Archives of The Cold Blooded News

The Newsletter of the Colorado Herpetological Society

Volume 29, Number 10;   October, 2002

Jaws

by Karen Benzel

In August of 2001, a male slider, about five years old, was brought into a rescue center in Suisun, California, with fishing line tightly wrapped around his mouth. Thinking that the turtle may have swallowed a fishhook, an x-ray was taken. Two fishhooks with line attached were clearly visible. The center's vet, Dave Scott, removed the fishing line and did endoscopic surgery to try and remove the hooks. However, he could not get them out. Thin and weakened from his ordeal, the turtle went home with me. I tubed him, as he was unable to eat due to the injury to his mouth from the fishing line. A course of Baytril injections was administered to ward off infection. Within a week, he recovered, eating on his own and becoming active. A small section at the corner of one side of his mouth was missing due to the fishing line, and he seemed unable to close his mouth completely. I named him Jaws because when he was released into my pond, he went around trying to bite the other turtles. When brought back inside, he even attacked his own image in a mirror!

I introduced him to the other turtles one at a time and, because he was the smallest, I put him back into my pond where he focused on courting the girls and biting the other male, who basically ignored him. Because of his size, and his compromised jaw, he was more of a nuisance than a threat. One night I thought I heard him cough. I did notice that he was spending more time under the heat lamp than usual. That evening, when I was covering the pond to protect it from night visitors, he was lethargic, so I brought him inside for observation. He was given Baytril, and put into a container with warm water placed on a heating pad. (Baytril makes turtles thirsty and hungry). The next morning I awoke to find him, gasping for breath, and blood was in the water. Thinking the fishhooks had finally caused a fatal injury, but not knowing for sure, I gave him another shot of Baytril. A few days later he was alive, quiet but not gasping. Over the next seven days, he got stronger and stronger and ate more and more. One week later I couldn't believe my eyes. The hooks, visible in the x-ray, were now in the water and the fishing line was still attached. The question was what end did they come out of? Signs in the water pointed to the back end.

The medical question becomes, do fish hooks dissolve, kill the turtle, or get expelled? It was thought ingested fishhooks dissolve. Based on the case of Jaws, we might presume that that fishhooks don't dissolve, that they are eventually expelled. What we don't know is whether in the case of Jaws, did the hooks cause his respiratory problems? But more importantly, are hooks dissolved because people don't find the hooks that are expelled? In any event, he is an amazing little turtle who is now back in the pond being Jaws, a true little medical miracle.