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 from the mouth indicates a 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.

   

More subtle signs of respiratory distress include puffy eyes, bubbling nose, withdrawn, cranky. This box turtle (unknown history) awoke from his first hibernation (since arriving) distressed with respiratory problems.  Same turtle shown right - day 2 after beginning antibiotic treatment.

painted  turtle
  

This is a wild painted turtle with a blood sucking leach!

I removed the leach from his foot before releasing him back to the water. (Requires a WDFW collection permit)

map turtle    painted turtle 
  

     Unhealthy Shell Peel (left)            Healthy Shell Peel (right)

Notice on the healthy example [right], the underlying shell shows no damage or deformity. Each scute lifts off in a whole section.  Where as the unhealthy example on the left shows sections that stick on lumps and heavy ridges.  This type of damage is often seen when basking area temps aren't warm enough or from lack of seasonal cycle.  Once obtained this type of damage is a permanent scare to the shell.

Normal shell shape (round) of an adult Russian Tortoise.

 
Russian Tortoise with Shell Deformity.    Profile shows extent of 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).

   

This appears to be a genetic defect instead of a husbandry issue!

This type of deformity is probably inherited genetically.  It's possible that this turtle could have been exposed to some kind of fungal or bacterial infection early in life and the resulting damage not have appeared until later.  But, since this animal was purchased with siblings and they have all had the exact same care since day one and this is the only animals showing any abnormalities it is a likely a genetic defect.

leopard tortoise
    

 Fatal Deformity in a Cape Leopard Tortoise due to improper husbandry.

This animal exhibits splayed leg (could not stand or walk), excessively overgrown claws and beak, and the massive shell deformities were seeing here results from too much protein, no calcium, poor diet, and husbandry in general.  This calcium deficiency was so bad that the shell was soft enough that the muscles were actually pulling the shell inward to the point that the pelvic bones were protruding through the carapace.


burmese star tortoise
    

These Burmese Star Tortoises also exhibit a shell deformity sometimes called pyramiding.

While this is also a husbandry issue, it is a commonly seen one and mild pyramiding rarely causes serious health issues.     ***Wild Specimens typically show a smooth carapace!***

 

Overgrown Beaks and Nails

box turtle                                     elongated tortoise
          

Turtles beaks grow in natural layers. As a beak becomes overgrown from lack of use not only does it get longer it becomes much thicker than normal.  In beak trimming I never use sanders, files, or Dremal tools, because such tools cause the length to be shortened and do nothing for the overall thickness of the beak.  Instead I prefer to use a tool and break the beak at its natural fracture plain, which in turn peels off the thickness that wasn't worn off naturally.

 

Natural Length Beaks and Nails

box turtle             impressed tortoise
  

The mouth should be able to close evenly without either side of the beak overlapping the other.  Nails should also be smooth and even in length.

 

 
juvenile burmese star tortise

This is a prolapse!


A prolapsed can occur for many reasons and can involve a few different organs. This particular prolapsed 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 prolapsed to dry out on your way to the vet).

 
Prolapsed                        Sutured Wound

Western pond turtle

This on the other hand is NOT a prolaspse!


But rather an adult male turtle (different species) under stress exposing himself. This was soon returned to normal.

 

Ear Abscesses

Ear Abscesses are usually identified by swelling of the head.  A veterinary procedure is generally required to drain the flush the ear. (view GRAPHIC slideshow here)

   

Typical inflammation(Left)    Extremely inflamed abscess (Right)

Amputated Limbs

Washington native (wild) painted turtle
   

Wild specimen, fully healed, amputated limb (old injury) .

This wild Painted Turtle shows no signs of being "disabled" even with her right front foot completely gone! She walks, runs and swims too fast to even notice it's missing.  Look closely at the amputated limb, no suture marks, no evidence of the cause, just a perfectly smooth fully healed limb.  A testament to the healing ability of these wondrous creatures.

 

This is not a typical amputation! This is a "degloving" injury  and requires proper veterinary amputation.

This injury (received by cage mates) is probably several months old already, but is in need of veterinary amputation in order to heal correctly.  This is know as a "degloving" injury.  When the muscle meat and bone are intact but the entire epidermis layer has been peeled away exposing them.  This type of injury is prone to infection, shows a high pain response, and can be difficult to refrain from use while healing causing it to never heal.  Exposed muscle meat needs to be surgically removed, repaired, replaced something!  Seek an exotic animal veterinarian for proper amputation. 

Shell Rot

Shell rot can present itself in a variety of levels of severity making it difficult to diagnose for the inexperienced keeper.  Many pet turtles show scaring form past incidences of shell rot, sometimes extensively.  Active shell rot is always soft and should be removed to exposed the underlying bad material to the air so it can heal.  Sometimes there is a little digging to remove the infected material but remember the actual keratin layer that makes up the shell is very thin and you have bone directly under it.  You do not want to dig into the bone material, exposing bone opens the wound to susceptibility to septicemia.  A blood borne infection effecting the entire body and requires treatment systemically!  Early signs of shell rot can be treated by removing the bad material and treating topically with bedadine solution.  You will need to remove the animals  access to the water source while healing to prevent reinfection so be sure to increase the diet to include foods that aid in hydration.


Administering Dr Prescribed Medications

Human Cruelty

 

The cruel practice of drilling holes into the shell to tether an animal is still occasionally practiced today. 
Turtles and tortoises do not understand why they aren't getting anywhere when tethered.
Eventually causing physical and physiological trauma.

 painted turtle ruscue

This poor girl use rescued with one eye missing, new and healed puncture wounds (walking stick size) that perforated the shell, and what I can only assume is fire damage across the whole caraprice.  Due to the amount of shell damage she was unable to regulate her own temperature so she was usually found on the waters edge half in water and half on the shore.  She lived out her last few months here at pnwturtleworks!  She will be remembered!