We received a call from Stacy on September 15 about a turtle that had been stuck in a drain for what was thought to be only about a week. From her call, we knew it was a large (12 1/2 in) softshell. One of our members talked her husband into rescuing the turtle on the morning of September 16.

The GCTTS re-habber who received the big male has updated us on his condition. He has a respiratory infection that is severe enough to affected his appetite. He was covered with leeches and he has five large abscesses, one on three of his feet where they scraped the concrete and two on his plastron. One, on the plastron in particular, is deep into the body cavity. The others are quite sizable also. Obviously this poor guy had been on the concrete for many weeks and possibly months as these were contact areas and the abscesses were quite solid. They were not fresh wounds. The infection is systemic. Hopefully the injectable antibiotics and daily cleaning of the abscesses will allow him to recover.

Just like the turtles we rescued from the Westover Fountain, this turtle should have been healthy also. But in this drainpipe situation he had been imprisioned much too long. This really brings up the question of how many turtles land up in these unintentional traps and perish.

We decided to name him Drainpipe.

Here is a sketch of the drain that he was trapped in:

Thanks Stacy, for calling the GCTTS about this animal and thanks to our member's husband for rescuing it. He is now receiving treatment and ideally will respond, recover, be observed for a while and then eventually released back to a safe area. This is the goal. However, his prognosis is guarded at this time due to the systemic infection. We will keep you posted on the big guy's progress.

UPDATE: 25 Oct 2007
Drainpipe saw one of the vets that treats GCTTS turtles and had some of his abcesses cleaned out under sedation. The abcesses are better but the vet did a culture and we are waiting to find out what new antibiotic Drainpipe will be put on. The vet sutured two of the largest abcesses. The sutures must remain in for 8 weeks. His appetite is picking up which makes us very happy. He also has a respiratory infection but inspite of this, things are going well for Drainpipe and his condition is still guarded.

UPDATE: 12 Nov 2007
Drainpipe is back on an antibiotic. His appetite is now like what a large softshell should have. He's living in a large heated aquarium and has room to swim. He seems content and looks forward to getting fed and eats whatever he is given. His diet consists mostly of various feeder fish and dead fuzzy mice. Drainpipe will see the vet again this week for a check up. He's doing extremely well.

UPDATE: 17 Nov 2007
The vet visit went well. He removed Drainpipes sutures early. The two abcesses needed some necrotic (dead) tissues cleaned out. They are healing good and getting smaller. No more sutures were needed. Sedation was not needed this time. The respiratory infection is still present but hopefully the antibiotic being given for the abcesses will also take care of the other.