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Update: This particular hatchling did not make it. It died on Friday, July 14th.
You may not think that something could be wrong with this hatchling..
But from a different angle, you will see that it is indeed different from the other normal and healthy hatchlings..
This weak hatchling was hatched from the eggs we purchased from Setiu. Apparently it was too weak to climb out of its egg shell and to the surface of the incubation box so my colleague took it out manually.
This hatchling was obviously pre-mature and it had some very obvious deformities as well. First off, its carapace is soo deformed that my colleague thought it could not survive for long. But it has shown otherwise, which is good news 
And both its front legs are also deformed, as shown in the next 2 pictures.
My colleague was keeping an eye over it (at home) for a couple of weeks and he brought it to the hatchery because he said it had started feeding. But when placed in the fiberglass tank together with >200 other hatchlings from Setiu, it remained floating and did not seem to feed like any other hatchlings.
So my colleague quarantined this poor thing and gave it a few pieces of kangkung leaves instead of pellets. Now, let’s just hope that he will come to the hatchery to change the water in the aquarium and give it fresh new leaves EVERDAY. Otherwise he would assume that rehabilitating any sick/weak terrapin is MY job..
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Ah…premature hatchling. There are also poor premaure babies, but that’s nature. She is a whimsical mistress, both cruel and kind…Or is it ‘fate’?
pelf: Yeah.. The powers of Nature
Send your colleague a note saying: “I am not the Florence Nightingale of all unhealthy terrapins!” The front legs look scary. Will it ever heal?
pelf: Err.. I don’t think he has ever heard of “Florence Nightingale”, so I guess don’t bother trying to “reason” with him.. And no, the front legs will NOT heal - those are permanent deformities
*sob*
Poor thing. So I guess it’ll never be able to swim?
pelf: No, it was just floating..
ouch…. sorry to hear that. MAy it rest in peace…. *sob sob..*
pelf: Err.. It has already been preserved..
July 14 is Bastille Day. May it find freedom among the froggies of old =p
pelf: *nods head*
pelf: *hugs*
I could see that the shell was out of shape from the first pic. So kesian. BTW, why you always put pictures of deformed turtles? Put some headless, legless ones la!? Then it would be a story… human interest-mar (oppss… I am talking abt JR theories dii) heehee (=
pelf: *whoa* Where to find headless terrapins wor..?!
ei? so cool! it looks so cute le.
will the shell grown into the normal shape or will it stay that way forever? (because you told me once that the shells are like that because they stayed in the egg too long so they grown into the shape of the egg)
can it learn how to swim in the future if it survives long enough? at least paddle a bit a bit?
pelf: The shell was shaped like that probably because the internal organs are also impacted, I am not very sure.. But one of the ones I rehabilitated has now grown and looks healthier than some of its counterparts!
nvm, i just read that it died. *blur*
pelf: …??!