If a box turtle gets an upper respritory infection and it goes untreated, their ears swell up. There are signs to watch for that indicate difficulty breathing such as quickly pushing their head out and in. They are hard to prevent, kind of like a human cold, but they need to be medically treated as soon as you notice. I did not know all this. Dottie has never been sick before. She seemed fine to me one day then the next day her ears looked like this. She was so terribly miserable. Her ears had to be cut open (by a professional!) and the infection removed. I thought it would be liquidey puss but it calcifies and turns into hard chunks that are removed. Dr. White irrigated her ears and gave her an antibiotic injection. I was given 4 more injections to administer every 48 hours. I never gave turtle shots before, but I think I am doing pretty good. This happend June 2004. |
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