The Tricky Turtle

By: Fayth Kim

This female, adult red-eared slider presented in May with fractures to her carapace, bridge, and plastron (all the areas of her shell). She was originally found on the side of the road and was suspected to have been hit by a car. Following her intake triage exam, we determined that despite the extensiveness of her fractures, she was a good candidate for a shell repair because her injuries did not involve her internal organs. Although her injuries could have been more life-threatening, we had quite a lot to manage during her initial care, including controlling her pain. A turtle’s shell is made of bone, thus it was important we give medications to control the pain inherent to a bone fracture and get her more comfortable. This turtle’s pain would be most significant as long as her fractures were mobile and free to move. As such, we initially stabilized the fractures with aluminum tape until a more permanent fixation could be pursued.

Her first shell procedure involved thoroughly scrubbing her wounds with dilute chlorhexidine and saline solutions, all while she was sedated. Thereafter, four small holes were drilled into her outer marginal scutes, and a sterile wire was threaded through each pair of holes. The wires were twisted to bring together her carapacial (top shell) fractures and fix them in place. The fracture line traveled over the top of her shell, and we were able to secure the rest of the fracture with aluminum tape. Her plastron(bottom shell)and bridge(side shell)fractures proved to be much more challenging, as the keratin had been scraped away. Keratin on a turtle shell is made of the same material as your fingernails, protects the bone of their shell, and gives them their colorful markings. Without keratin to protect the bone, we had to first provide that bone protection ourselves. This was done with a combination of antimicrobial treatments such as honey and bandaging, which had to be water-proofed for our aquatic turtle patient. To help alleviate some weight from her fractures, 2 Legos were glued to her plastron, the bottom of her shell.

Complicating this case, radiographs showed our patient was gravid (pregnant)! She had 10 eggs developing inside her, meaning we had to care for both mom and eggs while she was in our care. Our treatments were carefully balanced with the need to minimize stress and handling for the sake of the eggs. We also created a turtle oasis to encourage our patient to lay her eggs when she was ready. After several weeks of stalling any major procedures out of concern for the eggs, she finally laid them all! We were then able to perform the final procedures necessary for her bridge and plastron wounds, debriding any remaining unhealthy tissue and giving her healthy tissue a chance to grow. The procedure went well and she was on her road to a full recovery! There was great improvement over the next few weeks, and our now healthy turtle was released to her pond in August.

While keeping us on our toes, this turtle provided our students many opportunities learning to balance patient care with medical needs, to improve coordination and communication while being creative, and to bond over the case’s success. She was with us nearly all summer, meaning most of our fourth-year veterinary students also got challenged by her case and took part in her care. We are grateful to all of our team who worked so diligently to get this turtle back to the wild. We are also grateful to our supporters, like you, who made this case and others like it a possibility!