DonnaM

mmm that would have been an interesting experience I've had to put a tube of ointment up a cloaca before, but not an enema! He's not constipated as does have normal poo when he's eaten. Just has it interspersed with the pus :-?

Pics of alligators....Will do...tho I cant post them on here yet :roll: I went to Dunedin butterfly farm and got a photo of the giant day gecko. That was cool! Also Norman starts work at 7.30 am and so we can take turtles straight there from our 7am flight! Big relief, and Debi will meet us at Butterfly Creek at 4.30pm. So we'll drop off turtles, then go off in the bus and return to Butterfly creek later in day. How big is Butterfly creek? How long do you need there? I know thats difficult to estimate as everyones interests are different...but is it like Orana pk or Willowbank? Or more like Dunedin butterfly farm?

Norman at butterfly creek will look after turtles. Thanks Broms2 :bounce:

Had his second dose of flagyl this morning. Not much change. Has eaten again today as well. Georgias eyes still shut....mmm.... :roll: Am rehoming 2 lovely healthy girls to a vet nurse in Whangare tomorrow. I'm having a day in Auckland and taking them with me. "Norman" at butterfly creek will look after the turtles till lady collects them. Nice to have some good with the bad

Thats a pity...

Now theres a thought!

Random request, but I've just had someone say they can travel to Auckland from Whangarei on Monday to collect 2 female turtles for rehoming. Is there anyone nearish the airport that could look after them for a few hours as I'd be bringing them up from CHCH and wont have anywhere to put them while I'm there. They could be dry docked for the day so wouldn't need a tank, just a box and some towels. This wasn't something that had been planned, but it would be fantastic to rehome these 2 girls, so I'm asking a huge favour of anyone in Auckland....nearish the airport??? We arrive in Auckland at .. 7am and plan to walk to butterfly creek by 9am. So theres a couple of hours there I could arrange to get them to someone. Debi could either collect them from you and/or I'd come back to collect them and meet her at the airport. Anyone able to help?? Please let me know ASAP You could email [email protected] if you want.

One more day to go till I'm in Auckland ....hope the weathers good! Any more ideas of things to do/see? Might be a McDonalds breakfast A-Town, but not TOO much food :lol:

Last chance for Speedy Although there have been little improvements, overall he's not doing well at all. The pus has become thicker, he moves very little nowadays and all the hypersensitivity is still there. He still has the strange grey dot in his eye and although he is showing an interest in food and doing normal poo now, the episodes of pus are increasing. I finally managed to coincide retrieving some pus from the bath with the vet being open and got a sample to him yesterday. He phoned today to say Speedy has definate fladulates swimming around in the pus which is a bowel infection a bit like giardia... (Just as well I'm infection control officer at work and actually like to wash my hands plenty as vet is unsure of transmission possibility to humans of giardia infection. ) So today I went home in my lunch break and collected Georgia (Blind eyes) and took her back to work for the afternoon and at 3pm the vet called in and injected her with some vitamins to combat the deficiency thats causing her eyes to stay shut, and he gave me 2 syringes full of Flagyl for Speedy. (Very nice of vet to do that for me as he was going near where my work is!) Speedy has to have a whole half a ml (not the usual 0.2mls) so thats quite a lot to get into him. He has to have half ml every 2 days for 4 doses. Apparently the fladulates could be the underlying cause of all his woes and if the flagyl is going to work, we should see a significant improvement in him quite quickly. If not...then it probably would be best to ... One thing he has in his favour is that he is so obliging with medicines. Just opens his mouth when I tap it and in goes the syringe and he swallows what I've put in there. I've just given him his first dose of flagyl...in several mouth fulls so he only had a wee bit at a time to swallow...and now hes wrapped up in a towel on my lap with his wee head facing the keyboard as I type. Think I'd better stop now as all of a sudden I'm very sad

Well yesterday I popped him in a tank with deeper water. He sank like a stone and then struggled like mad to get up to surface to breathe...(then again that can happen to a turtle whose been dry docked as well)... but then he just 'floated'. No attempts to move or swim or open up back feet at all even tho I left him in there for about an hour. Today he ate 2 pieces of wet turtle food and then about 6 pond snails! I was most impressed. Its still really hard to know just how 'well' he will become...and theres still fine watery pus.... Georgia still cant open up her eyes...might be the antibiotic ointment has caused them to 'stick' a bit. Redness has gone, just puffy and shut. I tried gently to wipe eye lids to remove any 'fatty' residue from ointment...but its not worth losing a finger over and then she just pulls her head in so eyes disappear into skin folds :roll: What ratio of salt to water do you think Mincie?

This is very helpful, thank-you! Is the minigolf near enough to see? Or do I need to know what its called/ Street its on etc? Great to hear about the various bus services, very helpful! Any more ideas very welcome Also approximately how long would it take to get into Skycity on the bus?

On Monday March 23rd, a friend and I will fly into Auckland at 7am and will leave at 8.45pm. We intend to walk to Butterfly creek for a lengthy visit, but is there anything else we could do thats close to the airport? Walking or bus distance? I'm hoping Butterfly creek is only 'one minute' from Auckland airport as advertised....It opens at 9am, so we have a couple of hours to fill in before hand. Anywhere nice to have breakfast....and later in day to have tea around there? Any ideas would be HUGELY appreciated.

