Prepping White River Turtle with Bones - need advice

[Xiphactinus]

Hello forum preppers....need some advice.

 

I started what I thought would be a very easy prep on a partial turtle I found in Nebraska this past fall. It was in 2 halves about 5 feet apart on a slope. Clean, glue together. Easy peasy.

 

But....when I started cleaning I found that at least part of Mr. Turtle is still at home in the shell. So....I'm trying to figure the best approach.

I'm thinking that I may remove the plastron as it is not all there, put it together and use it as a removable "lid" and then prep out the inside of the shell some. Problem with that is that it would lead to displaying the turtle upside down with the best looking part on the bottom.

 

Also, can anyone ID the species at this point?

 

Ideas appreciated!

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Stylemys nebraskensis, I would suggest. 

Can't you prep out the insides from the broken ends? 

Definitely some turtle bones in there.

Nice find.

[Ptychodus04]

I would start by opening a window in the bottom if portions of the plastron can be safely removed. This will allow you to see if there's more turtle inside or if it is just a few bones. If you wind up with more turtle, I would proceed with your plan. You can display the turtle right side up at a slight rearward angle and place a mirror below the mount at an opposite cant to display the view of the bones. Or, mount the turtle on its side with a mirror behind it.

[Xiphactinus]

Thanks for the suggestions....I hadn't thought of a mirror. Great idea!

 

Hopefully there is a significant amount of the skeleton. One way to find out....

[Tidgy's Dad]

1 minute ago, Xiphactinus said:

Thanks for the suggestions....I hadn't thought of a mirror. Great idea!

 

Hopefully there is a significant amount of the skeleton. One way to find out....

Yup.

Good luck! 

[Ptychodus04]

3 minutes ago, Xiphactinus said:

Hopefully there is a significant amount of the skeleton. One way to find out....

The best part is that if there's not more bone there, it is easy to fill in the void you created and replace the plastron bones and put the whole turtle back together.

[Ludwigia]

2 hours ago, Xiphactinus said:

Thanks for the suggestions....I hadn't thought of a mirror. Great idea!

 

Hopefully there is a significant amount of the skeleton. One way to find out....

Good luck in your endeavor!

[jpc]

I say bring it to your local hospital and ask them nicely to CT scan it.  These things scan very well.  And many places will do it for free.  This way you will be able to see how much is still in there.  I think it would be fun to display in two halves with the inside bones exposed something akin to what you have in the third photo.

 

As for ID... my Fossil Turtles of North America is at home, not here at work.  Stylemys and Testudo are the two common White River turtles.  I don't know the difference by heart and have to look it up.  

[Xiphactinus]

29 minutes ago, jpc said:

I say bring it to your local hospital and ask them nicely to CT scan it.  These things scan very well.  And many places will do it for free.  This way you will be able to see how much is still in there.  I think it would be fun to display in two halves with the inside bones exposed something akin to what you have in the third photo.

 

As for ID... my Fossil Turtles of North America is at home, not here at work.  Stylemys and Testudo are the two common White River turtles.  I don't know the difference by heart and have to look it up.  

I will try that! Might have more luck in a more rural area than the metro I live in, but I'll give it a shot.

[smt126]

3 hours ago, jpc said:

I say bring it to your local hospital and ask them nicely to CT scan it.  These things scan very well.  And many places will do it for free.  This way you will be able to see how much is still in there.  I think it would be fun to display in two halves with the inside bones exposed something akin to what you have in the third photo.

 

As for ID... my Fossil Turtles of North America is at home, not here at work.  Stylemys and Testudo are the two common White River turtles.  I don't know the difference by heart and have to look it up.  

 

You've got some nice hospitals near you apparently lol. They won’t even give us the password to the X-ray machines to us in surgery for fear we might use it without billing a patient.

[jpc]

1 hour ago, smt126 said:

 

You've got some nice hospitals near you apparently lol. They won’t even give us the password to the X-ray machines to us in surgery for fear we might use it without billing a patient.

If you show up with an obvious fossil, most CT folks are thrilled to do something other than a traumatized or cancer-ridden human.  And they get to turn their machines WAY UP.  Just gotta find a time between traumas.  

[smt126]

Yea.... no our hospital would literally fire you for that. My old hospital I could have gotten away with doing some x rays, but no way a ct.

[Xiphactinus]

Well....I did some rough exploratory prep and it doesn't look like there is more skeleton there beyond 2 limb bones. I'll remove those then put Mr. Turtle back together. Still a cool find for me!

[Tidgy's Dad]

1 minute ago, Xiphactinus said:

Well....I did some rough exploratory prep and it doesn't look like there is more skeleton there beyond 2 limb bones. I'll remove those then put Mr. Turtle back together. Still a cool find for me!

Indeed.

And the limb bones are a nice bonus.

[Ptychodus04]

2 minutes ago, Xiphactinus said:

Well....I did some rough exploratory prep and it doesn't look like there is more skeleton there beyond 2 limb bones. I'll remove those then put Mr. Turtle back together. Still a cool find for me!

Glad that you didn’t have to spend a bunch of time finding this out.