Urgent Care :: Turtle not moving and has her neck out

[Sally]

I'm unable to get a herp vet tonight. I'll go first thing in the morning but I'm worried about my red-eared slider and I'm hoping people can give me some advice tonight. When I checked on her recently, she was in the water but wasn't moving with her head stretched out and up. I took her out and put her in a small tank with a little water and a lamp shining on her. She started stirring but always has her neck stretched out. When she breathes, her neck gets very large and there is an irregular bulge like some food was stuck in there so I tried massaging her neck to get any obstruction down. Now I'm not so sure there's anything lodged there but I really don't know.

Currently, she's moving a bit more but not walking. She always has her neck out. Also, she's not getting scared. Usually when someone approaches her, she'll retreat into her shell but not now, even with her neck out.

I hope some one has some experience with these symptoms and can tell me what's wrong with her and how to treat her.

[cam722]

A few questions if you don't mind. What kind of setup do you have for your turtle? What are the basking/water temps? Turtles do have a "bulge" sometimes when they breathe sort of like a frog does when they croak. We can help more if we have more info to go by. Oh and how big is the turtle and how long have you had it?

[Sally]

Hi, thanks for your interest. The tank has about 50 litres of water at around 24C. I moved the lamp so I can't measure the basking temperature at the moment. There's a floating raft for basking. Her shell is 5 inches long. I took her from a friend that was going to release her into a pond after he no longer wanted her. That was 17 years ago but I'm not sure exactly how old she is.

One other thing, she doesn't respond to visual signals but does respond to touch. I'm worried about her eye sight.

[ellman605]

hmm, 50 litres? 24 C? man, why cant we all use a universal!!!

[cam722]

Whoa... the turtle is at least 17 yrs old? 5" seems very small to me for a turtle that age. Heck mine aren't even 2 and they are about 4".

50litres = approximate 13 gallons of water which is way way too little for a 5" turtle of any age. They should have approximately 10 gallons of space for each inch of shell length. The water temperature seems to be fine.

What else do you have in your setup? and where are you from?

Ellman.. you can look here for the conversion chart.. (I do believe the US is the only one to not use metric)Conversion Charts

[ellman605]

lol, i would have done that, i just dont like metric :P

[BROOKLYN]

hmm, 50 litres? 24 C? man, why cant we all use a universal!!!

It's confusing for us because we live in the United States. We do things differently compare to many other countries. If I had to pick, I would blame the U.S. for trying to be so unique. When I first read this post, I also had to go online and look for a calculator LMAO. The Celcius thing I could do it in my head but that litre measurement is different. If the turtle is over 17 years old and she (if you know how to identify the gender Sally), she is definetely small for her size. Female RES can grow up to around 12inches I believe; give or take. Even for a male at 17years old age, the turtle would most likely grow to a potential size of 9 inches. By the looks of it, your turtle Sally did not have the suitable environment to grow into the potential size. I'm not going to say that the turtle was malnurished because since cam did an estimate of tank which is only 13Gallons, it's simply too small for the turtle at 5 inches to grow. I don't know anything about the dimensions of a 13G tank but in general, 10-15G are usually around 9.5 inches in width at average (some 10G/15G widths are 8.5inches while some are 10.5). This isn't even much room for the turtle to turn around in. Since you have been taken care of your turtle for 17years and also decided to search for answers to help your turtle, I can say that at least you're responsible enough to take action. You should ready the forums and find out the basic requirements for your turtle. But be warned, it will be expensive.

As for the concern about the neck, I can't really comment much on it. If you can take any pictures and post it, that would be good. My guess is that your turtle could possibly be stretching, looking and searching for something, or it could be a sign of discomfort maybe. I can't really tell since you didn't state much details. For the neck bulging, it's normal for turtles when they are out of the water. It is definitely noticeable when their necks are all stretched out. They are just breathing and it looks very similar to a frog croaking like cam has mention before. If you see any unusal marks, wounds, cuts, or exposed flesh, let us know so at least we can diagnose the problem. However, there is a chance you might need to take your turtle to a Vet.

[Sally]

You're right, I'm in Canada so I'm on the metric system. The tank is about 24x12x12 inches. I've been eyeing some 'ponds' and larger tanks for awhile but have always hesitated since it would mean having to move her out of my place and into someplace with more space. But her health comes first and I hope I'll get the chance to get roomier accommodations.

She did cough up some fish recently so it seemed some food had been lodged in her throat. She was kicking about like normal after that but has since settled down again. Possibly there's more stuck in her throat but I don't know how to make her cough.

There's no indications of injury on her body. I'll be taking her to a vet tomorrow but atleast I'm hopeful she'll last the night. It's a shame there's little to no 24h hep vets.

[cam722]

Usually the "coughing up" things is because they've over eaten. Mine have done it in the past. How much are you feeding her and what are you feeding her?

[Sally]

It was some raw tuna and salmon. The portions were what she's eaten in the past (maybe slightly more because I didn't want to keep it long). Would that explain why she's not moving much now?

[cam722]

Do you feed her anything other than protein? Do you give her turtle pellets or veggies or anything other than raw fish? I'm not sure on if it could be the reason for her not moving.

Do you have a heater in her tank? I know that water/basking temps can cause a turtle to not move and go into a sort of hibernation. It should also stay close to the same temp day and night. Just trying to come up with options/reasons for the lack of movement.

[Sally]

She eats pellets, vegetables (mostly leafy ones), some fruits and raw fish. She coughed up another piece of food and while it doesn't look like there's anything lodged in her neck, it seems like she still wants to cough up more sometimes. However, I'm relieved that she's retreating into her shell when someone approaches although she still doesn't walk around. The vet office should be open in a couple of hours. I was afraid she wouldn't last the night since she was so still before. It was a a very worrisome night.

[marisa]

How is the turtle doing?

[Sally]

Thanks for asking. I felt pretty good when I left because the vet said she was in good health. Certainly she seems much better than yesterday although she's still not active and she has no appetite. When I put her in her tank, she just climbs out onto her floater and stays there. So I'm trying not to be overly optimistic. The vet said to give her a couple days to get her appetite back as she might still be stressed from having something lodged in her throat. But there was nothing physically wrong that he could see and she had no abrasions in her mouth so he was reluctant to give her injections of any type. I bought her some live minnows and some shrimp to entice her to eat but she hasn't taken them so far. I'll monitor her over the next couple of days and take her back at the end of the week if there's no improvement. On the plus side, all the reading I've done recently has been good to improve her care.

[marisa]

At least there doesn't seem to be anything dramatically wrong...If she had something lodged in her throat, when she gets her appetite back, it would be good to try to make sure pieces of whatever she's eating are perhaps a bit smaller than usual.

Good to hear you've improved your turt's care. What have you done?