Poor Rex
Rex has a sore on his neck. It's not a puncture, just a sore spot. I think that what happened is that he got some dirt built up on the top edge of his plastron there, between his plastron and his skin, and it rubbed him raw.
So tonight I finally got set to clean it and put some abx ointment on it. I am out of Betadine so I just did some gentle debridement with warm running water, and scrubbed it a little bit with a swab. Then I used a tissue to dry it as best as i could, and used another swab to apply abx ointment.
Of course during all of this Rex was getting more and more upset and wiggly. And then when I was trying to get the ointment onto it, I was having to work around his squirmy head and his paw waving all around. At one point he stuck his head WAY out so I went in with the ointment and when I got to the sore, he arched his neck the way I've only seen turtles do in a lot of pain :( I feel so bad for him. But it's winter and I really didn't want to leave the sore alone!
Poor little dude. I hope he can still trust me after this.
So tonight I finally got set to clean it and put some abx ointment on it. I am out of Betadine so I just did some gentle debridement with warm running water, and scrubbed it a little bit with a swab. Then I used a tissue to dry it as best as i could, and used another swab to apply abx ointment.
Of course during all of this Rex was getting more and more upset and wiggly. And then when I was trying to get the ointment onto it, I was having to work around his squirmy head and his paw waving all around. At one point he stuck his head WAY out so I went in with the ointment and when I got to the sore, he arched his neck the way I've only seen turtles do in a lot of pain :( I feel so bad for him. But it's winter and I really didn't want to leave the sore alone!
Poor little dude. I hope he can still trust me after this.