Urgent Care :: Sick RES?

[Julibee]

Both of my turtles have soft shells, and one of them (Gator) seems to be having the worst of it. Much research and many people have told me that this is due to lack of calcium, so I immediately bought a proper basking bulb and a cuttle bone in hopes of reversing the damage. I wanted to take both to a vet north of where I live, but my dad doesn't comprehend how serious I am about these turtles and won't take them. I can't get my driver's liscense for another 3 months, and on top of that, I probably can't afford the vet on my own.

Taking this into account, am I doing the right thing?

Here's a pic of Gator:



You can see the worst of it at the back end of his shell. It's actually improved quite a bit, there used to be a rather large area that looked as though it were rotting.

[SpotsMama]

Hi there - what a sweet little guy!

Let me ask a few questions. Can you tell me about his basking bulbs? Exactly what type are they - brand name and wattage? How close are they to the basking area. About the basking - do they bask every day enough so that their shells dry out completely - top and bottom?

You know baby turtles' shells are normally somewhat flexible. They harden over their first year of life, with the part toward the back towards the tail being the last to firm up. I wonder if the soft shell isn't just the normal flexibleness of a young turtle. I do see what you mean about the white on the shell - glad to hear it's improving.

Let me ask about the top photo. You see where the sides of his head bulge outwards? Are both your turtles' heads shaped the same way? There's a condition called ear abcess that causes the side of the head to bulge out. Although your turtle's bulges are not as pronounced as most I've seen that have acesses, it does worry me somewhat. Can you post a similar photo of your other turtle's head?

[marisa]

I'm not really sure if an abcess can be determined unless the head is out of the shell completely...

Hatchlings (less than a year) do have shells that are more pliable than older turtles, especially in the rear marginal scutes.

Aside from whether or not you have proper lighting (you need both a basking light for heat---a lightbulb is OK---and a UVB light (flourescent, no real heat) and increased calcium (he may not be that interested in the cuttlebone, but try it), I'm wondering what the turtle's diet is. What are you feeding him, how much and how often? The wideness of the seam of the carapace and plastron and the pinkness of the seam along with the darker areas near the blotches on the plastron look like he's been growing rather fast.

[Julibee]

It's a good thing baby's shells should be more flexible, then. That's a bit of a relief for me. That means the other turtle should be fine.

I'm using a 50W Halogen basking lamp from zoo med, which gives both light and heat - I'm having a rather difficult time finding a lamp I'm comfortable with. My 10 gallong tank is too small for anything with higher wattage, and this UVA v. UVB thing is perplexing.

The bulb is currently 5.5" above the basking area, but not directly over it. I just purchased a more accurate thermometer, so I'm still ajusting things.

I can post pics of both turtle heads with there next fully extended tomorow.

As for his diet, I have most definately been overfeeding him. Last week, Dolly (the other turtle) went on a little... adventure... and I found her five days later, and returned her to her aquarium with Gator. Dolly has always been smaller than Gator, but now the size difference is significally larger.

I was feeding Gator according to the directions on the food container (Animal Planet Aquatic Turtle), twice daily for ten minutes. Waaay too much... around 6 to 8 large pellets a day.

Today I bought some ReptoMin Baby mini floating food sticks, with 38% protein, and about 3% calcium. (hopefully that'll help the calcium thing a bit). This feed seems more promising to me, and I'm going to start using it tomorow. As for the ammount, I'm not sure. What is meant by food being given "in proportion" to the head size?

Thanks ya'll =D This really helps.

[SpotsMama]

On the lights, you're going to need a two bulb setup. Both bulbs should be positioned over the basking platform. Here's a description of the two bulbs:

1. Heat bulb. The purpose of this bulb is to provide the heat over the basking area that will motivate your turtle to get up there and bask. It also aids in digestion. A regular household incandescent bulb is fine as long as it heats the basking platform to around 88 to 90 degrees. I think people often use a 75 watt bulb for this purpose.

2. UVB bulb. A turtle needs to be exposed to UVB light so his body can absorb the calcium he eats. Otherwise the calcium goes to waste. He has to have good amounts of calcium of course for his shell and bones. The UVB bulb will be a specialized fluorescent bulb that you get at a pet store or on-line pet supply place. Most people use compact fluorescents although if you have a fixture for it a tube fluorescent is also a good choice. Whatever bulb you get must say on the packaging that it provides at least 5% (or 5.0) UVB. The bulbs that say "full spectrum" or "basking bulb" are not the right type. Any bulb that provides UVB also provides UVA, so you'll have both covered. A good bulb is the Exo Terra Repti Glo 5.0 26 watt compact fluorescent.

On determining the amount of pellets to feed, imagine that your turtle's head is hollow, like a thimble. Not the neck, just the head. Then estimate how many pellets it would take to fill the hollow head. That's how many pellets he should get every day until he gets to be about 4" long. When he gets 4" long you can cut back to a headfull of pellets every other day. The Reptomin baby pellets are very good quality.

In addition to the pellets, offer your turtle green leafy veggies just about every day and occasional other plant food like carrot, tomato, blueberry, bell pepper, etc. For treats he can have a shrimp or earthworm from time to time. It's good to always keep cuttlebone in the tank to provide calcium.

[Julibee]

Thanks for the info on the lighting bulb setup, it will help tremendously.

As for the food, today I gave them some lettuce (which I've done in the past - they seem to love it) with the food in head-proportion.

I've gotten some head shots. Now that I look closely, Gator's head does indeed seem to be swolen. I couldn't get a good side-shot of him, but when he looks upwards while stretching his neck out, it looks like he has huge lumps in his throat. This little guy is beginning to make me nervous...

[SpotsMama]

Gator may have an abcess, a least on one side if not on both. Their heads are naturally rather knob shaped but I think Gator's is looking even more knob shaped than normal.

An ear abcess is a rather common occurance. It's quite treatable in the early stages. A vet can lance it, clean it and probably will give some antibiotics. It will need to be done by a vet though, it's not something a person can do at home. Since it's fairly routine it doesn't usually cost too much to have it done.

I urge you to see a vet about it as soon as possible. The swelling puts pressure on the turtle's tissues which is painful. And it won't go away on its own, it will just get worse.

I understand about your money situation and how your dad needs to be convinced that it's necessary to spend some. One thing that might help is you could offer to do some extra chores to help pay off the expense. Or maybe you could pay him back over time out of your allowance.

Sorry! Keep us posted on how it goes.