Green (Chelonia mydas)

Stranding Location: Harbor Island, SC
Arrival Date: 12/6/24
Age: Juvenile
Sex: Unknown
Weight: 2.27 kg (5.0 lbs)

Case History

This little green washed ashore on Harbor Island, super chilly and covered in epibiota. When turtles get too cold they become extremely lethargic, experience buoyancy issues and develop a weakened immune system and other conditions like eye ulcers, frostbite and pneumonia. This is called cold stunning. Croissant, while in otherwise good body condition, was 41 degrees Fahrenheit on the surface of her/his skin, when a South Carolina Department of Natural Resources volunteer responded to the stranding.

Treatment

Upon arrival, Croissant was alert, responsive and taking good breaths. We began by taking an internal temperature, which was 52 degrees Fahrenheit. Turtles are ectothermic, or cold-blooded, and need to be in waters ranging from 65-80 degrees Fahrenheit. Croissant had a strong heartbeat and bloodwork was fairly stable, so we began checking for other ailments associated with cold stunning. Luckily Croissant did not have frostbite, but did have ulcerations on both eyes. We treated these ulcerations with twice-daily medicated eye drops. In addition, we gave fluids with vitamins and calcium to get some nutrients to this chilly patient. Due to Croissant’s internal temperature being so low, we elected to wait to give other medications, such as antibiotics, since these will be more effective once the patient has warmed up.

With cold-stunned patients, the goal is to warm them back up, but this must happen slowly to avoid shock. To accomplish this, we set each room in our medical laboratory to a different temperature and over a few days, we moved Croissant to each room to slowly warm her/him up. On the first night, Croissant stayed in our surgical suite to warm up to 65 degrees Fahrenheit.

Updates

December 7, 2024: In the last 24 hours, we have slowly warmed Croissant’s internal body temperature to 62 degrees Fahrenheit. Croissant was a bit more active today and we administered some fluids to keep her/him hydrated.

December 15, 2024: After warming up to about 70-75 degrees Fahrenheit, we were able to place Croissant in a tank! We carefully monitored her/him for a bit to be sure s/he had no issues breathing, swimming or resting. Croissant has been doing very well in this new and temporary home and will be receiving routine antibiotics and twice daily eye drops until the ulcerations on her/his eyes are healed.

January 15, 2025: Croissant has made great progress over these past few weeks — s/he is eating well, taking vitamins well, defecating frequently and is swimming in a full tank! These are all important milestones for our patients to reach, and we are so glad that Croissant is doing well!