(Graphic) rescue turtle dilemma

[daddio207]

A couple of weeks ago I was swimming in the lake and came across this northern painted turtle. He/she was easy to catch so I quickly showed the grandkids then released it. A few minutes later we crossed paths again so I caught him and took a closer look feeling something was wrong due to the easiness he was caught each time. He had this large open wound on his side where the plastron joins the carapace. I decided that in his condition that there was no way he would survive hibernation this winter and took him home. We have a couple of small decorative ponds so I put him in the one that he couldn't escape from. It has a rock that he climbs onto to sunbath. I treated the water with anti bacterial, fungal and parasite medications. Today I decided to see what the wound looked like and was surprised to see that the wound "skinned" over but also could see adult blood suckers tails under his neck and in his armpits. They were not visible when I put him in the pond. I removed 8 blood suckers and then soaked him in an iodine solution. I coated the wound area with a triple antibiotic and kept him out of the water sunbathing for a few hours.
So as much as I don't want to keep him in captivity over the winter I also don't want to return him to what will be surely his demise. A dilemma I'm pondering on
I've rehabbed turtles in the past but all but 1 were captive to begin with.

His thankless look on his face won't sway me LOL

 

[HerpsOfNM]

hmmm....might be time for some fiberglass and epoxy via the DVM. That's some decent damage along the bridge (inguinal/axillary) scutes.

 

[axis1]

Hi there daddio & HerpsOfNM! How ya been?

While I have NO CLUE about "where the plastron joins the carapace," nor would I even pretend knowing what "the inguinal/axillary scutes" are (sounds like something you weren't allowed to know when you were a kid!), I do think that an attempt to save this unfortunate turtle should outweigh any concern you might have about keeping it from hibernating in the wild this year, since the presence of parasites most probably indicates that the poor thing was, in fact, circling the drain, both slowly and painfully!

In my opinion, GREAT JOB there daddio!

BTW, an observation: it's probably difficult to determine what the expression on the face of any animal actually means when that particular animal lacks one of the most significant physical indicators of facial expression, which are EYEBROWS! (Just look at the difference between cats & dogs! Since the latter HAS them you can almost ALWAYS tell how they're FEELING - especially when they've done something wrong! Cats, on the other hand, just have some hairs sticking out where their eyebrows should BE, so you NEVER know what they're thinking!).

 

[daddio207]

hmmm....might be time for some fiberglass and epoxy via the DVM. That's some decent damage along the bridge (inguinal/axillary) scutes.

Yeah my thought also. Maine has a couple of Vets that do herps but nothing like that. The speed of healing has been surprising. When I pulled him from the lake a few weeks ago the cavity was an inch deep and almost the length of the plastron. My feeling is the cavity will be gone soon and the gap will be covered with skin or soft shell.

Hi there daddio & HerpsOfNM! How ya been?

While I have NO CLUE about "where the plastron joins the carapace," nor would I even pretend knowing what "the inguinal/axillary scutes" are (sounds like something you weren't allowed to know when you were a kid!), I do think that an attempt to save this unfortunate turtle should outweigh any concern you might have about keeping it from hibernating in the wild this year, since the presence of parasites most probably indicates that the poor thing was, in fact, circling the drain, both slowly and painfully!

In my opinion, GREAT JOB there daddio!

BTW, an observation: it's probably difficult to determine what the expression on the face of any animal actually means when that particular animal lacks one of the most significant physical indicators of facial expression, which are EYEBROWS! (Just look at the difference between cats & dogs! Since the latter HAS them you can almost ALWAYS tell how they're FEELING - especially when they've done something wrong! Cats, on the other hand, just have some hairs sticking out where their eyebrows should BE, so you NEVER know what they're thinking!).

Thank you!
I won't release him if I have any doubt he will survive. Maine has restricted ( really means outlawed) ownership of red ear sliders but when they were unrestricted I kept and rescued quite a few and they are just a pain to keep properly. The filtration systems and waters changes required plus UVB and basking lights needed is just something I don't want to go back into

Yeah every painted or red ear has that thankless pissed off look on their face. I wont take it personally haha