[FONT=Optima][SIZE=7][COLOR=purple][B]I have a baby common snapping turtle, I don't know how old he is, but he was attacked by a crayfish and I don't know what I should do to help him/her. Her shell is damaged (the crayfish ate a small portion of it) and her rear leg is wounded (crayfish ate the bottom part of her foot/claws). Can I help him/her? Will the baby turtle be able to survive? I have removed the crayfish from the enviroment, the turtle seems ok but I am worried because of the injuries. Please advise!
The poor baby. This was a baby that you took in and kept with a crayfish for a while? If you can find a reptile vet to see him, that would be good. Otherwise, keep the water very clean. It should never look dirty. Add aquarium salt at a tablespoon per 2 gallons. This may sting him a little at first but is the best easy treatment to deter the growth of bacteria and fungus, both of which will try to attack the injured areas. They also sell some turtle medications like Dr. Turtle which is plaster of Paris with sulfa drugs which also deter bacteria and fungus. A vet can give you both topical antibiotics for the injured areas or injectable antibiotics if it's that bad. Without seeing the baby, I can't give an opinion as to how bad it is. How big is the baby? What, if anything, does it eat so far?
My page on caring for baby turtles is at
http://www.fishpondinfo.com/turtles/hatchling.htmI hope the little guy makes it!
We found the little turtle on a sidewalk far away from any water. He was very dry and dehydrated looking so we put him in a bucket with a little water and it seemed to revive him some. We had a fish tank at home (58 gallons) that we had retired because we upgraded to a 120 gallon tank so we decided to fix the tank up for our new baby turtle which we also had named it Snappy. We looked on the internet for info on how to care for him and we created a creek like environment for him. There is two filters running one is submersible the other is a fish filter that goes on the back of the tank that we added some plumbing pipes to and converted it to be able to pump and filter the low level of water. There are lots of different size rocks in there and pebble sized gravel on the bottom so Snappy has lots of hiding space and a big flat rock for him to sun bathe on. We attached a reptile basking lamp to the tank that has a 75 watt uv heat lamp in it. We added live plants, snails, minnows and the crayfish (not knowing the crayfish would attack the turtle). Oh how I regret putting the crayfish in. We thought it would be a good experience for the kids. Anyway, Snappy looks well, better than when I first wrote you. He has stopped bleeding and the open wounds now have a fleshy color instead of red. He has lost his whole foot on the rear leg. So Snappy now has four legs and three feet. Do you think we will ever be able to release him back into the wild? Snappy is about 2 inches from the tip of his head to the tip of his tail and he is eating freeze dried plankton and turtle sticks (the small floating ones). Any advice you may have I am willing to take. I hope to rehabilitate him so when he is too big we can release him in the pond.
I don't normally advise taking animals from the wild but it sounds like the baby would have died of dehydration without intervention. It's hard to say if he should ever be released. If he can swim normally, then he probably can. If he can't, then he'd be easy prey. At 2" long (and he's eating), he's not a hatchling but may have been born this spring or summer. Most snappers are born in September and October and come out then or overwinter underground but they may be born at other times of the year as well. At 2", I doubt he's a year old. Care advice is on my web site mentioned previously. In addition to that, due to his disability, you have to worry about infection and making it easier for him to get in and out of the water if he can't swim right. Is his swimming okay or does he list to one side? Luckily, as far as aquatic turtles go, snappers don't swim that much, at least as adults. They mostly stay on and walk on the bottom of shallow water.
He seems to be swimming ok. I have to really observe him when he decides to move around. He likes to hide alot. It is really easy for him to get in and out of the water so at least I did that right. Thanks for all of your advice and I am really glad to have found your website seeing that you have alot of info on many topoics that relate to me.