General Care Discussion :: Turtle needs rehab

[i.love.res]

My little seems to be addicted to shrimp, what do i do to get him to eat pellets again???

[theartbook35]

Offer pellets only, and take away shrimp completely. My older turtle is ultra stubborn, very manipulative and very crafty. This especially worked well since she is literally, a wild animal that tolerates humans. Their natural food seeking instincts will kick in, and they will eat it because they have no choice. Fluker's pellet, shrimp and mealworm blend is very healthy and especially yummy, so, I would try that one. Rep-Cal is very tasty too.

[i.love.res]

Help my turtle was bitten on the head!!!! Heres what happened:
My neighbour came over as usual to play video games, this time he also brought his turt along, so he put his turt in my turts tank, so he could have a playmate.Since my turt still hasn't gotten outta his addiction to shrimp, i didn't give him any, instead i gave my neighbours turtle some dried shrimp.This is where it all began. His turtle who is about 6 months old, Suddenly looked at my little Drake(1 month old), their sizes are about the same, mines just about an inch smaller, proberbly bcos the shrimps are kinda orange, he mistook my turtles "red ear" for a piece of shrimp, he bit my res on the head, then both of them fluttered at each other,followed by another bitting to my turtles plastron(the part right under his neck) there are no visible wounds or injuries, but my turtle is timid now, and refuses to eat
Should i take him to a vet?
I don't really know whether there even is a herp vet here i Singapore

[theartbook35]

This is why I wish common sense would make a comeback.When people want to add a new dog or cat to their home, they check to make sure they will get along first. Why would turtles be any different?

Reptiles are very sensitive animals. They are typically territorial, and are not pack animals. All reptiles carry a largely different variety of illnesses and parasites that mammals don't carry, and these illnesses are highly contagious. Before you add a new turtle to a your current tank, you need to quarantine that new turtle for 90 days (3 months). Your turtle wasn't bitten because the new one mistook it's stripe for shrimp. It was bitten because your turtle is smaller and was being invaded by another turtle. They were likely battling each over both space and food.

Understand that while they may be little now, when turtles reach adult size they are very strong animals and can seriously hurt each other. If your turtle is not bleeding, it should not be a problem, just keep an eye on the area where he/she was bitten. I had to change the decor in my tank several months ago because my younger turtles got tangled up in their floating plants and couldn't get to their pellets. They both got upset and frantic from what my mother said, and Typhoon jumped out in the line of fire and was bitten on the neck by Hurricane. Not enough to do any serious damage, but, don't be surprised if the area blisters then peels off. It will have a dark color, since reptile skin does not heal like ours, but, that will eventually go away. Like I said, just keep an eye on it. You do not have to put anything on the area, but if it starts to smell or get darker, take the turtle to a vet as soon as you possibly can.

[steve]

Hopefully there was no injury, so you probably don't need a vet. Do not put other turtles with yours, even for a "visit". It just makes no sense to do so, and they are not an item to be carried around dropped into someone else's tank.

[i.love.res]

@theartbook35> I know that, but his turtle got along with mine just fine, i used to keep mine in his turtles tank,as it took time for my tank to be delivered to my house. And there are no visible wounds as i said before, hes just a little traumatised from the incident i guess.
@Steve>Well you're right about the "not an item to be carried around dropped into someone else's tank." My neighbour brought it over only this one time, as he thought they would get along.