General Care Discussion :: Penelope is Barfing and has Diarreah

[penelope]

My Penelope has been acting fine; looking healthy and eating well. Last night she had her "Monday Dinner" (we feed her every other day)
She got the same as usual:
1/2 a baby carrot cut into pieces; about 1/2 a 'head' of turtle sticks; 1 leaf of red lettuce (about 3" X 3") and 1 blueberry (her once-a month treat).

Today, she started out with semi-soft stool; she ate that
A few hours later she started having diarreah
a few hours after that (now) she has barfed twice.

It looks everything that went in last night came out today (undigested lettuce, carrot peices, etc.) ~ its been about 20 hours since she ate.

She is in the yard as we clean the mess ~ in the shade, hiding under a rock. Doesn't want to go in the water.

Worth a vet visit? or wait and see if it happens again?

[penelope]

PS - what's the best way/means for disinfecting a tank. Got everything out already.
Do I only need plain hot water to scrub everything? or?????

[steve]

Poor girl. Did she eat too much, too fast? What do you mean she doesn't want to go in the water?

You can use hot water for filter media, though I'd just replace it if you have spare media. For the tank, you can white vinegar. Some people use a highly diluted bleach solution, but I've never been inclined to try it.

[penelope]

Oh...the water stuff ~ Normally the first thing she does when we put her in in her playground is make a beeline for the water, then she comes out later to bask.

But today she went straight to the rock and the that's the last I saw of her until now - (took a few hours to clean everything).

When I just went to get her, I found her half buried in the dirt; she dug herself a little hole and set up camp. Haven't seen her do that before. It was in the mid 70's today.
Sounds normal for a turtle, just not her...

Anyway, we took the advice and cleaned the tank with vinegar; used hot water on the rest and changed the filter media (in case she is sick).

I just wasn't sure whether or not barfing up her undigested dinner from last night and having diarreah was something of great concern. No signs of an RI or any other illness. I guess now we'll just keep an eye on her.

Thanks for the input!

[TheComputerGremlin]

Is it possible she's got eggs stored up? The digging behavior and weird appetite sound definitely possible that she might be ready to lay eggs. Other than that, it sounds like she ate her food too fast. I'd say keep an eye on her for a few days but be ready to call the vet. If her appetite's back to normal and she's not lethargic, she should be okay.

[SpotsMama]

On her diet, have you seen the info on this site on nuitrition? It's very good and comprehensive:

http://www.redearslider.com/index_nutrition.html

A grown turtle can safely have as much as a half a headful of pellets every day, or a whole headful every other day.

Do you mix up the veggies some? For instance, some days give her carrot, other days bell pepper, tomato, strawberry, steamed sweet potato, apple peel, etc. She can safely have more than one blueberry at a time - 4 wouldn't be too many.

On the carrot, instead of cutting one up into pieces for her, you might try slicing some off in a long thin strand with a potato peeler. The thin slice would be easier to digest than a chunk.

The only time Spot had diarrhea was when I put a turtle shaped sulfa block in his tank. It was supposed to dissolve slowly in the water but he ate it. His stomach was quite upset for several days. Has Penelope had an opportunity to get into anything unusual like that? What about when she's outside - are there any pesticides or weed killers she could have been exposed to?