Urgent Care :: Possible Illness

[Nighttide]

Hello, everyone. I've posted here before as Threepwood, but since I'm at class right now and have neither my password nor access to my other e-mail account, I've created another screen-name. But that doesn't matter much.

Anyway, I've noticed some different behavior from my turtle recently:

While he has not entirely lost his appetite (he'll beg for food, eat shrimp, and nip at plants and other things within the tank), he's beginning to reject pellets. At least at first. He'll sniff at them, swim away, and find them later (after they've been significantly water-logged) and only then eat them up. That's the first new behavior.

Secondly, he's been opening his mouth above water while on the basking platform. But not wide-open, and, as far as I can tell, not to breathe. He just opens it slightly, like maybe he's chewing on something. He just opens it a very little bit. Otherwise, he breathes fine through his nose (I can tell by the way his "throat" expands and such as it breathes, while his mouth is closed). It's not constant, and only happens from time to time, but it is there.

Finally, he shows no other symptoms of anything. No lop-sided swimming, no lethargy. He might be basking more than usual, but I'm not sure about that.

I'm probably going to schedule an appointment with a vet, anyway, but I'm just curious about what everyone here thinks. Any change in behavior is probably cause to worry, but I was wondering if there might be other reasons for the behavior (change of seasons, getting tired of pellets --I admit his diet hasn't been varied lately, which I intend to correct today -- simply opening its mouth for the hell of it). Thoughts?

Thanks for your time.

[industrial_girl_2000]

What kind of pellets are you giving him? I would take away the shrimp, just for now, to see if he will eat more of the pellets.

If he is opening his mouth above water at all (except to yawn) then that is definitely not normal. I would take him for a little vet visit.

What's the water temp?

[Nighttide]

I've only been feeding him shrimp/krill (plus vitamin supplements) recently because he's basically stopped taking the pellets, this even after withholding everything else for a while. He'd eat at the aquatic plants, though. But, I've been to the store and picked up some vegetables and what not so I'll be hopefully taking him off the shrimp diet here soon (and it's only been a couple of days at that, so no long term damage there).

The water temp has always been a constant 76 degrees Fahrenheit. But I've bumped it up to about 80 for the time being, as well as increased the air temperature.

And finally, I've spoken to three vets and made an appointment for Monday afternoon. One mentioned that turtles may occasionally open their mouths above water, but even if this turns out to be a non-issue, it'll still be good to get him an examination.

I'll let everyone know if it is, in fact, an illness of some sort come Monday, just for the record.

Thanks.

[grey goose]

Except for the occasional yawn, a turt shouldn't be opening his/her mouth. It's good that you bumped the temp up.....keep an eye on it and definitely see a vet.

[Tenodera]

lol for the feeding part, it sounds like your turtle is taking advantage of you! Everytime you give him shrimp instead of pellets just makes him turn down pellets and prefer shrimp instead.

[Nighttide]

lol for the feeding part, it sounds like your turtle is taking advantage of you! Everytime you give him shrimp instead of pellets just makes him turn down pellets and prefer shrimp instead.

I would've thought the same, as well...except for the fact that he hadn't been given shrimp for quite a while when he decided to stop eating the pellets. Still, it's definitely a possibility; these turtles seem to have a way to get what they want...