Urgent Care :: Update on George and Weezy - "Turtle Eye Drop". I

[marisa]

Do you happen to know what kind of pellets they were raised on? If a turtle has become used to eating one brand of pellets, he may stick up his nose at a new brand, at least initially.

[Spiritualjoy]

They shipped along a little container of the pellets they were raised on, and I did try to feed it to them, but they never once ate any of it. Thats when I realized I might have a problem on my hands! I never did find out the name of the pellets....

[shellieInIreland]

i have just read about turtles being soaked in something, and alot of the food people mentioned ive never heard of it for turtles, we dont get much advice over here in ireland im constantly on the internet looking up anything i can find.US pages are the best so im praying someone can answer my questins

1] My turtles eyes are stuck together, due at vet tomorrow, but how can i prevent this happening again?
2]advice on how to build up a nice tank petshop told me to just put heater filter bask lamp and a shell and dock i think there bored. is that all that should be in it?
3]the tank is a 75 litre, Bonnie is 6 inches and Michael is 3 1/2 inches is the tank too big or too small?

PLEASE GIVE ME ADVICE, ID REALLY APPRECIATE IT ALL.

[Spiritualjoy]

Well, from what I have learned about the eyes - the culprit is a Vitamin A deficiency and/or a respiratory infection. I put Vitamin A&D Ointment on their eyes to help before I took them to the vet, but the vet prescribed Terramycin Ointment to put on their eyes every 8 hours. (Ironically I had some at home because the vet prescribed it for my cat when she had an eye infection!) As far as the deficiency goes - you really have to examine their diet and make sure they are eating enough veggies. (Mine were not).

As for the setup - I believe there is a section on here about setups with pictures. As long as they have a water heater, heat lamp, uva/uvb bulb (or combo), basking dock, thermometer, good filtration and lots of room to swim they should be happy campers. I put some river rock in mine for them to push around and some bushy plants - which they love to munch on. (Anacharis and FrogBit)

I cant give you any advice on how big your tank should be because I have NO idea how big a 75 litre tank is! I am sure more knowledgeable people can advise you on that. All I can say is the bigger the better!

[shellieInIreland]

Thanks for that, id go mental if anything happened to them very attached, its 1.50 am here in ireland an im so paranoid bout the small fella i thought id be up half the night, but this site is just the best for advice.

THANKS ALOT FOR THE ADVICE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Spiritualjoy]

Believe me, I understand. I had alot of sleepless nights when my babies were sick. I had to take them to the vet every other day for antibiotic shots and put ointment on their eyes but it was worth in. In a week and a half I saw a vast improvement! I was miserable just watching them sleep on the bottom of their tank with their eyes all swollen and shut, and they didnt eat a thing for almost 3 weeks. Getting them to the vet is the first most important step you can take, then just doing what the vet says is the second. Its my opinion that there is no way to treat a turtle at home when they are sick - a vet is really the only way to get them better. Keep us posted on how they are and feel free to ask any and every question. Every one on here really has good advice and cares about your turtles just like they were their own!

[SpotsMama]

Shellie,

Here's link with advice on how to setup a good turtle habitat:

http://www.redearslider.com/startup.html

Here's a link that tells you how to calculate the appropriate sized tank for RES:


http://www.redearslider.com/calculator.html (tank size calculator)

http://www.nomoreodor.com/liters_to_gal ... ersion.htm (convert liters to gallons)


I'm not sure but I imagine a 40 liter tank is going to be much smaller than what your RESs really need. RES are very energetic and athletic and need a lot of space for swimming and diving. In the wild they live in lakes and big ponds where they lead very active lives.