General Care Discussion :: help!!!!!!!!need ideas

[sean rose]

my baby is fighting a ri at the moment the doctor gave me antibiotics to feed him its a liquid whats the best way to get him to eat it ive been trying for 30mins now with the syring or whatever but he wont take can any one help me?

[WyredHardware]

I have heard of some harassing the turtle until it gets mad and tries to bite. Then you slip it the meds.

[sean rose]

ive been at "harrasing" the turt for 50 minutes no avail

[Tenodera]

How are you harassing him? Do you poke at his face with the syringe?

[WyredHardware]

hmm.. sorry I got nothing.

[sean rose]

yess

[Tenodera]

I've heard of someone injecting the meds into a worm and then feeding the worm to the turtle

[sean rose]

still no avail

[Tenodera]

how is that not working?

[sean rose]

he doesnt nip at it he just hides in his shell i feel so bad hes so small
and im this big guy just poking him in the face with a plastic stick

[Tenodera]

Welll think about it...if he doesn't get better, he'll die.

Keep on trying. Eventually he'll get annoyed and snap

Have you tried injecting a worm with the meds and leaving him in his tank with the worm alone so he can eat it?

[WyredHardware]

Or taking a pice of shrimp (and super tasty turtle food) wave it in front of the turtle.... wait for it to take a bite..

[KalinaBallerina]

In the past, the vet showed me how to use the curved end of a paperclip to hook on the end of the beak - this really irritates them unfortunately - but it will make him/her open his/her mouth. You then turn the paperclip vertically to "prop" the mouth open - this makes it easier to slip the syringe in. HTH!

[WyredHardware]

ouch... what about doing the same thing with something softer.. something made out of plastic... I would be worried about impaling the turtle

[SpotsMama]

How about injecting the medicine in a piece of shrimp or a piece of an earthworm and letting your turtle eat that?

If you've been working on him for an hour, he's probably worn out. Maybe you should let him rest for awhile. If you're going to try injecting the meds into a tasty treat, and your turtle's rather skittish and scared of people, you'll have to give him some privacy to eat.