Urgent Care :: what to do???

[Boogerbutt02]

Hello guys, I haven't been on here in awhile, but I have a problem... I have a nine inch female and a 6 inch male... about 4 or 5 months ago I put them in the same tank, because the male out grew his old one and needed more room... they seemed to get along fine... no problems, until about a month ago... My male now has three sores, two one side and one on the the other of his shell... I realize that they can not stay together in the same tank and I am going to remedy that very soon... but my question to you guys is what do I do about the sores? (they are from the female bitting him) I have cleaned them with a cleaner and put antibacterial cream on them, but is there any thing else I can do? Any advise is greatly appreciated, Thank you Summer

[steve]

How deep are the sores? If they are not bleeding, then I would just keep them separate and make sure the water is as clean as possible.

If he is having minor bleeding then I would keep him out of water, clean the wound and apply some neosporin.

[Boogerbutt02]

They are not deep, but they where bleeding slightly... I have him dry docked right now... I have to put him back in the tank in the morning.... is there anything else I can do besides applying neosporin? I am also adding a chemical that is supposed to heal fish scales, and it has aloe in it...

[steve]

I would gently clean the wound with diluted betadine or diluted hibiclens (Chlorhexidine), apply the neosporin and dry dock overnight. If he's still bleeding, then dry dock him more and put him in the tank to rehydrate, eat, etc.

I don't think it's necessary to add anything in the water... just make sure it is clean.

[Boogerbutt02]

Thanks for your advice...

Today I went out and bought a new stock tank, filter, and lumber (for stand) for my male turtle... I was afraid this was going to happen... Oh well we will just call this an experiment that when bad....

I currently have my male dry docked till morning and I will continue to dry dock him every night until the wounds start to heal....

Thanks again for your advise.... I will keep you guys updated...

[mikee]

You will need to dry dock a great deal until the wounds heal over. I would try 18 hours a day for a while. Dry dock him where he is warm. I would say about 85 to 90 degrees. Good Luck!!

[marisa]

You said the wounds weren't deep---I'd clean them periodically as suggested. If he's got a good basking dock and lighting, he should bask on his own and a long period of dry docking shouldn't be needed (if at all).

[Boogerbutt02]

Okay here is a link to pictures of his wounds...

http://s165.photobucket.com/albums/u42/SuNicDa/Alli/


Marisa, I don't have a light that you guys suggest we have, instead I take them outside for real sunlight, should I up the length of time spent outside?

Tomorrow he will get his very own tank and basking area, hopefully this will work out better...

Thanks again for your advice... I will keep you posted...

Summer

[steve]

Those look a little worse than what I was expecting. The damage on the scutes will take longer to heal then if it were a minor flesh wound. Are the scutes still intact and is the damage underneath?

For treatment, I'd opt to dry dock more and would consider having a herp vet look at the shell and perhaps prescribe some antibiotics.

[SpotsMama]

I'd take him to a herp vet. Those wounds look pretty raw. I'd also continue keeping him dry and very clean - apply antibiotic ointment periodically until the vet sees him.

On the lighting question, what sort of light do youu have (brand name and strength)? If you don't have a good light setup, then going outside for natural sun is very important. I see you live in sunny Florida so it should theoretically be possible for them to get enough sun this way, but practically speaking this is very difficult to do over the long term. Turtles have to be exposed to a lot of good light for shell and bone health but we turtlekeepers get busy or go on a trip or maybe there's a stretch of bad weather, and we don't take them out as much as we intended to. It would be much better over the long term to bite the bullet and get a good lighting setup so you won't worry if you're not able to take your turtles out as much as you intended. If you have questions about how to setup the lights, let us know.

[marisa]

The female caused that by biting him? It looks more like he banged up against something to me...And the wound on that one scute looks more open than I was expecting to see.

Since that one scute looks so open, it would really be good take him to be seen by a herp vet. You'd be able to get some products that would help speed the healing.

How often do you take him outside for sun, and how long does he stay outside each time?

[Boogerbutt02]

Well I have never seen her actually bit him, but after I first saw the wounds I observed them more, without them knowning that I was watching, and witnessed her going after him. When together, and no one is in the room with them, they do the flutter dance, but I don't think it is because she wants to mate. And then she chases him to the other side of the tank. But if she knows that I am watching her she won't go near him. It is funny, its like she knows I will yell at her (Turtles are like children in a sense).. In addition, part of her tail was "bit off", which has healed very fast and nicely... So this is the conclusion that I have drawn based on my observations...

They don't have anything in the tank that would cause that much damage to his shell. The filter, which is plastic, and the rocks.... That is a good question, could he have done that to himself on the rocks? I don't think so...

The scutes are still there, but they are broken and open, and they are not bleeding... The underside just looks like it is bruised, not open or broken at all...

Outside time is about 3 times a week, depending on whether, and about 45 minutes at a time depending on if the birds are out or not.... I know that this is probably not the "minimum required" about of time, but it was I have done with them for the last 5/6 years... Other then the wounds on the male, their shells are strong and healthy....

I spent today, and got the new tank step-up and running and they are both very happy now that they have their own spaces... here is a picture:

http://s165.photobucket.com/albums/u42/SuNicDa/Alli/

Anybody know how much money a vet visit would be? I don't even know if there are any in my area... I will have to check into that...

Sorry this is so long,

Thanks again...
Summer

[steve]

If one turtle bites and chases another, there can be a significant amount of banging around. There are links to vet listings in a Sticky in the Urgent care forum. I'd say a basic visit can cost around $50 (but can vary greatly).