Turtle power!
The local turtle rehabber is on vacation, so in the last few weeks I've suddenly acquired several turtle rescues! Check 'em out:
Two box turtles that were left in an outdoor pen behind by a homeowner who moved away. The new owner didn't discover them until she cleared some bushes and found them in a chicken wire cage, no water, who knows how long they had been there. She'd been taking care of them for a few weeks and doing a good job of it, too - they were both in pretty good shape when she got them to me. It's illegal to keep box turtles or collect them from the wild in Indiana, but I have some on educational permits and these gals (and all the other turtles) are on my rehab permit right now. Will have to check and see if they can go back into the wild (since they have a homing instinct, it's tricky to release them if you don't know where they originally came from) or if they'll have to stay in captivity.
This poor little girly got hit by a car and had to have one of her hind legs amputated (the one not in view, obviously). She had some cracks and damage to her plastron (bottom shell) and really doesn't seem to want to use her remaining back leg much either, mostly pulls herself around by her front legs. Box turtles need two working back legs to dig down into the ground deep enough to survive the winter, so she's not releasable, and will either have a home with the other three box turtles at my nature center, or I'll see if there's another educational placement that can give her a good home. She's not very fond of me, since I've been giving her antibiotic and anti-inflammatory shots in her front legs for the last few weeks, but all done now and she's healing well.
Young snapping turtle that was hit by a car and had some minor shell damage - all healed up now and she's ready to go! Just need to meet up with the person who originally rescued her so she can be returned to her home territory.
And then we have this handsome fella - fully adult common snapping turtle, could take my fingers off quite easily. Hit by a car and has some cracks to his carapace (upper shell), not too major fortunately, just needs a month or so of me keeping them clean so he can heal up and be released. He's got a couple other deep, long-healed gouges in his shell that make me wonder what else he's survived.
How does one move a giant snapping turtle? Verrrrry carefully, lol - I throw a towel over his head so he can't see where to snap, and pick up around the back/sides (he's too heavy for me to lift from the very back, which would be the safest place), and then I put him on a big flat board and drag him wherever I need to go. At first he was digging his claws in and lunging every time I tried to move him, but I found that if I just went really slow, he chillaxed as well.
I don't usually take big snappers, but the vet called desperate to find someone, and I remembered I had this big cattle watering tub that I thought would work for housing, so I said, sure, just this once:
However...dude can TOTALLY climb out of there. I had my suspicions, and so was checking him frequently, turned out to be a good thing because about an hour later found him making a run for the hills:
Snapping turtle containment system, plan B - so far so good!
And one of the park volunteers brought in a fourth box turtle today, hit by a car - side of shell was cracked and he was dragging one back leg; he's at the vet overnight and will probably pick him up tomorrow.
So many turtles!
Two box turtles that were left in an outdoor pen behind by a homeowner who moved away. The new owner didn't discover them until she cleared some bushes and found them in a chicken wire cage, no water, who knows how long they had been there. She'd been taking care of them for a few weeks and doing a good job of it, too - they were both in pretty good shape when she got them to me. It's illegal to keep box turtles or collect them from the wild in Indiana, but I have some on educational permits and these gals (and all the other turtles) are on my rehab permit right now. Will have to check and see if they can go back into the wild (since they have a homing instinct, it's tricky to release them if you don't know where they originally came from) or if they'll have to stay in captivity.
This poor little girly got hit by a car and had to have one of her hind legs amputated (the one not in view, obviously). She had some cracks and damage to her plastron (bottom shell) and really doesn't seem to want to use her remaining back leg much either, mostly pulls herself around by her front legs. Box turtles need two working back legs to dig down into the ground deep enough to survive the winter, so she's not releasable, and will either have a home with the other three box turtles at my nature center, or I'll see if there's another educational placement that can give her a good home. She's not very fond of me, since I've been giving her antibiotic and anti-inflammatory shots in her front legs for the last few weeks, but all done now and she's healing well.
Young snapping turtle that was hit by a car and had some minor shell damage - all healed up now and she's ready to go! Just need to meet up with the person who originally rescued her so she can be returned to her home territory.
And then we have this handsome fella - fully adult common snapping turtle, could take my fingers off quite easily. Hit by a car and has some cracks to his carapace (upper shell), not too major fortunately, just needs a month or so of me keeping them clean so he can heal up and be released. He's got a couple other deep, long-healed gouges in his shell that make me wonder what else he's survived.
How does one move a giant snapping turtle? Verrrrry carefully, lol - I throw a towel over his head so he can't see where to snap, and pick up around the back/sides (he's too heavy for me to lift from the very back, which would be the safest place), and then I put him on a big flat board and drag him wherever I need to go. At first he was digging his claws in and lunging every time I tried to move him, but I found that if I just went really slow, he chillaxed as well.
I don't usually take big snappers, but the vet called desperate to find someone, and I remembered I had this big cattle watering tub that I thought would work for housing, so I said, sure, just this once:
However...dude can TOTALLY climb out of there. I had my suspicions, and so was checking him frequently, turned out to be a good thing because about an hour later found him making a run for the hills:
Snapping turtle containment system, plan B - so far so good!
And one of the park volunteers brought in a fourth box turtle today, hit by a car - side of shell was cracked and he was dragging one back leg; he's at the vet overnight and will probably pick him up tomorrow.
So many turtles!