Urgent Care :: Hole on turtle's chin!!!!

[Hoooneylynn]

well, if they get aggressive and bite each other, and fight for food, you are going to have to seperate them.

[diyabolo]

This is almost certainly mouth rot. If you look very closely, you may be able to see a reddish or brown rim around the hole. We've seen it and treated it twice. I believe mouth rot is usually secondary to some other bacterial infection, i.e. a sign of another illness. Treat the hole once a day with a cotton swab dipped in iodine and keep the turtle dry for an hour afterward. If untreated, mouth rot will keep spreading and eventually affect the turtle's ability to eat. It seems too much of a coincidence that, if they were fighting, they would both injure each other only on the mouths only and not on their limbs or tails.

Good luck, and see a vet if possible because antibiotics may be needed.

[airgetsthinner]

nice call

[Cripm88]

does it happen because of a poor diet?

[Hoooneylynn]

Did you go to the vet yet? Its only gonna get worse.

[diyabolo]

It's the result of a bacterial infection, so I think temperatures & water quality/filtration problems are the most likely causes. Search this forum or Google for "mouth rot" and you should get plenty of info. Advice may vary, but I think keeping them dry some or all of the time will be universal. To prevent recurrence, check to make sure the turts' home meets the standards described in the stickies on this forum.

[Dandelette.]

The turtle with the smaller hole is still eatting, and it doesnt seem to be bothering him. However the one with the larger hole isnt eating, which is bothering me. Hes still alive though, but im afraid soon he wont

the vet here is costy, like $70 a visit. ive been placing food inside the tank incase he wants to eat. I feed them twice a day, once around 9:00 and once around 6:00. Im hoping he eats then from the bottom of the tank or something? Is there something i can do without going to the vet?

Is there a specific name for this problem? Is it mouth rot?

[diyabolo]

Dandalette, I would bet quite a lot of money on it being mouth rot (aka stomatitis). If you care whether your turtles live or die, you should immediately do as I said above and start treating the holes daily with iodine on a cotton swab and then keeping the turtles dry for an hour afterward. Otherwise, eventually enough of the jaw may rot away that they will not be able to eat, and they will starve to death.

It's always better to see a vet, but if there are no other symptoms you might be able to get away without it by treating with iodine as above and being sure that their water quality is always high (frequent changes & proper filtration).

[Hoooneylynn]

VET

[Ferd]

Yeah serisouly dude, you should take them to the vet. Not just because its mouth rot, but to find out what else it is. diyabolo said that its a sign of somthing else. How would you find out what the second illness is without being a vet or turtle expert and i highly doubt that you are a vet/expert

[marisa]

Really consider that vet. If it is mouth rot, it's likely a sign of systemic infection, and he'll need antibiotics to cure it. Not eating is a bad sign---if he can't eat, he'll just get weaker.

[da sAUCE!]

vettage. to the max, report back plzs.