General Care Discussion :: One of my rescured res cant move his back legs.

[pall willeaux]

Our most recent rescue involved moving a hatchling from the high traffic bike path he was on and bringing him to live with my other turtle.

The new guy is about 2 inches, which is about 1cm longer than the turtle he shares the tank with now. His back legs don't work. They just hang limp outside his shell and don't respond to any stimulation. His tail moves fine, though. We didn't know if he would make it being that his mobility was limited, but after looking him over it appears he has no external damage to his legs or shell and he can slide pretty fast just pulling himself along on his front legs.

The only problem he really has is swimming in deep water. We have a small 25 gallon tank that we filled almost to the top with a zoo med floating basking platform that our first turtle can swim and climb onto, but the paraplegic can't seem to swim hard enough to make it more than a couple inches off the bottom of the tank.

we are adjusting the tank's water, sand and fixtures to suit him - im starting a thread in the habitat forum regarding the specifics. what i wanted to know is, should i be doing anything special for his needs? he eats and plays and basks just fine. he seems healthy and happy especially with companionship from the other turtle.

thanks in advance.

[TheComputerGremlin]

First, did you quarantine him for at least 90 days in a tank by himself to ensure that he wasn't carrying any disease or parasites that he could pass on to your healthy turtle? I'm guessing the answer is no. Not good, esp. if you are going to continue rescuing turtles. YOU MUST QUARANTINE. How long has he been in the tank with the presumably healthy turtle? If it's only been a day or two, there may still be hope. Get him to a separate tank. 90 days, minimum.

As for his lifestyle, it sounds like he will be best suited to have his own tank that is mainly land with a small, shallow pond for him to get in. I would go off of how many inches he was able to get off the ground, and only have that much water in the tank, so probably shell width? for his whole life. This way, he can still get wet, but there will be no fear of him drowning. He may regain his motor skills, but I would say it's unlikely, and he'll need a special tank for life. You will also want some "resting" places in the water, you can use little lips along the tank wall, just enough for him to hold his head out of the water.

You also do not want to position the basking lamp or UVB overtop of the water, as with little water, it will heat up way too fast. The little water he'll have needs to be kept cool so he can get out of the warmth and into the cool water.

If he is otherwise happy and healthy, I would say he should be fine, treat him like any other turtle. You may want to, at some point, get him to a herp vet to be checked out, maybe X rayed, just to make sure there isn't something obviously lodged in him that may be removed.

Also, should you have other turtles in with him (in his special needs tank), you are going to have to watch them carefully. RES are very aggressive, and like any other species, may kill the weakest one for territory. He may seem fine now, but he won't be able to escape a faster, stronger RES. RES will even drown each other. While you may believe he is enjoying the companionship, turtles are NOT mammals and are happy to be solitary.

And I don't know his size, but if "he" ends up being "she", you will need a herp vet to carefully inspect the tail opening as she will lay eggs without a male present, and if something is blocking that, the eggs will be retained and may burst inside her, leading to a mortal infection.