Chomper 
adult male Olive Ridley turtle (RB.LO.125), admitted 24 January 2018, COMO Maalifishi, Thaa Atoll, Maldives
Weight / Length: 21.0kg / 61.8kg (upon admission); 23.3kg / 61.8cm (Mar-18); 19.4kg / 62cm (Sept-18); 24.6kg / 62.3cm (Mar-19);
Chomper was found floating on the ocean surface, entangled in a fishing net drifting close to Como Maalifushi (Thaa Atoll). He was rescued by staff members of the resort and sent to us on 24 January.
Unusually, Chomper is an adult male (long tail, below) Olive Ridley turtle, who missing both of his right flippers from an old injury (already healed), and arrived covered with barnacles and algae on his carapace … but he has scrubbed up nicely !
He does have difficulty diving below the surface (turtle buoyancy syndrome) but is making attempts to dive, has a great personality, and will hopefully make a speedy recovery.
March 2018
Chomper has a good appetite for every kind of food we give him, although he is still floating at the surface of his recovery pool. The wounds on his carapace are healing nicely. We take Chomper for rehabilitation swims in the lagoon every week, and he is trying hard to dive down to the sea bed.
May
Chomper has a good appetite for any kind of food we give him, and his carapace wounds are healing nicely. Chomper is taken out for weekly ocean swims; he tries very hard to dive down but he is still very buoyant.
September
Chomper is very active when it comes to feeding times, and his wounds are now completely healed. During his weekly ocean swims, he is still unable to dive but is now sitting lower in the water.
October
Chomper is healthy and active, and still has a good appetite for every type of food. He has recently been spending time in our new large outdoor enclosure, where he has been trying hard to battle buoyancy syndrome with just his 2 flippers, and dive below the surface. We are also treating him daily for a mild fungal infection on the carapace and flippers.
March 2019
Chomper is still recovering from a mild infection, however he is active and has a good appetite for all food. He has spent a lot of time recently in the sea enclosure which has enabled him to practice swimming in a larger environment.
April
Chomper is still on antibiotics, recovering from a mild infection. As always, he is very active and has a good appetite.
He is sharing his tank with Frisbee, to see if they could potentially live in an aquarium together … and they are getting along very well! Due to their injuries, Chomper and Frisbee will never be to survive back in the wild.
May
Chomper has fully recovered from his infection and no longer requires antibiotics. He is still happily sharing his tank with Frisbee, but he especially enjoyed it when we take him out for ocean swims.
August
The Amikacin course given to Chomper to heal his ear infection showed no improvements, so he was put on a 2.4ml course of Ceftriaxone antibiotic for 20 days. No improvements or reduction in swelling has been seen so far.
September
Chomper finished his course of Ceftriaxone on 10 September. There has been a reduction in swelling, but the infection still seems to be present, so we will consider putting him onto a different course of antibiotic.
October
We continue to take Chomper out for swims in the ocean, where he is making good efforts to dive. He manages to stay under the water for around 20 seconds, however he always remains buoyant. We noticed his flipper was starting to look inflamed and swollen, so we will put him back on antibiotics.
January 2020
Under recommendation from a vet, Chomper started receiving topical treatment of Gentian Violet (antiseptic dye) for his skin infection, as betadine + colloidal silver was not working. He receives the dye every 3 days as it is water resistant and stays on for a long time.
March
Chomper is diving ! Watch our video on Facebook. 🙂
5 April 2020 … release day !
Today, Chomper was successfully released from his home in our Lagoon Enclosure, where he had spent the last 2 months learning to dive and to rest on the bottom netting.
After two years at our turtle rescue & rehabilitation centre here at Landaa Giraavaru (Maldives), the time finally came for Chomper to be released back into the big blue ocean … Good luck, big boy! 💙
