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Project Noah Nature School
Emydura macquarii signata
This Brisbane River Turtle, nicknamed 'Crackerjack', is currently in our care with a broken lower shell. This is the most common turtle in the Brisbane River catchment but it's the first one we've had in care - we usually get its cousins, the Krefft's Turtles (Emydura macquarii kreftii). Update 2/10/13 - After nine months in care, Crackerjack was declared fit by the vet and we released him back into the wild at Maleny on 28/9/13.
Spotted on Jan 20, 2013
Submitted on Jan 26, 2013
5 Comments
An update on this turtle - after nine months in care he was declared fit by the vet and we released him back into the wild on Saturday. It was a bit of a wrench!
Oh well he's in good hands :)
Hey Argy and EnvUnlimited, we took Crackerjack to the vet today and I asked what they use - turns out it is Knead-It epoxy putty. We thought she might be ready for release but the vet peeled a crusty layer of shell off the plastron (which she hadn't been able to remove before) revealing some pretty serious abrasions underneath - it actually IS really "manky". Now the wound is exposed we have to keep Crackerjack dry-docked and dress the wound every couple of days to try and help heal it up.
I'm not sure what they did Argy - by the time we got him, he was at the recovery stage (although our vets tend to favour brackets to hold the shell back together while it heals). The vet described the remaining abrasions on his plastron as "manky" but we really think they don't look too bad. I actually think his main problem by the time we got him was that he wouldn't eat, but my husband is the reptile whisperer when it comes to getting them to eat, so he's fine now. I suspect he's not far off release.
How was the shell fixed - epoxy ?