Flip, a small juvenile green sea turtle, arrived at The Turtle Hospital on July 29th. Turtle Hospital Administrator Ryan Butts named Flip in loving memory of his Uncle “Flip.” Ryan and Flip are pictured above.

With his small size, the drag from an overhead boat probably spun and flipped this sea turtle in circles. As the boat passed over, Flip was actually upside down when he was forced into the propeller.  This left a very deep gash on his “belly”. Luckily, the injury appears to be healing nicely already, and Flip is already eating a handful of squid heads every morning! Flip is currently being treated with antibiotics to prevent infection and the prop wound is cleaned daily with surgical scrub. We expect that this lucky little sea turtle is going to be just fine!

Update: August 31st, 2009

Sadly, small Fibropapilloma tumors have been discovered growing on Flip. During the summertime, Fibropapilloma tumors tend to grow much larger, much quicker. The increased growth is apparently related to water temperature. Flip will require an endoscope once his plastron has healed to check for internal tumors. If none are found, surgery will be scheduled to remove the external tumors.