slugs

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Maggie Cummings

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To set the stage...
I have an Eastern box turtle named Ginger who has been very sick in the past with a seriously bad eye problem. She was sent to me by a turtle rescue in Michigan because of her eye problem and her health. I've had her for a while now and she's doing really well. Her eyes are almost normal and she doesn't show any signs of being so sick any more, but she does have a problem eating. She will eat veggies and fruit sometimes but not often enough to make me comfortable with it, but she will eat night crawlers and slugs and therein lies the problem...
It has been a very wet Spring and Summer in the PNW so I am over run with slugs. She gets excited about the slugs and will readily eat them. The slugs here emit a nasty horrible industrial strength slime. I can't clean it out of the container I use to catch the slugs, can't wash it off the tweezers I use to capture the slugs, if I put them on her substrate (cypress mulch) the slugs get covered with tiny wood pieces and make it hard for her to eat them and the worst thing of all is if I don't wash her face after she's eaten a couple of slugs the slime left on her mouth glues her mouth shut and she can't open it.
So I use a disposable container for the capture, I use an emery board to clean the tweezers but she really hates for me to wash her face.
Is this a familiar problem? Has anybody else experienced this? If so what do ya do about it? Any ideas?
I know this is not a major problem, but it is fairly irritating and I feel bad when Ginger can't open her mouth...I'm thinkin she feels bad too...
thanks in advance for any ideas...
 

JoesMum

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I don't know how to help her.. but she's welcome in my back yard any time... we seem to be overrun with slugs and Joe doesn't eat them!
 

wellington

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I used to have a slug problem, I understand the slime, it's terrible. Just wondering if there is something you could sprinkle on them or maybe finely chop some greens and get them stuck to the slugs before feeding them to her if that would help.
 

Irwin4530

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Would giving her her warm soaks after she eats help rinse her mouth Without Making her upset?
 
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Maggie Cummings

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Some good suggestions, thanks I'll let you know how it goes...
 
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