Urgent Care :: Turtle foaming at the mouth

[LadyBloodRose]

Well eailer on I checked on my hacthling Res, he was basking which he seems to have been doing a bit more recently, taking him out I checked him over an replaced himi n his tank an fed him. This was about oh say 10 min ago. Well about 2 min ago I looked over an he has this Yellowish foam at the corners of his mouth like he has rabies! (yes i knwo turtles can't get rabies )
Anyone have any idea whats causing this??
He has a Heat Light, A UVB Basking light, water temp right now is just below 80 temp ion the basking area stays between 87-90 degrees roughly.

[grey goose]

It sounds like he may have an infection. Or he may have just threw up a little......
Is he active and eating? If this continues, especially after you feed him, he may need to go to the Vet.

[megcornell]

How is he acting now? Is he lethargic? Maybe he was choking or throwing up as grey goose suggested.
I'd keep an eye on him and if he looks like he's struggling to breathe or acting strangely I'd start thinking about getting a vet.

[LadyBloodRose]

other then just the foam he realy hadn't acted any diffrent i went ahead an warmed his water a bit more, so right now he's actualy moved down to sit in the water partly on one of the lower edges of the basking dock.

I've been lookin all over the net tryin to find out what all it could be a symptom of. I am not even sure if he ate anything or not, but i'll know for a fact tomarrow. -_- getting choked coulda been a possibility. I'm outa reptomin baby pellets so i am havin to break up normal pellets into smaller peices till I can get over to the next county to get anouther jar of baby pellets. The store he doesn't carry them :S.

[grey goose]

Is he refusing to go in the water? Even after the basking light goes out? That is a sure sign of trouble.

[LadyBloodRose]

he is going into the water at least alil bit even if just enough to drink :S its not time for his uvb light to be out just yet :S.
He however is not acting as skiddish as he normaly wound. Usualy if i put my hand anywhere inside the tank he dives in the water :s an he's not doin that. instead he's sitin there watchi me for a moment then closing his eyes.
He has no discharge from his nose an his eyes are crystal clear :S
He is moving around a decent amount even being on the lower shelf of his basking area nearly in the water, he's shifting his body around like he can't get comfortable :S
I wonder if he could be getting a RI :S

I just removed the higher level of his basking area, so that he wont get up on it an possibly hurt himself -_- also gona see about traping some more humidity in the tank.

My neice an nephew came to vist the other day, an i let them hold him as they are facinated by turtles i wonder if they coulda had something on their hands? they are all the time catching turtles out by their house. Course this is also cold an flu season :S

My dad made a comment about that since we have had such a bad drought this year that maybe the well water (as both our residence share the same well) could be going abit stagnat ans ome bacteria could be building up in it :S I wonder if any of this could be affecting him -_-. Also weighing in the back of my mind is it got cold as all heck last night an when i got home the power had been out but i dun know for how long -_-. though it couldn;t have been for more then a few hours if that -_-.

now i'm startin to get paranoid an try an thinkin of what all could be wrong GAH!

[LadyBloodRose]

btw he has movee down to siti n the shallowest area of the lwoer dock now, si he can lower his head an drink. Least he's hydrating himself which makes me happier an its one less thing iw otn have to worry about :S

whats the maximum i should have him water temp at in order to help boost his immune system? 85?

[grey goose]

If he is not reacting to you as he normally would he could be getting lethargic, he may not have the energy to swim either.
None of this sounds good to me. You should get him to the Vet as soon as you can. It might be early symtoms of RI.......

[grey goose]

whats the maximum i should have him water temp at in order to help boost his immune system? 85?

82F would be the highest I would go with the water temp.

[LadyBloodRose]

hopefuly i can get in touch with someone tomarrow. The vet here wont treat a turtle this small. Last time i had to speak to her she was able to helpw ith some simple things -_- but a Ri isn't simple :S
hopefuly I will be able to find out tomarrow.

[SpotsMama]

About as many things can go wrong with a turtle as with a person - some are serious but many are not, so don't panic yet. I'll keep you and your turtle in my thoughts and here's wishing you good luck tomorrow.

[Pam]

Not to alarm you but this could be respiratory infection. My 8 year old res just battled that these past few months. His first symptoms were swimming tilted to one side and he quit eating. Then he blew a lot of bubbles from his nose and his mouth had foam coming out. He is much better now after a series of 3 weeks of antibiotic shots and dry docking him - just hydrating him 2 times a day for 20 minutes each day. It was most critical to keep his temperature at a stable temp. Is your turtle eating? Now mine is eating like a pig - making up for lost time!

[LadyBloodRose]

well my vet i talked to last time retired as of last week -_- they have a new vet thats taken her place which will be in wensday before i make my apointment i have to make sure i have a way to ge there :S. My vans broke down it hink the altinator went out, which is just great joy o joy -_-. So now I need ta find a ride.
Might be able to talk my mom into it, with any luck she can hold on n hour or so before she goes to Sam's Club wensday to take me n the turtle after all she knows how much work i have put into him already.
Gona check up on the lil guy in a sec, came inside my parents house to look up the numbers.. Then i'm try n talk her into it :S this is a vet I'm unfamilar with so means I'ma be watchin him like a hawk!!

[LadyBloodRose]

ok vet apt is made for wensday at 3:30 -
maybe i will get away without payin n arm n a leg my inital office vists only 38$ not sure how much the antibiotics will run or what he may give him wonder if he will put him on Baytril or any of the other 3 -_-.

I just droped some pellets in with Donnie to see if he will eat an left him alone, to see what happens with any luck i'll go back to see all the pellets gone, espiclay since he is alil eating machine lol all my turtles are XD they never turn down meat or pellets!

I'd say he stayed prety warm an comfy last night thats for sure, I applyed a peice of plexi glass over half the tank to trap in some more warmth cuz it got COLD last night! he seemed comfortable an was siting in his warm water relaxing away like nothin was goin on, however he didn't try an flee from me when i moved my hand into the tank which worries me. Espiclay since I know he's not used to me depsite all the attention he recives every day.

ok so i'll keep yall updated n what not on any changes better or worse an let yall know what the vet says n what he gives me for antibiotic. wish me luck!!!!

[DavidY]

Bummer, sorry to hear he's sick. Is this the same one that was sent to you as a sick rescue?