Health & Wellness
Basic Care Sheets are now readily available on the internet these days.
Therefore instead of providing standard care sheets I have chosen to provide good photographic references to both healthy and sick animals, as a training tool for the pet owner. My intent here is to provide a teaching tool in recognizing signs of illness so you can know when to seek veterinary care, not to omit veterinary treatment and attempt to treat yourself.
PAINTED TURTLE
Blowing Bubbles or Foaming at the mouth indicates a very sick turtle!
This animal was suffering from a bad case of pneumonia. He made a full recovery after being treated with a course of antibiotics. Bubbles that form during exhale at the nostrils or mouth indicate an advanced respiratory illness. Turtle's do not have the ability to cough like most animals therefore pneumonia is frequently fatal in turtles.
WILD PAINTED TURTLE
This is a wild Painted Turtle with a blood sucking leach attached to his foot. I removed the leach before releasing back to the water.
MAP TURTLE
This is a unhealthy shell peel, possibly due to lack of warm enough basking area or lack of seasonal cycle.
PAINTED TURTLE
This is an excellent representsentation of a normal healthy shell peel.
Notice that the underlying shell has no damage or deformity.
RUSSIAN TORTOISE
Normal Shell Shape (round) in an adult Russian Tortoise. [above]
Russian Tortoise with a Shell Deformity. [2 photos below]
This profile shows the extent of the deformity.
Extreme Calcium Deficiency is known to cause such irregularities. Chronic Dehydration from being fed a diet too high in protein is also suspected here. Such irregularities are the result of improper husbandry and they occur slowly over a long period of time. Unfortunately even if the husbandry is corrected this type of damage is permanent, and sometimes fatal (as seen in Leopard Tortoise below).
LEOPARD TORTOISE
Fatal Deformity in a Cape Leopard Tortoise due to improper husbandry.
BURMESE STAR TORTOISE
These Burmese Star Tortoises also exhibit a shell deformity although this type of mild pyramiding rarely causes serious health issues.
***Wild Specimens typically show a smooth carapice!***
PAINTED TURTLE RESCUE
This poor girl has found blind in one eye, with new and healed puncture wounds through the shell and what is possibly fire damage to her shell. She lived out her last few months quietly relaxing here at PNW Turtle Works.
JUVENILE BURMESE STAR TORTOISE
This is a prolapse! A prolapse can occur for many reasons and can involve a few different organs. This preticular prolapse required surgery to correct. An adult male may sometimes extend fleshy mass during a bowl movement but that would be very quickly returned. Any time you see a fleshy mass protruding outside the tail that isn't quickly returned on it's own, you should consider it an emergency and seek veterinary advice as soon as possible (within 24 hours) (Don't allow prolapse to dry out on your way to the vet).
Sutured Wound
This on the other hand is not a prolaspse but an adult male turtle (different species) under stress exposing himself. It soon returned to normal.