Reptile & Amphibian Forums

well speaking of the devil, i was coming home yesterday from a graduation party and i saw something in the middle of the road, i pulled over and it was a female painted turtle. it looked like she was hit by a car but wasn't to badly injured. i dont think she could move very much so i put her down off the road near the lake. i was debating whether or not to go back down there and get her and see if i could do something her her. i have several turtle ponds and i have been keeping turtles for 10 years. is there something i could do to hlep her shell heal?

nathan

If she is seriously injured you might want to consider retrieving her. Next see if there is rehabber near you or a vet who treats wildlife (not likely on the second but it can't hurt). As far as treat the shell, the best thing to do is keep the area clean. If you can flush it with sterile saline solution that would be good and be sure to get all any debris out of it. Hopefully no internal damage was done. DO NOT attempt to patch the shell up in anyway. That is a sure fire way to trap bacteria inside the body cavity and make for some serious infection problems.

Seriously though, it is best to try and find a rehabber in your area who may have access to resources which could help this animal.

Good Luck.

if it is only a shell injury, turtles heal surpprisingly well on their own, although it may take a very long time to restabilize the break.