Vehicular Pancake

Well... I will post some before and after photos soon.... but let me go ahead & get the notes down... you see, driving home from work on 1826 Tuesday, I came across a turtle in the highway... I always stop if they are not obviously dead....gotta get them off the road! So, as he did not LOOK injured, I pulled over. When I walked up, it was evident he'd been clipped, and recently judging from the blood pool. I went to move him over so no one else would pull over for him (or hit him) and he was NOT dead!! Could not leave him there, could not set him on roadside (ants) and could not put him in pond (bacteria in open wound not good!) so what to do....? Take him home, of course! Into the ice chest I carry with me for groceries and home we go.

Got him home, rinsed him off, then lavaged with povidone iodine (10%) solution & rinsed him again. He lived through the night, ate some, but oh, my, the damage.... :-( A day spent surfing the web & talking to Randy @ the Aquatics biology dept @ the University.... ends up in me stopping @ Home Depot on the way home from work Wednesday for some plumber's quick dry epoxy.... and begin the process of putting back all the broken pieces. Took 3 people to hold all the seams together to get the epoxy on his shell.

He lived though the repair on his top shell.... he lived through the night...and this morning he was clunking around in the tub...may attempt repairs on the lower shell tonight...may not. Apparently he is a mellanistic male red eared slider. Weighed in at 3.3 pounds this morning, epoxy and all. Named him "Pan" as all the new arrivals are named after gods/goddesses. Also, short for Pancake, which is what he almost was.

Stay tuned....