Urgent Care :: Turtle's penis has been bitten.

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Post Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 7:55 am   Turtle's penis has been bitten.

Today one of my yellow belly sliders got a bit excited and his penis came out.

We then noticed our African Helmeted Map bit it, they struggled for a very long time, and the penis was stretching quite alot. The Map had quite alot of it in his mouth, and it looks a bit cut up, and is bleeding.

I seperated them, I took the slider out of the tank into a bowl, in the hope it would go back in. But after about an hour and a half the penis is still outside, looking quite bad.

He's also quite angry as he's making a hissing sound at us. I'm not too good with picking up the turtles and don't really feel confident at it.

I've already poured some warm water on it, which i'm gonna do regularly to maintain temperature, should I give him the basking lamp?

What do I need to do make sure he's comfortable, and what do I need to do to let the wound heal?

Any help is appreciated. Thanks.
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Post Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 8:52 am   

I know people use KY Jelly or honey on prolapses, so that might be worth trying if there is no bleeding or not a lot of swelling.

from tf
Once this happens, the turtle must be removed from the habitat, as other turtles (as well as the prolapsed turtle itself) my see this as a food item and bite it, causing serious injury and often times, death. Recommended home treatment is to place the animal in a clean, smooth container (I use the bathtub) and coat the prolapse with either granulated sugar (dry sugar, not a water:sugar solution) or honey. This will assist in reducing any swelling and hopefully allow the prolapsed item to be drawn back into the body. It is best to immobilize the turtle to prevent the animal from stepping on it, dragging it, cutting it, or even severing it while it walks and/or struggles. If it goes back in on it's own, that's great. If not, once the swelling has gone down, you can GENTLY try to assist it back into the vent. If you do not feel comfortable with this, it's not working out or you think there is possibly damage to the prolapsed material, then get the turtle to a qualified vet. The vet will assist the animal, sometimes surgically, in returning the intestines to their proper place. At times, removal of a section of the intestinal tract is required, especially if the exposed tract becomes injured. The vet will also suture a purse string to help prevent this from happening again.

Penile Prolapse

This is sometimes secondary to an existing condition, but sometimes it is just one of those things that ‘just happens’. When this occurs, the turtle should be removed immediately if housed with other turtles. I have personally witnessed one being bitten (yes, ouch) by another turtle, even though it was not in a prolapse situation. It is not uncommon for turtles to ‘display’ themselves for short periods of time or times of stressed, so do not be alarmed. At times, when retracting their organs, they may appear to swat or kick at it while it withdrawls. This does not mean they are experiencing a prolapse. If it goes back in, all is good.



With clean hands (preferably With clean hands (preferably sterile gloves, but not everyone has these at their home), lubricate the organ with KY Jelly, and gently attempt to assist the organ back into the turtle. If this fails, as above with the intestinal prolapse, coat the penis with dry, granulated sugar or honey to assist in reducing the swelling. If the penis does not go back in on it's own, you can GENTLY try to assist it back into the vent. If you do not feel comfortable with this, it's not working out or you think there is possibly damage to the prolapsed material, then get the turtle to a qualified vet. Some conditions need some topical medication to assist in returning the prolapse, followed by a suturing which will be removed a few days later. Waiting too long or drastically traumatized organs may require amputation, but this is a very rare case.
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steve
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Post Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 9:21 am   

Thank you for helping.

So I need to coat it with sugar? Sounds strange

There is a bit of blood, would that make a difference? So this bite isn't down to aggression, the turtle simply mistaken it for food?
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Post Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 10:09 am   

Probably not due to aggression, though if that turtle fans a lot, then this will happen again. I haven't had to deal with this before, though if it continues to bleed and or will not retract, then I will go to a vet. How long depends on how serious it looks and the amount it's bleeding.
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steve
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Post Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 10:32 am   

Take the turtle to the vet. When something is dangling in front of them, their natural reaction is to bite it, nobody will know if it was agression, a mistake for food, etc. Hopefully this doesn't happen again, but if you continue to keep them together, it almost certainly will. Hopefully those who have ideas of housing multiple turtles together can "learn from a distance" and see that this stuff really does happen.

