N.E.S.T. Rehab Update

Submerged!

Posted on June 11, 2013 by Christian Legner

Monday morning was a great morning! Staff arrived to find Charlie sleeping fully submerged in her new tank. This didn’t last long, however, and she woke up when the lights came on and got started on her daily exercise.

Charlie busy underwater. Photo by Carolyn Leopard.

Cluse was also found resting underwater after raising her water level on Sunday. In deeper water, we observed diving attempts on Sunday and finally resting on the bottom on Monday morning! Even better, Cluse is eating food off the bottom of the tank.

Cluse finally underwater. Photo by NC Aquariums.

And the most fun of all…Hernando ate a live blue crab! See the video link below or view on the NEST website. Woohoo!!!!!

http://youtu.be/wZR727LFU54

Posted in CC-PKD-121123-01, Charlie, Cluse, Hernando, N.E.S.T. Rehab Residents, Rehab Center | 2 Comments

The Big Move

Posted on June 6, 2013 by Christian Legner

Charlie is busy exploring her new, larger tank. During her move on Monday, we weighed her and pulled blood while we had her restrained. After a little more than 6 months in rehab, Charlie weighed in at 203 lbs and her bloodwork checked out great. On Tuesday morning, we removed 1 lb of the weight and Charlie is still submerged! We’ll remove the second weight on Thursday if she is still displaying normal buoyancy.
During her stay in rehab, Charlie has met many milestones, including eating from the bottom of the tank, gaining over 20lbs, and an improvement in her buoyancy.

As you might imagine, moving a 203 lb healthy, active, and very strong turtle is a little difficult. It took 5 people to strap her into the sling made especially for sea turtles (by a N.E.S.T. volunteer), load her onto a cart, pull blood, weigh her, and ultimately release her into the new tank. Check out some photos below. More photos and video are also posted on the N.E.S.T. website and Facebook page.