Furniture slider prosthetic legs for turtle

By David Pescovitz at 10:45 am Wednesday, Sep 9

Lucky is a box turtle in Petaluma, California who lost his front legs in what was believed to be an attack by a raccoon. Now he's back in the game with furniture sliders taped to his belly. From the NY Times Regional Media Group:

(Lucky's human companion Sally) Pyne was referred to (veterinary surgeon Robert) Jereb, who has worked on an assortment of animals over the years, including numerous turtles and tortoises whose shells are sometimes repaired with fiberglass, acrylic, Bondo, epoxies and other inorganic substances.

His approach to Lucky's problem was inspired in part by a tortoise about whom he'd read that had a front leg replaced by a halved billiard ball glued to its front shell.

For Lucky, Jereb was thinking more along the lines of PVC pipe but was browsing for materials at a hardware store when he stumbled on the quarter-sized sliders or gliders he ultimately used.

The discs may later be glued on, though so far the tape seems to be working. If Lucky sluffs off shell surface, the discs may need periodic replacement.

Lucky gets new legs