We received this three-toed box turtle early last fall 2004. The person who found it had been trying to care for it but was concerned that maggots kept coming out of its mouth. They therefore surrendered it to one of the GCTTS rehabbers. It had a severe respiratory illness, both eyes severely infected and its upper jaw was not attached and had maggots eating it. The upper jaw was disintegrating and completely fell off 5 days later.

The turtle received antibiotics for a full 4 weeks and its eyes were opened and cleaned with topical antibiotic applications. The inside of the mouth was kept clean and antiseptic was applied periodically. Tube feeding was started and the mouth began to heal in 3 weeks but tube feeding continued for 3 months. This was necessary to prevent further damaged to the raw mouth.

This turtle has completely recovered and is able to eat soft foods well without an upper beak/jaw. It was adopted May, 2005 to a member that will give it the special foods it needs.

This was one of the worse box turtles that the attending rehabber had ever seen outside of accident victims. Again, we are reminded what resilient creatures turtles can be. It is unfortunate that some have to be tested to their limits and many times this is caused by humans.

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Please note that some images of injured turtles may be disturbing.

Long Term Care Cases - Index

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Here are before and after photos.