2003-09-03 - Floater is a wild female Red-eared Slider about 11 inches long that was found on a road hit by a car in the San Jacinto College area.

A kind passerby stopped and rescued her and got her to one of the GCTTS rehabilitators. If not rescued she would have surely died a slow painful death from infection.

She was started on antibiotics and her shell was repaired by one of the vet's offices in the area that helps us with ill and injured turtles. Since her shell damage was severe and some pieces were missing, it will take longer for her to heal.

We expect to have her in long term observation from 2 to 4 years. At that time, if her shell has healed properly, we expect to release her back into the wild so she can continue to lead a long natural life.

We call her Floater because she had air in her body cavity due to the injury. She could only float and was unable to dive for one month. Eventually the air absorbed and now she can dive and swim normally with her shell patches.

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

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(Click on each thumbnail for a larger photo)

Floater, before her operation

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RES #2 Floater Update- April 2004

Floater has been doing excellent. (Actually, the rehabber in charge of her has renamed her Big Girl.) Big Girl/Floater has had no problems at all. She still has her patches but is out of isolation and has access to land so she can lay eggs if she needs to. She attended some of the April Earth Day booths GCTTS has manned so we could use her as an example to help educate the public about our rescue and rehabilitation program.

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RES #2 Floater Update- September 2004

Floater recently had her patches removed. Some of her bridge with several fractures did not heal so those pieces came off with the patch. Her bridge has a larger opening now but the body cavity is sealed with tissues. She is still able to be in the water and will still be able to hibernate this winter in the care of one of the GCTTS rehabbers. At this time she is being kept from male turtles so any attempts at mating will not re-injure the tissues in the bridge opening. She is doing great.

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Update Oct 2004

A patch was applied to partially cover the open area on her bridge that did not seal it completely but protected it from mating injury or even baby turtles using her cavity for a hiding place.

She hibernated successfully and is healthy May 15, 2005.

This is a photo of her with the new patch.

The new patch will be left in place a while longer to allow the bridge to regenerate further.

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Update June 2007

Floater's last patch was removed and she was released back into the wild on May 14, 2007. She was released into a remote body of water where she will never get back onto a road. Her bridge regenerated to fill in the hole.

This is her final photo.