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Author Topic: Turtle Rescue  (Read 1117 times)

SalmonGod

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Turtle Rescue
« on: September 19, 2015, 05:56:32 pm »

My wife was on her way to the store, and noticed a turtle in the road.  Before she could get to it, someone ran it over with their SUV.  It's still alive in our garage.  Impossible to tell just how hurt it is.  Some blood trickled out its nose and mouth, but that's the only visible damage.  Doesn't help that it's a softshell turtle.  Looks like an Eastern Spiny Softshell (reference image below).  So we can only guess at how much internal damage there is.

Question is what do we do with it now?  Local wildlife rescues aren't open.  Chances are it needs some time to recover before it can survive again in the wild, if it is going to make it.  Not sure just how much would be necessary to take care of a softshell turtle short term.  Long term care at a glance looks like it requires a lot of work and equipment.

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BFEL

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Re: Turtle Rescue
« Reply #1 on: September 19, 2015, 06:09:27 pm »

Turtle Soup?
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Frumple

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Re: Turtle Rescue
« Reply #2 on: September 19, 2015, 06:28:16 pm »

Guess I already responded in the sad thread, but to move things over here, in my experience short term care of a healthy softshell involves a bucket. I've seen adult ones survive in a 5 gallon with nothing much but something to eat thrown in and something to rest on (usually a fallen branch) for over a week. Injured... if you've got a large plastic box -- the kind you'd normally use to store christmas decorations or whatever in -- and a smaller one, you could probably stick the smaller one top-down in the larger one, fill up to the small one's edge with water, then put the turtle on the small box and mostly call it a day. Find out whatever it eats, make sure the area it's in doesn't get cold, and you'll probably have done about all you can do. Maybe stick in some kind of ramp material so it can easily get on/off the smaller box. That sort of construction. Would be the best guess I can offer when the last time I had a turtle was fifteen or twenty years ago, heh, and none of the softshells were kept for any particular length of time (usually they were kept as pseudo-pets for a few days and then released or eaten, depending on the size).

E: Though if it's one of the smaller ones, you might just need the small box and a rock or somethin' to rest on. Maybe two, one completely out of the water and one partially submerged. Whatever's appropriate for the size, basically. Short term care wise turtles don't need much space at all, so far as I'm aware, just food, water, and warmth.
« Last Edit: September 19, 2015, 06:39:14 pm by Frumple »
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SalmonGod

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Re: Turtle Rescue
« Reply #3 on: September 19, 2015, 06:37:32 pm »

Hmm.... the two boxes idea sounds possibly work-able.  And some more reading indicates they're a very hardy species.  So short term care needs shouldn't be strenuous, like you said.  And there's a small pond nearby we can catch small fish in to feed it.  Or we can just release it in the pond, but the question is whether it's too hurt right now to take care of itself.
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SalmonGod

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Re: Turtle Rescue
« Reply #4 on: September 20, 2015, 04:24:27 pm »

Turtle seemed a lot stronger and more responsive today.  Couldn't find any local rehabilitators, and I heard that local government agencies that deal with animal rescue/control tend to be fine-happy towards anyone who messes with wildlife for any reason.  Guy at the pet store said he even witnessed a lady getting fined for picking up an eagle feather.... just a feather.

So we released the turtle into the pond nearby.  Set it on the ground near the water.  It happily raced forward, dived right in, and swam away.  Seems like it couldn't have been too badly injured.
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In the land of twilight

Maybe people should love for the sake of loving, and not with all of these optimization conditions.

ShadowHammer

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Re: Turtle Rescue
« Reply #5 on: September 20, 2015, 09:53:06 pm »

Hmm. Well that's good, well done Salmon! Hope it survives!
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