OK, so yesterday he ate quite a good amount of Ox heart and today some wet turtle food... and today we have poos! :lol: The green slime is most likely the wee, given his kidneys are pretty bad and showed blood in urine when last tested. So we're not sure how much recovery he will get for his kidneys. Todays poo sample was tested by vet and showed no trace of worms now and is apparently reasonably healthy. I got accidophilus capsules and pulled one apart to get to the powder. At first I mixed a bit with his antibiotic but that wasnt overly succesfull as I couldnt guarantee he got all the AB back into the syringe. I've no idea how much powder to give him. But a whole capsule is for a person, so I'm guessing he wont need much! Can you overdose on acidophilus? :roll: Note to self.... don't leave acidophilus powder exposed to air overnight... It goes hard! :roll: Georgias eyes have completely closed over again :-? Not sure whats going on there but at least they're not as red as they were. Right, tea breaks over, back to work

Yes I asked a question as to what it eats...but they havent answered. It does look very overweight....and shell is odd shape. I didnt know we had reeves in NZ 26 yrs ago? It could be a reeves....judging by the green colour on neck...but they are selling it very cheap if it is... Speedy won't oblidge and wont eat or poo anything today :roll: Will call into health shop on way to work soon.

Yep, just need enough to get into the syringe. It sort of disperses very quick as is so watery...but he did eat a little food today so maybe tomorrow I'll just put enough water in bath to encourage him to 'go' and hopefully it will work. :roll: Thanks Chilli

This really is some VERY impressive photography... You gotta wonder how they can do it! Great stuff....I wasnt so fussed on the links of people with them running around their homes. Seems kinda sad after watching them in their 'natural' environment. I'd want to have a ginormous enclosure with a wee colony of them...and a lake in the middle for good measure

Thanks team! Yes his urine contained blood when last tested at vet.....so could well be kidney damage. Think I'll ph vet tomorrow about gall bladder, kidney???? I'll chat to local health shop and see what I can come up with. Yes I thought a sluury/paste be best. I need to try and get a poo sample for vet...trouble is its nothing solid :roll: I have a 50ml syringe waiting by the bath for something a bit more solid or at least in enough of a clump that I can syringe it up! Ahhh the things we do in our spare time Today I noticed he has lost some of the dull grey colour in his skin. Theres a definate yellow colour returning Still very hypersensitive. But when I put him in bath today he immediately started to move around, move his head, look a bit interested in things... quite a contrast to just 'sitting'. :bounce: I might try him in deeper water again tomorrow and see if he can swim or just float still. He won't move when put on the ground. At least I know I cant loose him

I'm thinking all this pus may well be from the effects of the antibiotics in the gut? What do people think? I had a rescue turtle in the past who was passing the exact same looking stuff for the 3 wks I tried to save her...but we euthanased her in the end. (She'd been found like that so no idea where she'd come from. ) I haven't tried the acidophylis yet, but am keen to give it a go now that he is looking a little brighter... So I'm thinking the yoghurt wont be good being dairy. How would I get it into him? If I get some capsules, or however they sell it at a health shop, then how much would I give him and how? I'm guessing I would mix it in water and syringe into mouth like the AB's? Does anyone in CHCH have a few spare caps of it? I'm thinking it will be quite an expense for the small amount I need... He weighs 800 gms. Today he ate a little 'wet' turtle food and a couple pieces of dry fish. But he hasn't done any solid poo since about last Wed and only the "didymo" slime is coming out. Thoughts and ideas???

So thats at 18 Penrith Ave, Somerfield. (Off Selwyn St.)

Great to meet you all! "Rapta" looks very Dinosaur like in that photo bdspider :lol: Shes been enjoying todays sunshine

:lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: I do need to get a fresh sample to the vet sometime soon... I'll ask him to test for that to! :lol: :lol:

No definately lime green slime. Looks like runny snot!

Speedy is having his first 'outside' day...well 'hour'. I've popped him in one of those wheely storage bins from the warehouse. Its angled so shallowist bit of water is in sun and deepest in shade. (Only about 4cm water in deep bit). He's choosing to sit in the side in full sun with his head held high up in the sunshine and front legs spread out a little like a normal 'basking' pose. Its a really lovely day here and hes in a sheltered spot. A week ago he couldn't even really hold his head up at all, so good progress :bounce: Ate a little today as well. But theres still all that pus.... Georgia can now open both eyes about half way. Shes got a lovely shell.... and a terrible temper I think she'll be best suited to life in a big pond with minimal people contact :roll: Any takers for next spring ?

According to a guy who used to head up the police dog training in the UK and then here in CHCH, its quite normal behaviour for dogs to eat poo....apparently horse poo is really quite good for them... He's done various studies/reseach on wild wolves / dogs etc etc and says its normal. Theres been different theories about the dog lacking in various minerals etc, but I believe the latest thinking is they just do it and we have to live with that...gross tho it is when they have all that brown stuck in their teeth :roll:

I like your frogs, very cool. I only have 2 and thats enough to feed! My neice gave me some meal worms her fish werent eating so I popped them in with the frogs over a couple of weeks. They really liked them...although the first one I saw eaten was moving around inside the frogs belly... That was rather gross. I hope you can keep all the rest alive. Will you keep them all?