General Care Discussion :: Help! What's wrong with my terrapin?

[Ispakles]

I have quite a few problems.
Firstly, my RES has been making popping sounds with movements of his head. He's contracting and expanding his throat.

Then, there's something funny on his shell as you can see below. And there's something on his mouth too I'm not sure what it is.






He eats well, moves about a lot when I'm around but sleeps at times when I go away. What should I do about his shell and stuff?

Thanks in advance,
Lynn.

[untsmurf]

your pics didn't work.

Just a minor question... how do you know he's sleeping if you aren't around?

If you can't get the pics to work, just try describing the problem(s).

[Ispakles]

I sneak back and found him sleeping and when he feels that there's someone there, he would wake up.

Hang on, I'm trying to make the pics work.

[marisa]

Cute little fella/gal. How long have you had him?

Does that black area and white area feel soft to the touch at all? Is it the pic, or are there a few tiny dark spots on the left side of the spine as well? If you look closely, does that dark area on the chin look like it's a scab from a scrape? Does the inside of his mouth look normal with a nice pink color?

If you recently got him, it looks like he's gotten a little banged up somehow. If you've had him a while, what's his set-up like? Have the areas grown worse over time?

The contracting and expanding of the throat is normal (looks kind of like a frog). His mouth is closed when he does this, right?

I'm not sure about the clicking sound with head movements---is he opening and closing his mouth when this happens?

[Ispakles]

I've just had him for a month. Rescued him when my sister brought him home from school. I think the tiny black spots are the left over paint. He was kinda painted over and the paint was coming off. I had to brush some of it off but there's still a bit left. As for the big patchs of black and white, they are not soft to touch.

He opens his mouth at times when he makes those sounds. And I've noticed that he keeps opening his mouth after he finishes eating at meal times. I can't really see the inside of his mouth clearly even though he opens it really big at times. But it's not really pink, it's kinda skin colour with a few bumps or something. He didn't have those stuff outside his mouth when I got him a month ago though.

[untsmurf]

Why was there paint on him?

[Ispakles]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ab_tJL9AE7Q

Managed to take a video of him just after he finishes eating. It's not very clear but he's actually opening his mouth wide open and then closing it and opening it again. He didn't seemed to do that when I first had him.

I suppose someone in my sister's class painted him?

[SpotsMama]

The way the turtle is behaving on the video is very troublesome. Opening and shutting his mouth like that is not normal. Maybe it's a respiratory infection or maybe it's a mouth infection but your turtle has some sort of illness.

That place on his chin looks like some sort of sore to me. Why don't you rub a little neosporin (antibiotic salve) on it?

I think this little turtle needs to see a vet. Do you know of a good nearby herp vet? Until you get him to the vet, keep him warm, very clean and avoid stress. It's very good that he's eating. If he starts losing his appetite, offer him delicious treats to make sure he gets his calories until he gets to the vet.

Good luck. This little turtle has been through a lot, hasn't he? He's very lucky to have found someone who wants to take good care of him.

[kmichael55]

Good to see most of the paint has come off... how could a teacher have thought that was a good idea??

I also think you should bring him to a vet, for the possible RI and the wound on his chin. I second everything SpotsMama has said, good luck!