Green (Chelonia mydas)
Stranding Location: Folly Beach
Arrival Date: 4/15/23
Age: Juvenile
Weight: 2.83 kg (6.2 lbs)
Case History
This small, juvenile green turtle stranded on Folly Beach late in the evening on April 14. Folly Beach Turtle Watch permit holder, Dave Miller, responded and kept the turtle safe until they could be transported to the Sea Turtle Care Center™ for treatment by South Carolina Department of Natural Resources permitted transporter, Cindy Lockhart.
Treatment
Goat immediately stole hearts with their “crusty” little self. Goat was lethargic, underweight, and about 90% of their body was covered in epibiota. They had ton of pluff mud, algae, and barnacles, including gooseneck barnacles! (We mostly see these offshore. Staff tend to geek out about turtles with interesting epibiota!) Goat looked like the Grinch with algae dangling off of their flipper tips. Bloodwork showed they were dehydrated and had low levels of glucose, red blood cells and protein levels. They were immediately started on dextrose (sugar), antibiotics, vitamins and fluids. Based on their lethargic demeanor and blood work results, we decided it would be best to wet dock them overnight.
Update
April 15, 2023: Goat spent a few days in a wet dock since they were so quiet. However, after a couple of days, we tried them in a shallow kiddie pool and they did surprisingly well! This turtle is slightly confusing because we are getting conflicting blood work results. We are continuing to monitor them closely, but their demeanor has become much brighter! They have been started on daily freshwater dips in order to help remove some of the barnacles embedded in the skin — this will help them fall off more easily. Goat has even been promoted to a shallow tank of water and are eating a small amount! This is surprising because their CT scan shows they are VERY constipated. In order to help things along, we gave them an enema. Hopefully we see things start to move along in the next few days!
May 15, 2023: Goat has become much more active over the past month! The prescribed freshwater dips worked wonders, and this turtle no longer looks like the Grinch! Jokes aside, those dips helped us rid Goat of their embedded barnacle load. As this patient became more active, we even graduated Goat to a full tank and a weighted diet! As we mentioned previously, this turtle came into the Sea Turtle Care Center very constipated. We gave them fluids and weekly enemas, in addition to a stool softener that we stuffed in their fish pieces, and we are happy to announce that Goat has finally pooped after four long weeks!