Andy
Pedro the turtle has learned to roll with it, thanks to the zoological medicine service at the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine’s Veterinary Teaching Hospital.
When Pedro, an adult male box turtle, was adopted by his owners, he was missing one of his back legs. But after recently escaping from his outdoor enclosure, he was missing the other rear leg.
“Unfortunately, several months ago, he escaped. His owners hadn’t seen him for several months. Then when he finally returned, he was missing the last back leg now,” said Kelly Rockwell, DVM, a zoological medicine intern in the LSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital.
Pedro’s owner, Sandra Traylor, brought him to LSU. The team thought in order to make him more mobile, they could add a prosthetic of some sort – including 3-D printing something, or trying to make him wheels.
Using a Lego car kit, Rockwell and LSU veterinary student Sarah Mercer came up with the best way to attach the wheels to Pedro.
