BeWild Reptile Rescue

Scallop is an adult male eastern box turtle who was surrendered last week. He was purchased at a flea market 4 years ago. As a reminder, it is illegal to sell box turtles in NC. It’s very sad to us that this handsome, healthy box turtle now has to live in captivity permanently. While our goal is always to keep wildlife wild, we cannot release a turtle who has been captive for years with no known original location. Turtles have very small home ranges and usually do not do well when relocated.

Scallop gets to stay in a grassy outdoor enclosure while here, and optimally we would place him at a wildlife center if possible. If not, he will be up for adoption to a home that will provide him a naturalistic outdoor enclosure for the warm months.

Drysdale visited our friends at Avian and Exotic Animal Care yesterday. We would like to formally apologize for his hissy fit, which included biting a technician and peeing in the pocket of the vet 😬.

Drysdale came to us last year when his owner passed away. He was emaciated with a severe respiratory infection and many wounds. Drysdale has almost DOUBLED in weight, his wounds have healed, and his breathing is significantly better. He still has intermittent wheezing but no discharge, and we’ve run multiple viral panels and did a sequencing panel called a MiDOG.

Dr. Tepedino recommended radiographs of his lungs, which showed chronic scarring but no fluid pockets. These radiographs can serve as a baseline in case we need to compare images in the future. He definitely has permanent lung damage, but is otherwise doing great and should be able to live a mostly normal life.

The good news is that Drysdale already has a home lined up, with none other than the technician he gave a little love bite to yesterday!