Some of you will remember, and others won't because many of you weren't here on this site when this happened... June 3rd last year my dad picked up an injured snapping turtle by the road on his way out, and he brought her back to me (though at the time I didn't really know it wasn't a he).
When I looked at her it was apparent she'd been hit by a vehicle of some sort during the night or early morning while attempting to cross the road. Her skull had been split in a couple places and her bottom jaw was completely snapped in half and hanging loosely, and her mouth was filled with gobs of clotted blood and keeping her from breathing good.
I'm not gonna go into details of exactly how I fixed her up... but long story short, there weren't any exotic vets and the one that I new of was a new guy and he admitted he couldn't really do anything for an illness my parrot had nor a ball python of mine and had me giving my ball python some crazy doses of baytril (which of course I found correct dosages on here from a couple people..) and a couple rehab places I did call told me they couldn't take her and it was likely she was not going to live.
But I had hope and faith in her.
That same day I recieved her she ended up laying 31 eggs, but unfortunately the eggs weren't fertile and so were no good.
She was in a vegetative state mentally for months. I had to tube feed her for a couple months before she came around enough to start swallowing some small whole fish on her own... but even then I had to stick it in her mouth with my fingers. She had little motor function and would often have head wobbling/spinning fits and would spin around in circles in one direction, obviously some serious trauma to her head and most likely swelling of her brain... all I could do was keep her water fresh and clean, changed every single day and kept cool in the shade while she could still get enough amounts of the sun's UV to help her heal.
By the time fall came around, she still wasn't 100% enough to be released... it was just too soon. She was eating as long as I held food up to her mouth but she was not actively searching for food on her own, and still had some motor function problems. Towards late January all of the spinning and wobbling had stopped by then, and it wasn't until around that time that she finally started actively searching for food, being able to swallow larger items. I could finally just drop food in there for her and walk away, and she would get it on her own. I still often fed her f/t rat pups, fish, and scraps of deer meat with feeding tongs. By this time there was no way I could feed her using my fingers anymore... her jaw strength was great enough she would bite down hard on the rubber-tipped feeding tongs sometimes and it was difficult to get her off of them.
I really enjoyed taking care of her. Often when she would see me, she would look up at me with a cute face and I'd wave my hand at her, and she'd come to me for food. But I was not seen as the main food source all the time... she would readily snap up food that I would
toss in there for her and watch at a distance. I had to watch my hands around her because she would even see them as food as well as any other part of my limbs... even taking bites at tubing that I would use to change her water with. She never cared to be picked up, but she never showed any aggression... she just saw most things as possible food... no hisses, no snaps.
I had named her Dutchess (she just looked like.. she was Dutchess) and she was just an absolute pleasure to work with. Once it was spring and warm enough here I put her outside in the real sun in her own temporary pond until the river was warm enough that I would start seeing turtles. I left her alone most of the time except to feed her.
I gave her time, I gave her lots of TLC, I gave her lots of food. I was criticized a lot for what I did early on, and blamed that she would die because of me... and told that I should just let her go. Let her go where? To die drowning because of her vegetative state and lack of motor skills? To let some hungry animals tear her apart while she didn't stand a chance? I don't think so...
Look what I did. Look how she recovered, and she did a great job... and I did a great job. I am proud of what I did, nomatter what people think, and I am so happy and proud of her.
She had been wanting to go back to the river (behind my house) for a very long time... during the late winter she wanted out of her tub all the time, and this spring she wanted out... she just had to wait a bit... It was hard for me, I grew really attached to her, but I intended her to get fully recovered so that she could return and contribute more to future snapper populations. I did my part to save her, and now she can do hers.
She was very happy to finally be back in the river... she even buried herself in the mud a few times, munched on a couple things and explored... just cruised along the bottom, going out into the deeper waters.. swimming to the surface.. and venturing back to the shallows looking around for food. I fed her very well in the past week especially before letting her go, so that she gets a good start back where she belongs.
I didn't take her back to the creek(that leads to the river) where she came from last year, because I didn't want her near housing developments and people, as well as the road she was hit on. Instead I let her go across the river where it was nice and muddy, sunny, and where I have seen many other large snappers as well as small ones (which I saw today also) and in later summer, water plants grow thick over there which will provide her more shelter and also more food as far as fish go.
From this...
To this and progressing...
The cuuuuuuuute face!
First time going after food on her own...(I only fed her goldfish that came from my own fish pond.. it was getting overpopulated. So no harmful chemicals that petstores often use.)
and today...
Heading for the river....
and the final chapter.... her release from rehab
she ventured far, exploring and going around various places...
this was really hard for me, but I was so happy for her yet i couldn't help but cry... she came back to me one last time and looked up at me with that cute face I always adored...
...and she turned, and ventured on her way..
I'm sad, but I am so incredibly happy for her at the same time. It was amazing what she went through and how she recovered. I hope that maybe I'll get to see her again when I go canoeing in the river this summer. She was an incredible sweetheart to work with. Dutchess, I'll always remember you and wish you the best of luck. I love you.
