I'm an admitted Craigslist addict. Okay, now that's out of the way. I found an ad for a "male eastern box turtle" on CL a week or so ago, and decided to email on it. I didn't expect anything to come out of it, but I still ended up bringing her home yesterday afternoon. (By the way, I'll be referring to the turtle as a female from here on, as that is what she looks like to my untrained eye.)
As it turns out, they were doing a horrible job of caring for her. They were housing her in a small acrylic aquarium with 18x9 inches of floorspace, dry coir for substrate, no water dish in sight, no heat (or UVB) lamp, and, of course, nowhere to hide. So far as I know, they only fed her lettuce and "T-Rex Box Turtle Dry Formula" pellets (though they did moisten them, according to the woman we spoke to.. it was her kid's turtle). Of course, no surprise that the poor turt was taken care of so terribly... They took all their care advice from a cousin who works at Petco. Or Petsmart. Whichever.
This turtle is in terrible condition. I'm still a newbie with shelled critters, and even I can tell that much. She weighs in at 471 grams at just under 5 1/2 inches... I wouldn't know if that's a good weight for a boxie her size, but her back legs and tail are quite literally skin and bones, so I'm thinking it's not. She has spent almost every minute awake, except that time spent basking under her heat lamp and her trips outside this morning and afternoon, drinking from her water dish, and has excreted large puddles of gooey, somewhat yellow-ish urates three separate times in the last day. Considering both of these, and the lack of a water source in her habitat, I'm guessing she's pretty dehydrated. Her beak also looks to be somewhat overgrown.
She has shown no interest in eating so far... I have offered small Dubia roaches, earthworms, and slugs, and have a plate of sliced strawberry, mango, and tomato, a small turnip green leaf, a portion of a collard green leaf, a dandelion leaf, and several butterworms sitting in her enclosure. She has shown some interest in the Dubias and briefly chased a pillbug while outside this morning, but that's the extent of it.
The good news is, she seems pretty lively, and her eyes look to be in good shape. I haven't seen any obvious signs of respiratory illness. When she defecated this afternoon, it was solid and didn't contain any visible parasites. She has been regulating her body temperature: moving under the heat lamp periodically in between trips to the water dish, which I take to be a good thing.
So, I need your guys' opinions. Any ideas on how to get her to eat? Is her beak so long that it needs to be trimmed, or should it be able to wear down on its own? If trimmed, how do I go about doing that? What else should I be looking out for in the time being? Any other general advice?
And, of course, pics... These are all from this afternoon.
This one should give you a good idea of the state of her eyes and beak:
Overhead shot, after a light rinse:
She also seems to have some shell damage. It looks old and healed, but one spot (first pic) looks to be right along the new growth line?
Since I'm completely DIY-incompetent, Zoom's new table is far from done (whereas it would have been ready for paint yesterday if I knew anything about this stuff), and, by that same token, Zoom's current table can't be emptied and disinfected for the boxie. For now, I have her housed in a spare 40 gallon breeder aquarium (about 36x18x18 inches) with a 75 watt bulb, two hides, a water dish big enough for soaking, and a cream cheese lid serving as a food dish. Substrate is organic garden soil, kept moist. It's not great, but it'll do for the moment.
Drinking from the water dish:
Thanks in advance for any and all input!
As it turns out, they were doing a horrible job of caring for her. They were housing her in a small acrylic aquarium with 18x9 inches of floorspace, dry coir for substrate, no water dish in sight, no heat (or UVB) lamp, and, of course, nowhere to hide. So far as I know, they only fed her lettuce and "T-Rex Box Turtle Dry Formula" pellets (though they did moisten them, according to the woman we spoke to.. it was her kid's turtle). Of course, no surprise that the poor turt was taken care of so terribly... They took all their care advice from a cousin who works at Petco. Or Petsmart. Whichever.
This turtle is in terrible condition. I'm still a newbie with shelled critters, and even I can tell that much. She weighs in at 471 grams at just under 5 1/2 inches... I wouldn't know if that's a good weight for a boxie her size, but her back legs and tail are quite literally skin and bones, so I'm thinking it's not. She has spent almost every minute awake, except that time spent basking under her heat lamp and her trips outside this morning and afternoon, drinking from her water dish, and has excreted large puddles of gooey, somewhat yellow-ish urates three separate times in the last day. Considering both of these, and the lack of a water source in her habitat, I'm guessing she's pretty dehydrated. Her beak also looks to be somewhat overgrown.
She has shown no interest in eating so far... I have offered small Dubia roaches, earthworms, and slugs, and have a plate of sliced strawberry, mango, and tomato, a small turnip green leaf, a portion of a collard green leaf, a dandelion leaf, and several butterworms sitting in her enclosure. She has shown some interest in the Dubias and briefly chased a pillbug while outside this morning, but that's the extent of it.
The good news is, she seems pretty lively, and her eyes look to be in good shape. I haven't seen any obvious signs of respiratory illness. When she defecated this afternoon, it was solid and didn't contain any visible parasites. She has been regulating her body temperature: moving under the heat lamp periodically in between trips to the water dish, which I take to be a good thing.
So, I need your guys' opinions. Any ideas on how to get her to eat? Is her beak so long that it needs to be trimmed, or should it be able to wear down on its own? If trimmed, how do I go about doing that? What else should I be looking out for in the time being? Any other general advice?
And, of course, pics... These are all from this afternoon.
This one should give you a good idea of the state of her eyes and beak:
Overhead shot, after a light rinse:
She also seems to have some shell damage. It looks old and healed, but one spot (first pic) looks to be right along the new growth line?
Since I'm completely DIY-incompetent, Zoom's new table is far from done (whereas it would have been ready for paint yesterday if I knew anything about this stuff), and, by that same token, Zoom's current table can't be emptied and disinfected for the boxie. For now, I have her housed in a spare 40 gallon breeder aquarium (about 36x18x18 inches) with a 75 watt bulb, two hides, a water dish big enough for soaking, and a cream cheese lid serving as a food dish. Substrate is organic garden soil, kept moist. It's not great, but it'll do for the moment.
Drinking from the water dish:
Thanks in advance for any and all input!