General Care Discussion :: Yay saved by my cousin, couple of questions

[SpotsMama]

I'm glad to hear your original turtle is getting some good attention. I think xsavingsaturdayx made some excellent points. You're trying to deal with a difficult situation as best you can.

One thing to think about is what you're going to do if your new one gets sick and has to see a vet. Will your cousin help out again? If not, maybe you'd better save up some funds for just-in-case.

[xsavingsaturdayx]

If your old enough, you might want to get a part time job. Nothing fancy, but a 3 day a week, fast food one. Since it is summer it might give you something to do as well I think that is a excellent way of earning some cash. I'm only 17 but I manage my turtles with two part time jobs, and to be honest, since I have everything that they need, i dont spend much at all, so I have a lot of spare cash and I do not have to worry about not having money to get them to a vet in case they need one..it's pretty sweet

[virusspawn]

Thats an excellent idea, but im only 15 and dependent on parents, i have to wait a year for that, and ill save up some money, birthdays are miracles, especally cuz i have bunches of aunts and uncles.

Right now he looks good, pretty active, looking for a hiding spot, really scared of me, but hes adjusting, ill post pics first thing in morning, my mom went to get some batteries and stuff

Thank you guys for helping me out, ive made devastating mistakes before and im willing to do everything i can to maek sure they dont happen again.

Thanks for your support and help =D

[virusspawn]

also is keeping a sulfa block thing, the ones that look like turtles, help prevent diseases, ,because i have it in my tank and a couple in storage

[SpotsMama]

On the sulfa block thing, I'm afraid it's not good to have it in the tank. For one thing, your turtle will develop a tolerance for sulfa, then when he really needs it for some sort of infection, it won't work any more. And as long as he's well, he really doesn't need sulfa. It would be better to keep the habitat very clean, make sure it's warm enough, and make sure your turtle has a good diet and good light. These measures will keep your turtle healthy so his immune system is able to resist disease.

If you have some blocks that haven't been used, maybe you can return them to the pet store and get your money back.

[xsavingsaturdayx]

Yeah the sulfa thing isnt realy a good idea. But adding freshwater aquarium salt (NEVER USE TABLE SALT) to the tank is a great and better way to prevent fungus (what the sulfa block claims to do). I use it with no problem..

But adding freshwater salt alone wont cut it, a good filter and partial water changes is more important and effective.

Since your turtle is a hatchling, he is obviously very fragile and more sensitive to stress and other things (water temp etc) I would keep the water at a good 80 degrees for a little while (for about a month, maybe less) and then slowly drop it down to 78 degrees.

Also make sure that the basking temps are in the upper 80's lower 90's (90 degrees is a good basking temp) and make sure he gets plenty of calcium in his diet. Dont let his ambient air temperature drop as well (the air around him, it should be rather warm (in the high 70's) and keep him away from cold drafts (air conditioner vents, etc.)

You are using reptivite, right? A word of caution, becareful not to overdo it on the supplements because you can overdose him..moist the pellets a little and then sprinkle the powder on (not a lot, not too little) and leave them out to dry overnight, then in the morning, feed it to your turtle.

Just a heads up

[Tenodera]

Has there been any negative things that have come from keeping a sulfa block in the tank? I'm not going to put one, I'm just curious

[virusspawn]

ive just put it today and it has been in there for 4 hours
and my turtle is new, so it is hard to tell a change in behavior, cuz hes all scared and adjusting and hiding n stuff, so i cant tell,

[marisa]

On of the more negative things that could happen is the turtle building up a resistance to the drug, and this would happen over time. It's not anything that's immediately apparent. It's not good to take medicine unnecessarily, and this holds true for humans as well as turtles.

To me, it's also a waste of money that could be put to better use for other things.

[SpotsMama]

Before I knew better, I put sulfa blocks in the tank and Spot ate a big piece of one and then had the worst diarrhea ever. I thought he was going to die.

and Spot got a shell infection anyway.

[megcornell]

Contrary to other opinions about the lessons you're learned, I really think that you made a very poor choice getting rid of one turtle in hopes of becoming lucky with the second one. I hope your set up is MUCH better than your first one. Did you ever get that basking area?? Whether you're 15 or 50 you should have a respect for animals and realize that if you can't properly care for them you shouldn't own them, no matter how cheap they are to acquire.

Do you have the money to buy a larger tank and equipment when this turtle grows? And I certainly hope you take the advice of others and save money for a vet trip just in case, you never know when a pet or a human will get ill, and you can't just get rid of them when they do.

[DavidY]

Good points, Meg!

[Safdar]

My turtle got sick before, but i took him to the vet =D