Urgent Care :: urgent - cracked shell... need advice...

[Adam]

hi all
my res (Jade) is around 6 yrs old... today noticed a 1 to 1.5 inch crack behind her left front leg... crack starts from inside of teh shell area (behind front left leg from where the skin starts) and extends to top towards shell edge above... skin appears normal and crack doesnt look deep enuff to expose interiors... not sure when this has happened or how, noone remembers anything like dropping or injury...but its a recent one... doersnt look like there is a bleeding or wound... the right side of her leg is fine... Jade seems to be quite normal... though she is not feeding on the pellets much but she does eat her dried shrimps and fish... i want to know how to go abt this... i did go thru the shell crack solution mentioned in forum... but since it doesnt look like there is wound or anything i want to know how to take care of this... for the moment she is in teh water... do i still need to dress that part and put antibiotic opintment and drydock her or shud i jus leave it or shud i close the crack with some epoxy kinda material?... need advice urgently...
i will try to post a pic... but since i am out of town it might take a bit... i was informed of this by my wife... askin her to send a snap of it to post here...
thanks in advance...

[Adam]

hi all... need some advice plz... where i stay there are no vets available for turtles, so i have to do something myself... so i need some advice on how to go abt this or where to start... im worried

[steve]

A pic would definitely help. How deep is the crack and what can be seen under it? Keep it clean and dry. Antibiotic ointment would be a good idea. Honestly if it is a crack of that size, then I would seek out a vet (or a rescue/rehabber in this instance) for assistance since there might be some more trauma beneath that area.

[Adam]

hi im posting couple pics... for now she has been taken out of water... trying to find a vet (difficult where i live) ... also im not in town so have to instruct my wife to take care...

if u can see behind the front left leg... crack is visible... looks like there cud be bleeding/trauma as well...
so my next course of action is to dry dock, clean the crack with betadine solution and apply antibiotic ointment? can a ear swab be used to apply the ointment?
this has to be done until it heals right? so what indications can i notice to see that it has healed?
also i want to know... how long to dry dock... so i need to put her in clean water for sometime everyday?
and how do i feed her? she needs to be inside water to eat right? as they require water to swallow?

also i might not find teh same brand ointments here... but basically i shud be looking for triple action topical antibiotic ointment right?
also does this crack needs to sealed by glue? and if so when? im guessing after all the treatment... also, im wondering doesnt it seal by itself by regenerating teh shell around there?
anything else i need to take care?
plz let me know...
thanks...
Adam...

[Adam]

have kept her outside... cleaned the crack n applied neosporin... shes slightly irritable n wants to go back in water i guess... want to know how long u can dry dock and how often to put her in water...
when i search the net i get conflicting dry docking scenarios... some say 23 hrs she shud be kept out and one hour in water... some say every few hours she needs to be rehydrated...
any suggestion will be helpfull plz... thanks..

[kodiack]

I have heard of vets using denture adhesive to repair shell cracks in sea turtles,I guess it might be worth a try but anything you put in the crack will interfere with the healing
I would stay away from any epoxy unless it is surgical grade,I think in your situation a 23 hour dry dock would be excessive but Im not sure how much him being in the water interfere with shell healing.
Be sure he is getting lots of UVB light when out of the water and maybe a calcium supplement or cuttlebone.

[Adam]

yeah i will try not to glue it until it is healed... but how long to i have to apply ointment and how do i know its healed since its a small crack and i cant really see inside the wound?
and wud denture adhesives suffice for this crack?
dry docking, maybe i'll try putting her in water 2 times a day for an hour... is that fine?
when outside, shes too fussy in a box so i jus leave her to run around on the floor in the house, we've fixed a basking lamp but she hardly stays under it... any advices here?
what kind of calcium supplements can we give her? cuttlefish are hard to find :-/ we feed her pellets and dry fish n shrimps for now... she hasnt been eating pellets since a week though... how abt giving boiled egg whites? i guess to much of it is not good right?

[steve]

Clean the area with diluted Betadine or Hibiclens and let it dry out, then apply the neosprin. You can dry dock for long periods of time though turtles don't like to be in confined areas when out of the tank. The larger the area where she can roam, the better.