Urgent Care :: Turtle escaped, Fell 1.5 feet to concret, rim of shell crack

[drtweak]

My 2 year old RES Spike some how escaped her tank (a 45 gallon rubber maid tub) and fell 1.5 feet to the concret floor in the garage. She cracked the rim of her shell. about 1 inch wide. not bleeding but you can see but a tad bit of blood.

I didn't put her back in tub since she had a open wound, took her and put a towel in a laundry basket for her to be in for now.

Money is tight, can't really afford a vet. I've seen on TV and read a lot about using fiberglass patches and epoxy, but I've only seen and read about using this method on small holes or cracked on the shell not on the rim.

But first thing is disinfecting the wound and then i can take the next step.

What should i use to disinfect? hydrogen peroxied? Rubbing alcohol? or just like neosporn or something?

Not sure how long i should keep her out of the water. I'll probably fill up the tub an inch or two with nice clean water for an hour or so a day so she can eat and get hydrated.

If anyone has any opinions or sugestions let me know please!

I'll post some pics of her soon. Probably in the morning its almost midnight right now. Also she is 7.5 inches

[coreyvht]

hydrogyne peroxcide should do a good job you really need to get her to the vet i wouldnt use the fiberglass thing cuz the sealent mite kill her its very strong stuff its almost made my father pass out when he was fixing a snomobile lol i would just take her to the vet

[marisa]

Don't try to epoxy the shell unless you know what you're using isn't toxic and you know what you're doing.

I'd also clean the wound with Hibiclens (chlorohexidine), which you can get at a pharmacy. Dilute it 50% with water and rinse after cleaning (it creates suds).

A herp vet would be the turtle's best bet. At least call and explain the situation and see what they say.

[drtweak]

Alright thanks for the responces guys. I'll try to see if someone around here takes turtles and has some advice

[Outlander]

Proviodine is also a good cleanser. Do not use peroxide it's too hard and will kill all the cells and cause scarring instead of encouraging healing.

[marisa]

That's pretty much what povoiodine will do as well---it kills the bacteria, but also good tissue. Chlorohexidine encourages the growth of good tissue as well as cleaning the wound.