General Care Discussion

Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 3:24 pm **Vet info**

If I took one of my turtles into the vet and he had RI or vitamin A deficiancy or something, what can the vet do for such a tiny turtle? Medicines? Nothing?

Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 3:52 pm

Hatchlings are difficult to treat, and unfortunately some vets prefer not to treat them if the prognosis is poor.

Do you think your turtle is sick? If not, keep him healthy so he won't develop those conditions and you won't have to worry.

Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 4:01 pm

Well Brownie, my false map turtle has some problems. He is having troubles opening his eyes and is usually always basking or sitting on top of the filter spout thing. (which is in the water). And my mom wanted to know if the vet would be able to do anything. She thinks that he is so tiny that they won't be able to do anything and it would just be a waste of money and time to go to the vet.

Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 4:09 pm

What are the temps in his tank (water and basking area)?

How long has he been behaving as you described? By my response, I did not mean that you should just give up---if he's ill, by all means look for a vet for him. The sooner you have him looked at, the better his chances are for a recovery (and you don't know that he won't recover). Try to find a vet that will treat him---give him the best chance to get healthy again.

Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 4:13 pm

Water temp- 78 degrees
Basking temp- 97 degrees

He has been acting this way for about a month. I have been trying to convince my mom every day to take him to the vet. She is starting to get worried now because of his eyes.

Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 4:21 pm

Really, you should find a herp vet that will look at him ASAP. You and your mother will both feel better for getting him some help.

Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 4:53 pm

My turtle was still small (under 3 inches) when she started to show RI symptoms. I took her to the vet and got injections for her. The vet had no issues treating such a small turtle, but she couldn't run any diagnostics on Leo because of her small size.
I'd take Brownie to the vets, it's better safe than sorry.

Posted: Sat Jan 05, 2008 7:10 pm

EM -- I would suggest that you raise the water temp. to 81 and lower the basking to about 90-92 and give that a try. If you have some eye drops you may want to try that. Keeping eye drops on and dry docking him for a while may help. If you do dry dock him, keep his temp. near his water temp. We don't want to add to his problem with getting chilled. Good Luck!

Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2008 8:58 pm

We just made an appoinment for sat..

Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2008 10:03 pm

He died

... What should I do with the tank? Clean it out totally? It would be really hard to do that since it is winter, cold, and the hose isn't working outside. I am also leaving on a trip tomarrow morning. From Wednesday-Friday.
:cry:

Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2008 10:56 pm

i'm so sorry you lost him. baby turtles are so fragile.

do you have a small hose or tube that you can siphon the water out? you really don't need to hose it down. you'll want to whipe it down with a warm water and vinegar solution before using it again.

again, sorry for your loss.

Posted: Tue Jan 08, 2008 11:18 pm

How sad! I'm so sorry to hear he didn't make it. The little ones are so fragile.

Posted: Wed Jan 09, 2008 8:27 am

RunninWideOpen wrote:i'm so sorry you lost him. baby turtles are so fragile.

do you have a small hose or tube that you can siphon the water out? you really don't need to hose it down. you'll want to whipe it down with a warm water and vinegar solution before using it again.

again, sorry for your loss.

yup I have a python. I will do this as soon as I can.

General Care Discussion :: Vet info

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