General Care Discussion :: rotten eggs

[daniella]

okay, so when I was little i remember my mom bought me a grown RES from the pet store. Now that i have my baby res, and i've come to this website, i realized we didn't take care of that turtle as well as we should of. He was in a tank, and had an area to bask, but the water wasn't heated. Anyways, i was about 10 then. But i remember about every two days my mom would have to clean the tank out because it smelled like rotten eggs! We never figured out why..but it got so bad that we had to put the tank in the basement. Eventually my mom told me we had to get rid of the turtle because she was cleaning it's tank allll of the time due to the smell. Has anyone experienced this? My turtle now isn't like that. Was she laying eggs maybe? I don't know if they smell or what. But it smelled just like rotten eggs. We let her go in this pond near my house. I know, you're not supposed to do that, i wish i knew then. Anyways, does anyone have a clue???

[megcornell]

I imagine it was due to the water quality. A turtle in an improper enclosure can smell pretty rank.
When I tell people I have a turtle their most common question is "don't they smell?" So I assume that a lot of people encounter turtles in tanks that aren't big enough and aren't well-filtered enough. I know my tanks certainly have never had any odor to them, so with proper maintenance it shouldn't be a problem.

It could also be that the turtle had something wrong with it. Infections smell notoriously bad.

[Cramer]

Same childhood experience. Ah..a time before the internet.

"Rotton egg" odor is usually a sulfuric odor.

[TheComputerGremlin]

Everyone I talk to say the same thing, "Don't they smell?" Well, sure, from experience, if they don't have enough water and a good filter, yeah, they smell wicked. The smell is similar to nasty fish water. I doubt it was eggs, they shouldn't lay them that often and you would have seen them. It was probably just something in the food.

I'm slowly evolving my family/friends/co-workers into realizing that turtles are great pets when you take care of them!

[jtjordan]

she isnt asking what it is, she is asking why it was there

[SpotsMama]

It's true that if your tank is kept clean it won't smell at all. To stay clean, there has to be enough water in the tank to dilute the waste and the filter needs to be good, and then the water has to be changed and the tank cleaned as needed. With a big tank and good filter, you don't have to change the water very often at all. People with good tanks and filters only have to make partial water changes every few weeks. If the tank's smaller or the filter isn't up to the job, then the water changes have to be more frequent. There comes a point - if the turtle is just too big for the tank and the filter is useless, where it's impossible to keep up with the waste and then you have smelly, grungy looking tank. Getting a nice big tank and good filter is a wonderful investment because not only does it look (and smell) nice, and the turtle is happy and healthy, but life is ever so much easier for the turtle keeper.

[flyjawn]

yup - the turtle i inherited has a tiny tank, poor quality filter and it smelled.

now that he's in a bigger tank with an XP2, it's odour free.

[Dein211]

I am always asked that question about my turtle and then I tell them that the litter box always smells worse than the turtle ever did!

[mikee]

dan-la -- Different poo smell differently. The smell was becaues there was a lot of poo, with little water and little filter. A lot of water, a lot of filter and a change of diet would have helped.