Another DIY project!

Not long ago I told you I had brought a turtle home with me, I was hiking and that trail crosses a highway...on my way back from the hike right by the side of that road was this turtle.

I didn't even take a photo of him when I found him because the poor little guy was injured.  AND ants had gotten on him so I brushed off all the ants and I grabbed him up and headed to my van where I could help him

 I had some black tape in my van and I put that tape around his wound to stabilize the shell...
Until I could get him home.  

He had his head, neck, all four legs and tail tightly tucked up into his shell.....I identified this turtle as a Striped Mud Turtle and read they are omnivores. They have 2 hinged sections on bottom...and they live in wet swampy areas and even ditches that hold water.   I carefully and gently removed the black tape you can see a bit of it sticking off to one side in the above photo and there was still some bleeding So I gently cleaned the wound and prepped him for Gluing! 

His shell was broken in 2 places at the back...yes I said Gluing.  The breaks were pretty clean no bits had fallen off so I thought it would glue nicely.  Now Im not telling you to do this but I have heard it's successful and seen it done on TV so there you go!....I used the gel type Gorilla super glue which is easier to apply.  And is more precise.  Once I cleaned and dried the area I applied a line of glue along the breaks and under the edge of the shell where it was broken also...and I held him in my hands keeping light pressure on the sides of his shell till the glue took hold...

 I didn't take any video or stills of the actual repair steps as it was more important that I used both hands to do it right...I decided to stick a little paper towel on to help increase the strength of the repair, it's only adhered along the fine bead of glue.

Here he is after 10 minutes of set up time, and the pieces fit together really well...the shell was still attached to his skin underneath...poor guy I put him in this clear bin overnight with a pan of water which he did get in he was wet once when I checked him...and I put some lettuce, strawberries, and one dead wasp I found in for him to snack on...he did not eat anything!  I put that little tea box in for him to have a place to hide if he wanted and he sort of rearranged and made himself a bed in there and got under the greens I had put in for his bedding..

In the morning he was trying his best to climb out of the bin and the shell had held very well I pulled one layer of the 2 ply paper towel off and inspected and it looked like a good seal no bleeding and he was active...so I drove him over to a nearby swamp to release him...I had some errands to do that day and didn't want to stress him out by keeping him captive any longer than needed so I made the decision to release him within a 5 minute drive!

Sorry it's a little blurry           PLAY

He stuck his head out of the shell and was looking around when we parted ways...

Play

Good luck little fella!  Since this turtle I've moved one more off roadways, and  stood guard while another BIG snapper was crossing at the Refuge, he was not in any danger of being hit...but I stood guard just the same.  

The only time I recall my MOM liking a snake was one day we were on our way home from shopping...in this spot where a creek runs under the road I saw a beautiful Copperhead snake just edging out to cross the road he was as big around as a human arm...I did a u turn and put my car across the road until he made it safely to the other side, she told me she had never realized that even a deadly snake sometimes needs to be protected and she seemed to change her attitude about  snakes she had been so afraid of after that.  She often said "I will never forget you putting your car across the road to protect that snake he was so beautiful",,, she watched him thru her window as he crossed and she was amazed at his beauty.  A life changing moment can happen when you least expect it. 

How cute is this dozing calf? So sweet and innocent,


can we all just be Vegan? All life matters...

PEACE

Every day is a new Adventure.