HELP NEEDED IMMEDIATELY! Rescued turtle!

Okay so I was looking out into my parents' backyard and I see a massive turtle making a break for the bamboo. I was admiring how massive he is and was going to go out to look at him. My mother said "that thing looks like the creature from the Black Lagoon", because apparently he has stuff stuck to him and looks nasty and ahs something stuck to his foot. Now I go from curious to concerned. I go out to get him, and good LORD, I swear he has some sort of TAR caked onto him. This is no mud or sludge I've never seen; it's this disgusting, thick black GUNK that apparently was also there a few weeks ago when my mother saw him. I get the hose and try to rinse it off for him, but water won't do. I try dawn soap (but no scrub brush or sponge) and I got off the extra accumulated stuff by scraping it off with my fingers, but unfortunately I couldn't get further than that. It took me 10 minutes to scrub the stuff off my hands. I have him in a bucket in my room so I could come here and ask what to do. If you give me a second, a picture is on its way.

I have no clue what kind of turtle it is, but maybe some sort of snapping turtle? He has yet to retreat into his shell and instead keeps stretching his neck out. The only snapping turtle I'm familiar with is an alligator snapping turtle (which he is not) so I don't know. Sludge covers up his pattern.

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Whatever this stuff is, it's definitely not natural. Even if I take a sponge / scrub brush to his shell, what about his skin?

Dawn is the safe to use so your on the right track. It might take several soaks and good scrubbings to get it off but your right a pic would help.

Pics are up now, I can take more if needed. So I should let him soak in soapy water? I was afraid of letting him sit in it because I was worried about him ingesting it.

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Pics are up now, I can take more if needed. So I should let him soak in soapy water? I was afraid of letting him sit in it because I was worried about him ingesting it.

That is not good.... I hope that somebody did not do that to it intentionally, although I fear they likely did. Is a vet an option? Or what about a nature rescue in your area, maybe they have something to use? Sorry I am of no real help, I hope you figure it out and it makes it!


Or by chance was there any road construction in your area recently?

Leave him soaking in the warm Dawn dish washing soap for at least 30 minutes and put enough so its soapy in there. Not sure what he got into but it looks like he had tar poured on him.

Oh, make sure you check back every 10min or so because warm water + dawn will start to remove it and whatever it is will then leech into the water, you will probably want to do several water changes through this process. The Dawn is safe, Dr. Scott Stahl recommends it whenever there is a problem that requires soaking + soap.

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Originally Posted by OctagonGecko729

Leave him soaking in the warm Dawn dish washing soap for at least 30 minutes and put enough so its soapy in there. Not sure what he got into but it looks like he had tar poured on him.

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Thats why I was wondering if there was any road construction in the area because they tar over the layers of asphalt, maybe it got caught in the road when they were doing that.

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Is this okay? Too much? It's not covering the top of his shell but I wanted to make sure he could easily have his head up. He's not overly pleased but he stopped devoting all of his energy to climbing out.

Be gentle with the scrubbing, if it was hot tar he is likely burned and I have no idea what kind of damage might be under it. If you know a good exotic vet, it wouldnt be a bad idea to take him in.