Urgent Care :: Care Help

[ninja123]

Hi. I have a Red Eared Slider that I bought from Istanbul. Unfortunately vets or petshops dont know much about RES. I've asked many vets, RES owners and petshops for advice and help but I guess they know not much about what I need to know.

Here is some information about my RES.

His name is Ninja
He is around 8 cm
He lives in a 40 cm x 40 cm tank (20cm height)
He has 2 basking areas
The bottom layer of the tank has small rocks
The tank has a water filter
I have thermometer that shows the water temp. So i dont think I need a water heater because the tank water is usually around 27-28 C.
I feed him veggies and dry shrimps

What is my problem?

1. My RES got sick because I was ignorant and didnt realise that water temp is so important. Thus he got a cold as I was changing his water. He started sneezing and squeeking. However, I gave him a daily bath in multivitamin + antibiotics water (as adviced by the vet). Now he is better. He eats normally. He is active and everything else seems fine. However, he isnt 100% healthy yet. How do I know? Well because

a) He gets on his basking area and opens his mouth (something is wrong about that right?) and he still squeeks. His lungs might not have recovered from the cold yet. So I am still giving him the multivitamin and antibiotic bath.

b) My RES started shedding his skin. So his shell became whitesh. No he doesnt have white spots because the white color is spread. At first I thought it might be fungus, but later I thought it might be shell rot. But then.... I realised hey my RES isnt getting any sun light. So I think he might be lacking calcium. So Ive decided to get him a UV light.

How to help me!!?

Ok I know I may be mixing every information I read from the net together. But I need someone to put me on track. Im lost and I dont wanna kill my RES. I wouldnt be able to bare the guilt.

So if someone can just tell me what I need to do, I would really appreciate it. The most imp thing right now seems to be the UV lamp. I dont know what walt to get and I dont want to burn my RES. Plus vets in Istanbul dont know much about RES as I mentioned earlier, so every advice I get is super duper valuable to me.

Thanks you all in advance

[jenaero]

I don't know what products are available in your area, but the Reptisun 5.0 is a good uvb bulb if you can find it. You'll still need another lamp for heat. The water temp should be 78-80F and the basking temp should be 10 degrees higher.

Shedding is normal. They'll shed skin and scutes as they grow.

Get a good quality pellet to feed instead of the dry shrimp. They're no better than candy. Nutrafin, Zoo Med and Wardley's are good brands for pellets.

Those are probably the most important points to focus on for now.

[industrial_girl_2000]

Wow, Istanbul! I was just there this summer! Nice place to live!

How long have you had this baby? If you just got him, he might have already been sick before you got him. I doubt your turtle got a cold from when you were changing the water. It takes a while for turtles to get sick from colder water.

What kind of "antibiotics" are in the water? Do you have a name for them?

Usually the antibiotic the vets give for turtles that are sick is called "baytril" and it is injected with a very small needle (syringe) in the area between his front arm & shell. Maybe you can ask the vet about that antibiotic?

UVB light is a very good idea (as Jenaero mentioned already!). A lamp for heat can be a regular light bulb (like what you use in your house). A 100W bulb would be ok as your heat bulb ("UVA"). Then the Reptisun 5.0 bulb (which you can order online) would be your 2nd bulb ("UVB") and would give your turtle the right kind of light to keep his shell hard & healthy. Most people on this forum need 2 light bulbs to get both UVA and UVB light.

Good luck & let us know how he is doing.

[ninja123]

Hey all. Thanks for the super fast replies. Yea I figured normal lamp light would give ninja the heat he needs, so I leave the light on for an hour or so at night before he gets to sleep. He keeps staring at it and I wonder if he thinks something like " i see the light to heaven " hehe. As for the UV light suggested, I found some on ebay. I will buy one suitable for Ninjas tank. However, I moved his tank by the window so he can get some sun light as well. Suggestions and advice are higly appreciated. Thanks in advance.

[jenaero]

Keeping a tank near the window is a bad idea. The sun can overheat the tank quickly and kill the turtle. Both lights should be on all day, not just for an hour (pardon me if I misunderstood that). 12-14 hours on, 10-12 hours off.

[industrial_girl_2000]

I agree with Jen.....keep the light on for at least 12 hours. RES's are "baskers" which means they like to sit lazy in the sun for up to 8 hours (you often will see pictures of RES's on logs here in America).

Also, I should probably mention that I noticed that your turtle is already 8 cm length....approx. 3 inches. The tank you have for him is too small too (based on measurements, prolly around 8-10 gallon tank). The approx. size of tank you would need is at least 30 gallons. The rule is 10 gallons per inch length of turtle.

[SpotsMama]

On the UV bulb, be sure the bulb provides UVB and not just UVA. Some bulbs provide only UVA and they won't do what your turtle needs. A turtle has to have UVB in order to metabolize calcium which is essential for shell and bones. You can tell if a light provides UVB if it says 5.0 or 8% or something like that. The percents refer to the percent UVB provided. If it doesn't specifically say it provides UVB then it doesn't.

An alternative good brand of UVB bulb is a Repti glo bulb. Don't bother with a bulb that provides less than 5% - it won't be enough. Don't get a reptisun 10.0, it's too strong. You should know that UVB bulbs that would be appropriate for you are always fluorescent and come in either tube or compact forms. The type you should get depends on what type of fixture you have.

In addition to the UVB light your turtle probably also needs a calcium supplement. Cuttlebone is an excellent source. It's a white block of calcium that's sold in petstores in the bird section. It's inexpensive and easy to find. You put small pieces of it in the tank with the turtle and leave them for the turtle to snack on.

Some high quality brands of pellets are Reptomin and Mazuri. I understand Monster is also very good.

The rule for a sick turtle is to keep him warm, very clean, try to get him to eat and avoid stress as much as possible.

Good luck - keep us posted on how it's going!

[kc]

it's not neccessary to have the tank near the window because:
1: as someone said, it'll heat up the water
2. the water temp will fluctuate too much.
3. you'll have alge growing in your tank very fast.
4. the light coming through your window is filtered so it won't do any good anymore.

what you might want to try is have a basking lamp (you can use a normal lamp, preferably a halogen light bulb, and let your turtle bask as much as he needs. higher temp heals.