge or anything has to be bad for him. Since it has been almost 4 weeks I would move him into a tank with the warm water and everything and he should get back to normal within a few days, maybe a week. 4 weeks is more then enough time for the wound to heal and be back to normal things.

Thats just my opnion and expriences, I have found turtles are very hardy. Any would thats not life threatning will heal itself and be back to normal.

Mitch

A healthy RES should be able to last for months out of water with no food. Just don't know how much proper shell growth yours has. That's what keeps them from dehydrating -- good solid bone growth. At 4 years old, your turtle should be at least 6 inches long straight line measurement of the shell.
Can you grasp the concept of the moisture you would find under a log or rock in the wild/in your yard? The kind of microhabitat where pill bugs, spiders, insects, slugs, and earthworms would live. Moist, not soggy, airy leaf litter humus. Friable soil. Or just use damp Sphagnum Moss.
If you understand, then that is what your turtle needs. Cover him in a tub of that mixture at about 80 degrees F. Take him out and soak in shallow water once a week.
jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

Thank you for your reply. I have bad been covering him with a damp towel and he seemed to like that. My concern was with the vets lack of knowledge, I got quite a bit of "I guess we can". He has lost 120 grams since I brought him in. As of this past friday he is now bandage free and gets to swim and eat a little each day which has me and my wife extatic. He is still lethargic but that can be expected I know they are very resilient creatures. Thank you again for your help.

Rus