General Care Discussion :: Can High Appetite and Very Active be a sign of healty turtle

[novroz]

Kame is 2years old, she likes to eat meat but hates veggie...I'm still trying to feed her veggie. A very active turtle, even when I took her to a vet because of loose poop, the vet said she is very active for a sick turtle. So I was just wondering, can high appetite and very active be the sign of healthy turtle??

And I often read or see pictures of turtle at her age or even older looks smaller than her. Is my turtle grown too fast?

she is this big 6 months ago

(about 7 inches)

(about 5 inches)

she is bigger than that now.

[Arisu]

Is she the turtle in your avatar, or your other one? Either way, adorable (:

Was she a hatchling when you first got her (I say her because of her short front claws)? If so, she is definitely too big for a 2 year old. Average is 4-5 inches.

She kinda looks like she is pyramiding, but I don't want to assume! May we see a side-view picture of her?

I can't really answer your question about her high activity level and appetite. Though a healthy turtle should have both, I don't think being active and having a big appetite necessarily mean they are healthy.

How big is your other turtle?

[marisa]

Your turtle is rather large for being 2 years old; it sounds like she's on a diet that's too high in protein. How much do you give her at a feeding? How often do you feed her?

She's a nice looking RES, but she'd be even nicer looking if she shed those scutes. She has retained them.

[SpotsMama]

Foods containing vitamin e help a turtle to shed retained scutes. Here are some good ones:

Tomato
Sweet potato
Turnip greens
Blueberries
Apple skin

Are these familiar to you? Can you get them where you are?

I understand your turtle being uninterested in her veggies, but she's old enough now she needs to start eating them. Keep offering them until she figures out how good they are. You need to find what appeals to her. Keep trying different things, but try to include the foods listed above on the list (if you have access to them).

Do you have access to turtle pellets where you are? Good quality pellets would be much better for her than all that meat.

Instead of all meat (or better, pellets) or all veggies, try offering just a little meat/pellets and more of the veggies. If she doesn't fill up on the meat/pellets she'll be more likely to try the veggies.

For good quality pellets, the most she should have is the amount that would fit inside her head (just the head, not the neck) if her head were hollow every other day. If she's having meat rather than pellets, then the quantity should be even less. Like I said, you can give her more veggies so she'll have something to fill up on.

Does she have a cuttlebone in her tank?

[SpotsMama]

Sorry for the double post.

to address your original question, yes it is a very good sign when a turtle is lively and has a good appetite. When they are very sick, they act lethargic and lose interest in food. However, turtles are good at hiding symptoms. They can actually be sick but not show it. So it's possible your girl's intestinal infection has returned but it's not severe enough (yet) to affect her behavour.

[novroz]

Arisu>> yes they are the same, both the picture and the avatar. I gor her from my brother's girlfriend, she had her for about 2 months. when I got he, she was still green and small...I can't really prdict her actual age.
I've just search about pyramiding...and I think she is pyraminding ... it makes me worried now, I love her so much and it really shocks me.
The other one is younger than her, he was still 6 months old.

Marissa>> I give her small portion of pellets about 2 0r 3 times a day. sometimes I change the pellets with cooked chicken meat, small fish or cricket.

Spotsmama>> I've just read about scute shedding but I don't really understand the meaning of it...can you please help me make sense of it? thx

Those veggies and fruits are wellknown (except turnip). she ate sweet potato once, and hate it the next day , never even want to touch tomato and apple.

cuttlebone has been the biggest problem...I've tried finding it everywhere but unable to find it. My country is really not a good place to raise a turtle...I couldn't even find basil!! But I'm still searching...in fact, after this I'm planning to visit one of the biggest bird shop in my town.

Do you know a way to cure intestinal infection?

>> thx a lot guys for all of your advices, it means a lot to me...I'm hoping to keep Kame for more than 30 years coz she is my precious baby

[Arisu]

Don't worry- you're not alone! Our turtles simply require a lot of care and are very picky.

Pyramiding can be reversed, or at least stopped from getting worse, (if not too serious) by correcting her diet. Now that shes that big, she really doesn't need additional protein (she gets enough from the pellets). Keep her on a strict veggie/pellet diet and only feed her once or every other day. By the way, what kind of pellets do you feed her?

Turtles are supposed to shed their scutes as their shell gets bigger. However, they're supposed to shed single layers at the time. One of my turtle has a case of retained scutes- in which the scutes that were supposed to fall off, didn't. This is some times caused vitamin deficiency or lack of a UVB source.
http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewt ... ighlight=a

Good luck!!

[novroz]

I finally found cutlebone she loved it...but I don't want to overfeed her, how much should I give her a day?

she has been on diet since friday. I give her veggie n cutlebone in the morning and the veggie is still there till night and I give little pellet at night....so she practically hasn't eaten since friday.

she really hates veggie

Seeing your pictures make me happy...she is not pyramiding afterall, she os just retaining scutes. what do you think?
this is her side picture
http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18903

[SpotsMama]

The very thin translucent top layer of a turtle's shell should periodically fall off, or shed. In a perfectly healthy shell, when a scute sheds it looks kind of like a thin fingernail. When a shell isn't as healthy or a turtle has trouble shedding, the layer may come off in flakes.

If a shell isn't shedding layers like it should, you can see the layers as they build up and over time the shell gets dull. The problem is that water can get underneath the layers that should have come off and bad things like fungus and bacteria will grow.

When a scute starts to shed a layer, it usually gets dull looking especially when dry, and you can see metalic or coppery looking spots when he's under water, caused by air trapped underneath the loosened scute. The edges of the layer that's shedding start to lift. Water sometimes gets underneath the loosened scute and if you press gently on it, you can see it squeeze out.

Don't ever pull off a loose scute. Let it fall off naturally. It can damage a shell to pull off a scute prematurely.

All conditions have to be good to make a beautiful, healthy shell. Clean water, lots of good basking where the turtle gets to dry off completely (top and bottom), good UVB light and good diet all are necessary. I said above, vitamin e in the diet will help with the shedding.

Hope that helps!

[novroz]

thx, that's easier to understand.

Kame had never done that...I mean I have never seen her scute sheding.

I've already given her tomato (tho she doesn't eat it yet), today i might buy sweet potato and bluberry.

I'm still having hard time to make her eat veggie

[Dein211]

i would pop into your local petstore and try and find some Anachris. Turtles love them and at first they were the only veggie rolo would eat. they are fairly cheap and come in bunches that turtles like to shred. it is messy but you can scoop the uneaten bits out with a minnow net.

and as for the cuttle bone give it to her as often as she wants it. i know rolo will go through one in like two days! at least give it to her once a week. i found that as soon as popped one of those in rolo's abbility to shed increased incredibly! just keep trying with the other veggies... eventually she might like them!

[novroz]

don't count on it!! Indonesia is not a heaven to raise a turtle. I find my cuttle bone in bird shop and it is a big bird shop, small shop doesn't sell it. It tooks almost 2hours for me to go there

I've been doing tough love now!! tho she doesn't eat the veggie I held my self not to give her another food.

[SpotsMama]

Wow, two hours is a long ways to go for cuttlebone. Can you get it mail order or on-line?