Tortoise's Injured Leg Replaced with a Wheel - inspiring story of how WSU Pullman doctors pulled this feat. Gamera came to us this year with a severe burn injury to his leg, part of the side of his neck and his tympanic membrane or his ear. Thee joint was destroyed. There was no feeling left in the leg. The skin and the tissue was just kind of slipping off as we touched it. So there was really no other options but to amputate his leg. This particular operation has been done before. It is the first time we have done it here. It was a very involved surgery and that trying to get to the shoulder joint on a tortoise. So first we had to dig in there and get to that joint, and then dissect away all the muscles. We are going have to change the size of his wheel to keep up with him. We do not know yet how often that is going to be. The rate which a reptile grows depends a lot on how their husbandry is, how much they are fed and the way he is eating right now. He could potentially grow really fast. So I am hoping this wheel will last him a year but I do not know. We may wind up changing it sooner and we may be able to get away a little bit longer since he basically does not roll on the wheel to get anywhere. He picks himself up and then uses it kind of as a step.
