General Care Discussion :: help with my res

[karli]

I posted the other day about my res throwing up carrots that I fed her. She only pooped once since thursday. She's not eating much. She tries to go for the food nibbles a bit and then nothing... Could it be that there still is a piece of carrots lodge in her throut? She is also in a new tank. She is not lathergic and is basking like normal. Sorry to bother you with all my ?? I really dont think wahts at the bottom of the tank is poop looks more to me like her food (pellets) mushed up.
I'm new and turtle sitting for the next 4 years nephew went in the Navy.. Maybe I have made to many changes?nYou can see by ma past post what I changed.. If anyone could please give a bitt of advice

[TheComputerGremlin]

Welcome to turtle-parenthood, even if temporary. To start with, you may not see them poo. In fact, I've had my turtle for 3 years, and I've never seen her actually pooing, and I've only seen poo twice, and then it disappears. Yes, they eat it, or it gets mashed up and sucked into the filter. So don't despair, unless you are watching her like a hawk 24/7, she has likely pooed since then.

A good thing to check is your water temps. Sometimes our water heaters will break without us noticing, or our thermometers will not work correctly, or even worse, both will happen at the same time. Water temp is very important. If the water is too warm, their metabolism will be very high and they will eat a lot. If it's too low, they'll stop eating, but if it's not low enough to send them into hibernation, they'll starve to death. You want to keep it around 70-75 degrees for a 4+" turtle, 75-78 for smaller than that. It's okay if it's slightly warmer, just know that they'll beg extra for food.

I will go check out your other post and see if I can tell anything else, but it sounds mostly like you are being an over-attentive turtle parent, which we can get when they are new, and you may be worrying over just simple adjusting to the changes.

[TheComputerGremlin]

Yeah, so looking over your other posts, you've been given a lot of good advice. Just keep making changes, I know it's hard to do all at once because it feels like you are messing up their life, but it is for the best. RES adapt fairly well, it just sometimes takes a few weeks. What food is it? Is it a floating pellet? Is it floating away from her and she is having trouble catching it? Do you have a filter yet?

If you are really, really worried, it is best to take her to a herp vet. The vet can determine if there is a blockage. But I've never heard of a carrot causing a blockage, and I've given my turtle full carrots cut into quarters (i.e. cut in half lengthways and then cut again in half lengthways). Not the whole thing, of course, that'd be too much, but just larger slices, it keeps her busy, so when she's on a destructive kick, I give her things to destroy. She's never indicated a blockage.

[karli]

Thank you for replying... I dont have a filter yet. The food pellets are Nutrafin max. They do float. It's the same food she has had for the last 2 years my newphew has given her. I guess I fell into worry since she seems to want the food and when she gets it in her mouth she brakes it and it floats back out. Also when I first brought her home she would poop as soon as she ate and I feel since the carrots thats not the case. The Vet just called me back and said that Res should not eat carrots and will take a little while to get back on track.. I feel bad if it's because I did something wrong and took her from the tank she is used too.. But, she really does seem to love basking Well I guess I kind of just need to stop over watching her

[coreyvht]

shes in a new home/habitate and is prob scarred give her time to adjust

[TheComputerGremlin]

The Vet just called me back and said that Res should not eat carrots

This is not correct information, just to warn you. I would be cautious about other information that this vet gives you. RES are omnivores and are perfectly suited for carrots; in fact, that is an excellent source of vitamin A for their eyes. I wouldn't give too large of chunks, but I believe everyone on the board here feeds carrots. Some vets are very quick to give out vitamin A shots, even though most turtles are getting their vitamin A through carrots, and these shots tend to have severe side-effects in a majority of turtles.