General Care Discussion :: My Turtles Tail!

[MOzaker]

HI..I just registered..I know I should introduced myself..but this is kinda urgent.

My Turtle use to have a tail..but now its not there..

As you can see here..She had a tail..



But now its gone..here are some pictures..







She is still able to poop..Should I be panicking? I dont know any vets where Iam living!

[steve]

As long as the cloaca is intact and she can poop, it's OK. Make sure she is kept alone, away from other turtles. You might want to apply an antibiotic ointment on that area and dry dock her to help with the healing.

[MOzaker]

Phew!
She is the only Turtle in the tank..there are fishes tho. should I keep her away from them?
Antibiotic ointment...will I get this from a pet shop?
She does dry on the dock but it doesn't seem to be healing much.

Is this normal, does this happen often? with the tail?

Forgive me for asking so many questions.

[Diamondbacks4Life]

Like neosporin or something like that for human use you put on the tail. No it is not normal. I find hard to believe a fish could do that. Might of got it caught on something somehow. Just watch for healing and infection and turtle will be fine.

[steve]

Keep the fish away, keep everything as clean as possible. For dry docking, do it for a majority of the day. It should help speed up the healing process.

Does it happen often? No, but it can in crowded tanks or if they're mixed in with larger turtles. It won't grow back, but how did this happen? How long ago?

[MOzaker]

Ok..

It wont grow back? ever? I have no idea how it happened..I think I noticed it four days ago, but it wasn't as short as it is now.

So..
1. Keep away from other tank mates.
2. Dry docking most of the day.
3. Keep everything clean.
and
4. apply Antibiotic ointment.

right?

[Wasabi]

I would really inspect what might have caused it. You might have some sort of unanticipated danger in the tank... since I doubt your little guy could bite his own tail. Something had to have caused it.

[michaelg]

Wow, what type of fish do you keep with the turtle? It looks like the tail has been nibbled on. I would definitely remove the fish from the turtle's tank. I would suspect they were taking bites from it, thinking it was a worm perhaps.

-Michael

[MOzaker]

I have alot of fishes but the only ones I suspect are the Cichlids.
I don't think there is anything else that could have caused it.
I'll be keeping an eye on them.
Thank you all for your help.