About to give up on droppings shelf

[IamRainey]

I think I've heard that turtles can be a vector for salmonella.

 

[Chickassan]

A box turtle or a snapping turtle? Had to be a snapper right? They're water vultures, catfish in a shell.

Animal bites/scratches can be disastrous. I read an obit several years ago. Cause of death: infection received when she did a good samaritan move to help a turtle across the road. IIRC, she did NOT get bit, but got a nasty infection from handling the turtle. It eventually killed her.

 

[lazy gardener]

I have no idea what kind of turtle it was. May have been a snapper, the thing was, she did not get bit, yet she picked up an infection that killed her.

 

[ESUTT]

LUCKY you!

I tried to "save" a feral cat that was hanging with my pet cats and whom my kids had named and fallen a little bit in love with. I won't describe the general mayhem of trying to catch him one time when he was in the house eating from my cats' bowl but let's just say it involved replacing draperies AND hardware, cleaning up copious amounts of blood (mine), 3 different antibiotics/ERs/doctors until I finally ended up spending a morning in an ER getting an antibiotic drip and a cast.

In the end, I got the cat vaccinated, got his balls lopped off (which, by that time, was sweet revenge) and -- surprise, SURPRISE! -- we never saw Smokey again. BUT I got this staph infection right in my thumb joint to remind me of the experience and teach me a very healthy respect for feral animals.

Oddly, once the cast came off and the infection was cleared up, it was not painful until about 3 decades later. Now, at 70, I feel that thumb joint any time I flex it too much. Thanks, Smokey! At least he picked my non-dominant hand to tinker with...

Wow! Having a good heart can be painful sometimes. I let everything be on his terms so it worked out good. I have had a close relationship with a local rescue group here at the lake that has a spay and neuter clinic that I built for them, and was funded by my good friends(and now employer). Phred has had the royal treatment as far as vetting and neuter. And my lady birds are quite pampered as well.

 

[Chickassan]

That's why I'm thinking snapper, they carry all kinds of nastiness due to being sunk up in the mire most of their day. Definitely a risk to pick up something awful, can't fathom how folks eat them.

I have no idea what kind of turtle it was. May have been a snapper, the thing was, she did not get bit, yet she picked up an infection that killed her.

 

[Birdinhand]

all this talk of poop boards and I wonder what I'm doing wrong... I have about 6-8" of wood chips/dirt/leaves/fodder under the girl's roost which they turn over frequently. after about 6-8 months I get greedy and take most of it out and put it into the composter or the garden and replace it with more of the same. maybe i'm just a lazy person or something but my hens seem to love it and virtually no smell. a healthy micro biome does most of the coop maintenance for me.

 

[aart]

all this talk of poop boards and I wonder what I'm doing wrong... I have about 6-8" of wood chips/dirt/leaves/fodder under the girl's roost which they turn over frequently. after about 6-8 months I get greedy and take most of it out and put it into the composter or the garden and replace it with more of the same. maybe i'm just a lazy person or something but my hens seem to love it and virtually no smell. a healthy micro biome does most of the coop maintenance for me.

You're not doing anything wrong....you're just not using a poop board

 

[IamRainey]

That's why I'm thinking snapper, they carry all kinds of nastiness due to being sunk up in the mire most of their day. Definitely a risk to pick up something awful, can't fathom how folks eat them.

Yeah, you can run into some strange biological concoctions when you get too close to wild animals.

My husband was once working in Vancouver. He fell out in the woods and got a nasty cut down the front of his shin. It didn't take long for it to get infected. He was on a number of antibiotics, none of which were doing the trick.

Meanwhile, he had returned to Los Angeles and it kept getting worse. LA doctors were ready to declare it flesh-eating bacteria and start discussing how to keep it from spreading. [I think that typically includes amputation]

Happily, he saw a doctor from India. For some reason this doctor decided to culture the bacteria before attempting another treatment for it. Turns out my husband had a generous amount of Canadian goose poo in there along with the flora and fauna that rich woodland soil is a stew of. The typical antibiotics couldn't touch it. And, bless this man!, he came up with the correct antibiotic that was effective. YAY!

But we live pampered lives in our urban environments of Purrell and detergents. We aren't well equipped anymore to go out into the wild in the same way our grandparents were.