General Care Discussion :: vet visit for my new hatchling/foundling

[tammi]

Took luckie in to the Vet. She said his hind legs were burned but she thought they would
Heal fine. Said he was malnutrtioned. Her suggestions were to do 1 of two things.
1) Wait and see if he got better and started eating on his own. Or 2) force feed him
Baby food. Ugh what to do!? She even metioned just letting him go in a pond some where
But is that really a slolution for an injured and starving hatchling. Seems like a
Death sentence to me. I was sure he had an RI but she didn't think so.
Not sure which route to take. Any suggestions?

[jozzep]

I'm sorry to hear that......
Try option #1 but if that doesn't work, there is not much you can do

[BullDog]

Have you checked out this section of the site:
http://www.redearslider.com/entice_eating.html

Try some "smelly" foods like tuna. Good luck with him!

[tammi]

I got him to bite at tuna! So I put him in a bowl with small pieces. Cross fingers hope he eats!!

[papoopeepoo]

Red Eared Sliders cannot eat outside of water, they don't have the function of making saliva.

[tammi]

Yes I knew that. The bowl has water in it. But thanks for checking.

[tammi]

Luckie ate tuna again today. I feed him several small pieces but didn't want him to get sick from
Eating too much. He hasn't realluy eaten in a week. I also offered pellets first with no luck. Think I'll
Try soaking them in tuna juice next time. I am just glad he is eating on his own right now. I don't
Want him to get stuck on just tuna. So any other suggestions. Figure I will feed him tuna for a few days
Till he regains some strength. Any suggestions? Thanks

[jozzep]

One suggestion is try soaking everything you feed him in tuna juice?

[theartbook35]

Here are a few things I know about general health among turtles:

1. They should be willing to eat. Whether it is a little bit of food, a lot of food, or in between. Taking food means they are willing to survive.
2. Drinking. In your case your turtle just needs to be in the water.
3. Activity level should be moderate or typical of the turtle's overall personality. I expect a turtle or any age to swim around, crawl around and inspect their environment a few times to several times a day.
4. The turtle should be pooping. How often sometimes depends on the turtle.

Know what's depressing? I probably told you more than your vet did.

Herp vets are way to hard to come by.

I always liked that guy on Animal Planet, from Emergency Vets, Fitzgerald was his last name I believe. I'd love to meet him so we could just sit there and talk about reptiles all day.

Try some lettuce, or some brightly colored pieces of carrots and tomatoes. Carrots and tomatoes should be given once a week. (Turtles seem to be drawn to colors, and mine go right after their brighter food more than their duller food).

[tammi]

Yes the vet didn't act like she knew that much about turtles. She just kept saying he so small and make
Sure they get calcuim. I asked about the eating in water when she metioned force feeding and she said
It wasn't necessary. Which made me a bit uneasy. I have a larger RES and I had researched a lot
So I know they need to eat in water. So I left not feeling so confident.

[theartbook35]

Yes the vet didn't act like she knew that much about turtles. She just kept saying he so small and make
Sure they get calcuim. I asked about the eating in water when she metioned force feeding and she said
It wasn't necessary. Which made me a bit uneasy. I have a larger RES and I had researched a lot
So I know they need to eat in water. So I left not feeling so confident.

Wow...

I still don't understand how, since RES are such common pets, all these non-herp vets haven't taken the time to learn more about turtle care. There is so much basic medical knowledge out there that can be applied to almost every species on this planet.

Anyways, since your turtle has burns (I'm going to assume that one piece of information she gave was correct), you don't want them moist for very long. You also don't want your turtle to become dehydrated, because that can happen. You should dry dock, make sure the dock temperature is about 80, and let your turtle go back into water for about an hour to eat, drink, and exercise before going back onto the dry dock.

Burns are very susceptible to infection. Moist wounds breed bacteria, bacteria causes infections, and infections can kill anyone if left untreated, or treated improperly. You don't have to be a vet to know that, or at least know to find a solution.

Your turtle will likely be upset without water, and will probably run around and scratch at the walls or try to climb out of the container. If you have a lid with holes in it, or a towel you can drape over half of the container with an opening for air, to make the dock fairly dark. They like dark spaces a lot.