-spike
Out of every 100 men, ten shouldn't even be there. Eighty are just targets. Nine are the real fighters and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Oh, but one, one is a warrior, and he will bring the others back. -Heraclitus of Ephesus
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Post Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 12:05 pm   

Take the turtle to a vet, but in the meantime put some honey on the wound. It has antibiotic properties and will keep the tissue from drying out.
"You become responsible, forever, for what you have tamed." -Antoine de Saint Exupery-
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Post Posted: Tue Jun 22, 2010 1:12 pm   

I won't be able to take the turtle to a vet today, hopefully tomorrow.

Does anyone have any advice for what I do overnight? At the moment he's just in a bowl with a bit of water and the basking heat lamp above it. I won't be able to have the heat lamp overnight, so what do I to make him as comfortable as possible?
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Post Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 2:17 pm   

Bad news.

I took the turtle to the vets, explaining they can either get it back in, or cut it off.

They push it back in fine, then we put the turtle back in after waiting a few hours, and shortly after, it came back out and got bitten by the same turtle. The vets are now closed, so it looks like we'll be going in the vets again to get it cut off.
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Post Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 2:28 pm   

Oh no! Poor little guy.
1 Rio Grande RES - 1 Yr Old - J.T.
http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=26972
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Post Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 2:36 pm   

Ouch
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Post Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 7:42 pm   

I think you may need to separate those turtles. He can do fine with it amputated.
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Post Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 8:01 pm   

I'd like to reference something I said earlier, before the turtle was bitten a second time...

"Hopefully this doesn't happen again, but if you continue to keep them together, it almost certainly will. Hopefully those who have ideas of housing multiple turtles together can "learn from a distance" and see that this stuff really does happen."

Some people can "learn from a distance" and avoid the mistakes of others, but you haven't even learned from your own experiance. Now my question is how many times do these turtles need to hurt each other before you seperate them?

-Spike
Out of every 100 men, ten shouldn't even be there. Eighty are just targets. Nine are the real fighters and we are lucky to have them, for they make the battle. Oh, but one, one is a warrior, and he will bring the others back. -Heraclitus of Ephesus
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Post Posted: Wed Jun 23, 2010 8:42 pm   

Spike 7.62 wrote:I'd like to reference something I said earlier, before the turtle was bitten a second time...

"Hopefully this doesn't happen again, but if you continue to keep them together, it almost certainly will. Hopefully those who have ideas of housing multiple turtles together can "learn from a distance" and see that this stuff really does happen."

Some people can "learn from a distance" and avoid the mistakes of others, but you haven't even learned from your own experiance. Now my question is how many times do these turtles need to hurt each other before you seperate them?

-Spike


Agreed....
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Post Posted: Thu Jun 24, 2010 7:03 am   

Spike 7.62 wrote:I'd like to reference something I said earlier, before the turtle was bitten a second time...

"Hopefully this doesn't happen again, but if you continue to keep them together, it almost certainly will. Hopefully those who have ideas of housing multiple turtles together can "learn from a distance" and see that this stuff really does happen."

Some people can "learn from a distance" and avoid the mistakes of others, but you haven't even learned from your own experiance. Now my question is how many times do these turtles need to hurt each other before you seperate them?

-Spike


What could I have done in that time? To be fair I was not expecting the penis to come out instantly.

Was I suppose to leave the turtle in a bowl getting cold in poor conditions while I got hold of the equipment to keep him seperately in comfort? He had already been in the bowl for over 24 hours.

There's no need for the damn guilt trip, do you think I enjoy watching this turtle suffer?
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Post Posted: Fri Jun 25, 2010 5:57 am   

BSC wrote:
Spike 7.62 wrote:I'd like to reference something I said earlier, before the turtle was bitten a second time...

"Hopefully this doesn't happen again, but if you continue to keep them together, it almost certainly will. Hopefully those who have ideas of housing multiple turtles together can "learn from a distance" and see that this stuff really does happen."

Some people can "learn from a distance" and avoid the mistakes of others, but you haven't even learned from your own experiance. Now my question is how many times do these turtles need to hurt each other before you seperate them?

-Spike


What could I have done in that time? To be fair I was not expecting the penis to come out instantly.

Was I suppose to leave the turtle in a bowl getting cold in poor conditions while I got hold of the equipment to keep him seperately in comfort? He had already been in the bowl for over 24 hours.

There's no need for the damn guilt trip, do you think I enjoy watching this turtle suffer?



Agreed...
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