PLEASE!!!! Dying turtle!

[kearth]

Did you remove him from the other turtles?

Coura - Would something like silversulfadine work? Or bacitracin work?
http://www.medicinenet.com/bacitracin-topical/article.htm

The silver I think you need a script but should not have a problem getting it, call the vet you take you herps to. The bacitracin you can get OTC. Not sure if either will work hopefully Coura will chime in.

 

[lix.ma14]

How come that he is dying???

 

[krichardson]

How come that he is dying???

Hopefully he is not and Herphunter merely thought that his turtle would die if he did not get any help or advice in time.

 

[coura]

I would say that will work as well. However this I know it works for shure

 

[HerpHunter77]

I would say that will work as well. However this I know it works for shure

ok, good i just couldnt find any of that stuff.

 

[LRM]

From the look of that tail and the behavior you're describing, the infection has gone septic. You are looking at an uphill battle without any antibiotics. My first response to that wound if I did not have access to a vet specialist would be amputation of the affected area and betadine to the new wound. Never ever leave a wet wound to rot on an animal.

I think this is a grim situation and you are going to need to use this to reassess your husbandry practices in the future. A small nip to the tail should not have resulted in deep tissue necrosis.

I'd suggest you also get yourself a copy of Reptile Medicine and Surgery. It will help you a lot with both husbandry and professional advice for these sorts of situations.

You also need to be skeptical of the advice you get on message boards, especially any sort of medical advice. For example looking at that picture there is no way to determine if that is fungal or bacterial or a combination. If it is bacterial there is no way to determine if it is gram positive or gram negative bacteria and without being able to determine that you cannot be certain that any one topical treatment will be effective. There are many medications that are useless on one type or the other and many "broad spectrum" medications are not as effective as you might think. In addition to this in the case of sepsis, a topical ointment is of no use on its own and aggressive treatment is required.

 

[coura]

From the look of that tail and the behavior you're describing, the infection has gone septic. You are looking at an uphill battle without any antibiotics. My first response to that wound if I did not have access to a vet specialist would be amputation of the affected area and betadine to the new wound. Never ever leave a wet wound to rot on an animal.

I think this is a grim situation and you are going to need to use this to reassess your husbandry practices in the future. A small nip to the tail should not have resulted in deep tissue necrosis.

I'd suggest you also get yourself a copy of Reptile Medicine and Surgery. It will help you a lot with both husbandry and professional advice for these sorts of situations.

You also need to be skeptical of the advice you get on message boards, especially any sort of medical advice. For example looking at that picture there is no way to determine if that is fungal or bacterial or a combination. If it is bacterial there is no way to determine if it is gram positive or gram negative bacteria and without being able to determine that you cannot be certain that any one topical treatment will be effective. There are many medications that are useless on one type or the other and many "broad spectrum" medications are not as effective as you might think. In addition to this in the case of sepsis, a topical ointment is of no use on its own and aggressive treatment is required.

Sorry but your giving very bad advice to a already grim situation. The turtle DOESANT need to have the tail removed by hand, the turtle organism its already taking care of that by himself and you can see that happening by the lump that its appearing in the separation between the living and dead tissue. If he applies allot of a oily oitement in the area, that process will be greatly helped and if it has some antibacterial properties the better. However if he tries to do that by hand, chances are he will make the woule thing worse with blood loss and bacteria reinfecting the new wound. Also turtles dont have special breaking points in the vertebra like lizards have, it could make the situation MUCH worse! The turtle´s tail will fall by itself very soon. What your saying is applyable only to mammals and birds, turtles are neither, they can easily survive this kind of wounds. Also he CANT take this turtle to a vet and he isnt able to get specific antibiotics. This isnt the perfect way to deal with this wound but this is the better we can come up with in this situation. If we allow the turtle body to heal itself he has a figthing change, if he tryes to do what your saying things could get much worse.
This turtle isnt sceptic, and even the wound doesant appear so. Ive seen many similar cases both in turtles and in lizards as well, agressive amputation of the tail should only be used in last resort, the priority is allowing the tail to separate between live and dead tissue by the use of a fat based ointement.

 

[Wiggles92]

Coura: Great advice! As someone already said, how aren't you a Moderator for this section? Also, we might not have the "Bepanthene Plus" stuff here in the U.S. under the same (noticed your location is set to Europe).

 

[LRM]

Sorry but your giving very bad advice to a already grim situation. The turtle DOESANT need to have the tail removed by hand, the turtle organism its already taking care of that by himself and you can see that happening by the lump that its appearing in the separation between the living and dead tissue. If he applies allot of a oily oitement in the area, that process will be greatly helped and if it has some antibacterial properties the better. However if he tries to do that by hand, chances are he will make the woule thing worse with blood loss and bacteria reinfecting the new wound. Also turtles dont have special breaking points in the vertebra like lizards have, it could make the situation MUCH worse! The turtle´s tail will fall by itself very soon. What your saying is applyable only to mammals and birds, turtles are neither, they can easily survive this kind of wounds. Also he CANT take this turtle to a vet and he isnt able to get specific antibiotics. This isnt the perfect way to deal with this wound but this is the better we can come up with in this situation. If we allow the turtle body to heal itself he has a figthing change, if he tryes to do what your saying things could get much worse.
This turtle isnt sceptic, and even the wound doesant appear so. Ive seen many similar cases both in turtles and in lizards as well, agressive amputation of the tail should only be used in last resort, the priority is allowing the tail to separate between live and dead tissue by the use of a fat based ointement.

-18years of experience working with reptiles
-6 years education specializing in wildlife
-primary keeper at our animal housing facility for a critically endangered species of turtle

What are your qualifications exactly? Because honestly all I'm seeing from you is an amateur hour home remedy that is being pulled out of the air. Coating a rotting wound in something oily simply inhibits gas exchange and promotes the develop of anaerobic bacteria. A swelling at the border of a necrotic lesion and living tissue is an inflammatory response of the living tissue and in no way means that the tissue damage is going to stop at that point. In fact too much swelling will result in a decrease in blood flow and can exacerbate the situation by starving the cells and making them more susceptible to infection.
There is no need for a specific breaking point if you are surgically removing the dead tissue. It is a well known wound treatment process called debridement and if you were worth your salt in medical advice you would already know that.
Do not presume to tell me I am giving the OP poor advice when all you have done is push your home remedy and promote your pseudo-expertise.

 

[Natalie]

The sad fact of the matter is, home treatment isn't going to substitute for proper veterinary care. Since the OP stated he can't go to the vet,the best he can hope for in that situation is to apply silver sulfadiazene or topical antibiotics and provide optimal husbandry while the animal is recovering. Please stop the argument about whether the animal is septic or not. There's no way to tell that without proper diagnostic work.