common snapping turtle

This snapping turtle came in with several shell fractures. Several on the top shell (carapace) which I repaired by drilling holes in the edge of the shell on either side of the fracture and looping wire through the holes to hold the fracture in place....and one big on on her bottom shell (plastron). Here is a pic of her on her back (under anesthesia)

and a close-up of the fracture....the arrow is pointing to it and the black line is parallel to it so you can see how long it is. It extends from one edge of the plastron to the other so essentially, the 2 edges of the fracture are moveable and keep moving up and done (dorsal and ventral) as it's broken all the way through in that area.

I wanted to try a new technique where I drill screws into the shell and connect the screws with wire but there were a few problems

-the fracture pieces kept collapsing dorsally (into the turtle) even with the wire/screws so if i just did that, the pieces wouldn't stay aligned....they would "V" down into the turtle

-once the screws and wire were in place, i didn't want pressure on the screws or the fracture, and once the turtle was upright (sternal) she would be putting all of her weight on the screws since they would be sticking out a bit (they don't make stainless steel screws smaller than 1/2", ugh).

-the fracture edges were VERY hard to align even when manually holding them together--they didn't want to go into their "natural" position which would make repair difficult

SO after running around the center trying to think of an answer, i came up with this...i found a plastic lid from a heavy plastic jar and drilled holes in it, then placed the screws through the holes and into the holes I had drilled into the shell--this prevented the fracture edges from collapsing into her body...however, since the lid had to be very rigid, it was difficult to hold the fracture in place while placing the lid, so the fracture didn't align correctly BUT it's not collapsing into her body; it will heal---will just take longer.

the next problem was that i didn't want pressure on the lid at all or it might bump around the fracture.

so i took one of those pool noodles, cut it in half and glued some thick pieces around the lid...

and then glued a frisbee onto the pool noodles

she woke up very slow from anesthesia and I'm afraid may not make it. Manipulating the fracture so much (b/c it was so difficult to align) and having her on her back for ~30 min may have been too stressful for her....we'll see over the next few days.

I love my job:)

I love my job:) I'm working 12-14 hour days, examining, admitting and determining treatments for 70+ new patients each day, rechecking the bulk of my 50+ existing cases each day, answering the phone and talking to the public when we don't have a front desk volunteer, examining nursery animals as they become ill and dealing with whatever curve balls come my way. I'm constantly multitasking and doing things i've never done before.

For instance, here is one story for tonight.

This American Toad presented very sick–she was very lethargic and her whole body was swollen. When amphibians (frogs and toads in particular) get a swollen body, it’s termed “edema disease” which can be caused by a long list of diseases–kidney disease, liver disease, electrolyte imbalances, and pretty much anything that can make an amphibian sick can cause edema disease.

A radiograph (pictured) showed a large amount of a mineral substance (likely sand/grit/stones) in her stomach (the white blob in the middle of the xray).

This grit was obstructing her stomach, not allowing anything to pass. The only way to get it out is surgery. This toad was so sick that she would likely die during surgery, but she would definitely die if we didn’t get the obstruction out of her stomach soon.So she went to surgery. By cutting through her skin and muscle layers, I was able to see the stomach, cut it open, pull the grit out and sew her back up. She survived surgery but is still very sick and may die despite our best efforts.We aren’t sure why she got the obstruction. Toads live in an environment where sand and grit are abundant–why did she eat so much to get obstructed? She was kept as a pet (wild animals never make good pets) so there is the possibility that having a limited environment and diet, she accidentally ate sand looking for food, or her insects were covered in a large amount of dirt–or perhaps she has some gastrointestinal disease that caused her stomach motility to slow, allowing small amounts of sand to accumulate over time–we’ll never know what exactly caused it. We’re just hoping we got it out in time and she’ll pull through.