WEST POINT, Va. – A tiny tortoise badly burned in central Virginia is learning to walk again with the help of a 3D printer.
This all happened after a heat lamp started a small fire damaging all of her legs. Even with the proper bulbs in the heat lamp, the fiber caught on fire, smoldering while the owners were at a VCU basketball game.
"I lifted it, the bottom fell out and it was smoldering here and burned the table," said Thom Rohde.
They realized the flames were moments away from causing a house fire and their one-year-old tortoise was injured.
"The vet said if she lives out the week, she's lucky," said Rohde.
Not only did Bump the tortoise live, but she's determined to get going.
The fire left her without her four legs. So the couple is using a 3D printer to get her back up on her feet.
For now, Rohde brings clovers straight to the tiny tortoise.
But it's tough for her to eat without claws to tear up the leaves.
A team with Jamestown Rediscovery Foundation is scanning and making a model of Bump to create 3D print prosthetics.
But as she continues to grow over the decades, she'll need new prosthetics to fit her, so they're hoping to find a 3D printer to continually use.