Hello. I'm San and I joined just to ask this question, as I am kind of desperate. About six months ago, my husband and I took in our first rescued box turtle (not my first box turtle ever, but the first we've adopted specifically because of abandonment), and she's been as healthy as she can be ever since, so we thought we would take in a second rescued boxie just this past week. We heard about a box turtle from an amateur "backyard breeder" that needed a forever home, as she was rescued from neglectful conditions and had quite a bit of unsightly (though healed) damage to her shell from a nasty encounter with a lawnmower. We decided to adopt her, and I took her to the vet yesterday. Unfortunately, come to find out, she has two types of parasites from her terrible living conditions: coccidia, and I forget what he said the other was (I think it started with an "m" and it has flagellates?). Her symptoms are diarrhea and goopy eyes in the mornings, and so he gave her a liquid mix of two types of anti-parasite medication and an antibiotic just to be sure on the eyes. Trouble is, she's eating very little when she is eating, and I'm mixing it into her water too, but I haven't caught her drinking yet.
Though it has only been one day, I'm feeling worried because I don't know how else to get her dose to her. I can't get her to open her mouth for the life of me. I've tried every technique I've found online, and none of them seem to work. She's just so docile and sweet, nothing annoys her enough, and the vet said I could break her beak if I try to pry her mouth open. He said she's not in any immediate danger--it's not life-threatening, or at least not yet. His tests suggest it's an infestation that's been going on for a while, but not too long, and she's not underweight, and she is still eating and drinking some. So I have time to figure this out. But of course, as a newbie to the whole "rescue" thing I am afraid I've made an oversight because I just don't know what to do or how to get her to take it.
So I suppose my questions are this:
1. How can I get a reluctant turtle to open its mouth, especially if it's extremely docile?
2. Is there anything else I could be doing to insure she gets the dose?
3. Are there any alternatives that you know of to treating coccidia that I could try if this doesn't work out? Or rather, I suppose, how worried should I be? He said she could get a shot for one parasite, but not the other. What other options do I have?
Thank you in advance for all your time and help.
Though it has only been one day, I'm feeling worried because I don't know how else to get her dose to her. I can't get her to open her mouth for the life of me. I've tried every technique I've found online, and none of them seem to work. She's just so docile and sweet, nothing annoys her enough, and the vet said I could break her beak if I try to pry her mouth open. He said she's not in any immediate danger--it's not life-threatening, or at least not yet. His tests suggest it's an infestation that's been going on for a while, but not too long, and she's not underweight, and she is still eating and drinking some. So I have time to figure this out. But of course, as a newbie to the whole "rescue" thing I am afraid I've made an oversight because I just don't know what to do or how to get her to take it.
So I suppose my questions are this:
1. How can I get a reluctant turtle to open its mouth, especially if it's extremely docile?
2. Is there anything else I could be doing to insure she gets the dose?
3. Are there any alternatives that you know of to treating coccidia that I could try if this doesn't work out? Or rather, I suppose, how worried should I be? He said she could get a shot for one parasite, but not the other. What other options do I have?
Thank you in advance for all your time and help.
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