Matilda gets to 1 whole oz; On Christmas eve!

[jeff kushner]

Merry Christmas eve everyone,

About 6 months after finding her upside down on a walking path, Matilda has finally got to 1 full ounce! She has been a joy and a surprise that after keeping various turtles for nearly 6 decades, how little I knew.

I hope everyone has a wonderful, safe Christmas.....


jeff

 

[jeff kushner]

Just a new picture........she loves the moss and it's a couple of inches high and when I change it, it takes me 10 minutes just get most of the earthworms that live in it into a cup for transfer into the new batch.

No wonder why she constantly is rooting around in it.

Happy New year folks,

jeff

 

[jeff kushner]

Saw the post count...couldn't leave it at 99 so BAM!

LOL

jeff

 

[jeff kushner]

Soon after this picture was taken in early, Matilda began "wasting". We've all seen it.....lost weight, lack of appetite, lethargic. As I had commented in a different thread, she lost a few grams....but when you only weight 28, losing more than 4-6 was cause for concern.

Most of you know I am old and have had turtles since I was 5 or so with my first store-bought "green turtle" bought from SS Kresge in the very early 60's, catching my first red-ear at around 8. I have seen this happen in adult boxers but never had a baby boxer so my concern level jumped proportionate to her small size. Normally, I would change the environment, provide enrichment, different foods etc. In Matilda's case, I took more drastic action.....carrot soaks. I will admit, I read and viewed carrot soaks as a bit of a "wives tale"..please don't take offense. Desperate people try desperate measures...we've all heard that associated with the civil unrest as of late and while I take no stance, I was desperate to help little Matilda....so 24- 2oz trays of Gerbers pureed carrots showed up. I heat for 4 sec till 82-83F then pour into a wider/taller butter crock that won't tip over yet leaves her comfortably covered.....for a couple of hours at a time while maintaining temps by a heated pad.

1 week and 6 soaks later, she ate Sunday night and again last night!

We can resist change or we can flow with it and see where it takes us.....sometimes, other folks have really good suggestions.

Thanks guys!

jeff

 

[Krista S]

I’m so glad to hear little Matilda is feeling better. Thank goodness you recognized the problem and acted quickly to save this little ones life. Sorry you had to go through that. It sounds like Matilda has got a strong will to live from all she’s been through.

 

[jeff kushner]

Thanks so much guys.....yesterday was "weigh day" AND she had eaten around the edges of a radish covered with D3 I had put in her home yesterday morning, not much but some is more than she's eaten since Dec!

She weighed 28 full grams again, matching her high weight on Christmas eve. It even briefly bumped to 29 when she began walking, thunderous beast she is!

Sorry for no pics.....but her color is a little "off", she soaks in Orange carrots for a couple hours a day...then get's a "rinse & go", not a bath.


jeff

 

[Jan A]

Thanks so much guys.....yesterday was "weigh day" AND she had eaten around the edges of a radish covered with D3 I had put in her home yesterday morning, not much but some is more than she's eaten since Dec!

She weighed 28 full grams again, matching her high weight on Christmas eve. It even briefly bumped to 29 when she began walking, thunderous beast she is!

Sorry for no pics.....but her color is a little "off", she soaks in Orange carrots for a couple hours a day...then get's a "rinse & go", not a bath.


jeff

So glad to know Matilda is doing better. Please keep us posted. It's been a tough week for humans & torts & turtles weatherwise. Stay warm!!

 

[jeff kushner]

Finally got a couple of pics....I am still doing the carrot soaks every other day or so now that she's eating again.....one of the foods I feed her is red radishes sliced very thin....she only likes the skin so I pour liquid D3 over the radishes and she doesn't seem to notice.

FWIW; I buy the D3 caps at the dollar store, then slit two open with a razor blade to squeeze over her food. I've been using this method for years for all kinds of turtles and torts and it's worked out that I've never had a D3-deficient guy yet.


jeff

 

[jeff kushner]

Enjoying her 82F carrot soak this afternoon!

 

[Krista S]

She’s so stinkin’ cute!

 

[jeff kushner]

Just another update....I'm so glad she's back in "Beast mode"....can you tell?

She wakes at 3am or so as she has adjusted to my schedule and this morning she was at the edge of the glass staring at me when I noticed her. I took it of course that she was expecting something. This morning Matilda got introduced to bacon....holy jeez she liked it! I had placed the 2 small pieces in her dish over the wilted Romaine (not a fan fav) and she went right after it. No program here to clean up the pic so you get Matilda in the "raw".......

 

[Jan A]

Just another update....I'm so glad she's back in "Beast mode"....can you tell?

She wakes at 3am or so as she has adjusted to my schedule and this morning she was at the edge of the glass staring at me when I noticed her. I took it of course that she was expecting something. This morning Matilda got introduced to bacon....holy jeez she liked it! I had placed the 2 small pieces in her dish over the wilted Romaine (not a fan fav) and she went right after it. No program here to clean up the pic so you get Matilda in the "raw".......

View attachment 319939

Bacon is one of the 4 main food groups, isn't it?

 

[jeff kushner]

I seem to remember those and I think you're right Jan...let's see, 4 major food groups; Sugar, Bacon, Pasta and Chocolate. Right?

lol

 

[Jan A]

I seem to remember those and I think you're right Jan...let's see, 4 major food groups; Sugar, Bacon, Pasta and Chocolate. Right?

lol

Well, I use licorice instead of sugar, but that's the main 4 I live on.

 

[jeff kushner]

Who's the little badass now? I wake rather early and Matilda was slinking around behind the PVC fittings in her home, so I dropped in a live meal worm. This is the first one she's eaten since before Christmas!

As a side note, I love seeing the fullness under her front legs in the fatty tissues....in a week or so it will be time to weigh her again. I'm hoping she has gained. It's rather obvious that she's a bit of a runt compared to the growth of other little babies here. It's cool, we'll make her feel like an Amazonian warrior, letting her slay & eat the weak....lol

jeff

BTW- she ate the other piece of bacon 2 days later, COMPLETELY!

 

[jeff kushner]

No pics today but I left for the w/e and hadn't seen Matilda all w/e and she was already down for the night when I got home. She was up bright and early at 3:30AM when she was peeking at me from her "hide" in the moss. I know she has a dozen or so worms living in the moss that she can hunt and eat but I dropped her a superworm anyway. She snatched it and pulled it "into her lair" to eat. LOL


I saw an odd behavior for the 1st time with her. She was eating a large earthworm last week that was attempting to escape into the moss. Matilda kept pulling it back up, twice....then she grabbed the worm and pulled it over around 6" to the gravel portion of her home, apparently to lessening the worms ability to escape. Then she ate it.

 

[jeff kushner]

FORTY FOUR grams!! Woo HOO !

Today was "weigh day" for Matilda and of course I gave her this worm an hour prior to her weigh-in.

I think the look in her eyes epitomizes "Bad Intent"


44 grams....Thanks guys, this is all you! Remembering how happy I was Christmas eve when she finally hit 28gms only to see her begin wasting in Jan/Feb....this is a very solid sign. I think she's past the early-age "baby dying" possibility phase now and has sufficient strength to flourish.

FWIW: she is a "size larger" than she was a month or two ago, you guys know what I mean, she feels much larger in the hand. She has also become more aggressive about her food. I can now feed her by hand, something that she had been sketchy about.


Her weight records;

11-14-20 26gm
11-29 25gm
12-24 28gm
1-18-21 26gm
2-18 28gm
3-18 44gm


jeff