Green Sea Turtle (Chelonia mydas)
Stranding Location: Hog Inlet, North Myrtle Beach, SC
Arrival Date: 4/18/2019
Age: Juvenile
Weight: 7.28 kg (16 lbs)
Case History
Chloe West, Chris Irvine, Dawson West, Elyyn Irvine and Joyce Hill were visiting the Cherry Grove beachfront on a beautiful Thursday when Chloe, an animal lover, decided to explore the beach during low tide. She came across a small green sea turtle stranded on the beach and immediately called for help. Her aunt Joyce, who is a South Carolina resident, knew there were regulations regarding the movement of sea turtles so a call was quickly made to the state park officials, and they were transferred to the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources (SCDNR) stranding hotline. The SCDNR staff told the family to move the turtle into the shade until their transporters could arrive. Chloe, the animal lover mentioned above, jumped at the chance to help out this little turtle and picked him up to move him to the shade, and then to a shallow tidal pool where they waited about 30 minutes for transporters Linda Mataya and Sally Scott to arrive. This lucky little guy was then brought to the South Carolina Aquarium Sea Turtle Care Center™. Care Center staff named him Aardvark after our friends at Aardvark Straws; they donate 15% of sales from their paper sea turtle straws to the Sea Turtle Care Center!
Treatment
Upon arrival, staff at the Sea Turtle Care Center noted that Aardvark had a very heavy epibiont load. Epibionts are organisms that live on the surface of other organisms or objects. Aardvark had a large amount of tube worms, algae, large and small barnacles, and sand packed onto his carapace. After a quick bath to remove the majority of the epibionts, we weighed him to get an accurate reading. We then drew blood and administered IV fluids. The bloodwork showed us he was dehydrated and had low blood sugar. His physical exam revealed that while he was in good body condition, meaning he was not skinny, the scutes on his carapace and head were malformed. This could be due to an infection. There didn’t seem to be any apparent cause of stranding. We administered general antibiotics, fluids, and vitamins and allowed Aardvark to rest in a shallow bin with water overnight.
Updates
April 24, 2019: Aardvark has been doing well since he arrived. The day after admit he was placed in a tank and swam around great. He has been regularly defecating ulva (sea lettuce, a natural food item) and a few days after admit, staff found tiny pieces of plastic in his fecal matter. He has started nibbling on the food we are offering him which is a good sign. Vet staff prescribed calcium injections to help with the scute deformities on his head and carapace. Overall, Aardvark is doing well, and we hope to continue to see improvement!
June 15, 2019: Aardvark is doing really well! His scute deformities are healing up very nicely. Aardvark is a funny eater. He prefers sticks of veggies like cucumber and squash over leafy greens like lettuces. This does not cause any issue in his rehab, but it is always interesting learning each individual turtle’s quirks! He’s been moved into a divided tank with Nala to free up some tank space for new admissions.
June 15, 2019: Aardvark is doing really well! His scute deformities are healing up very nicely. Aardvark is a funny eater. He prefers sticks of veggies like cucumber and squash over leafy greens like lettuces. This does not cause any issue in his rehab but it is always interesting learning each individual turtle’s quirks! He’s been moved into a divided tank with Nala to free up some tank space for new admissions.
July 1, 2019: Aardvark has a new tankmate! Pumbaa, Aardvark, and Nala are all in a tank together now to open up room for newer patients. Although they are divided up, I am not so sure they are all thrilled to have each other as roommates; they each keep stealing one another’s food as it floats around the tank. No one likes sharing food with their roommates am I right? Aardvark was tagged earlier this week, but we decided upon examination that he is not ready to be cleared for release. He still needs a bit of time.
July 16, 2019: Nothing new to report on Aardvark! We are giving him some extra time to put on weight before we consider him for a release candidate.
August 1, 2019: Aardvark is slowly but surely gaining weight. We have been increasing his diet to help him get to a healthier weight. We are hopeful that Aardvark will be able to be released in the next few months!
August 15, 2019: We never thought we’d see the day when Aardy finally warmed up to veggies that are not zucchini or squash! Aardvark’s weight check showed us that he’s growing and gaining weight just like his tank mates.
September 1, 2019: This week, we drew blood from Aardvark to evaluate him for release. He is filling out and looks amazingly healthy! Once we get the results from the bloodwork back, we can evaluate him for release. Fingers crossed!