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Our 5 year old RES passed away a couple of weeks ago, and we were completely at a loss as to why. The only thing the vet found out of the ordinary was that she had a very high calcium level. After scouring this website and forum, we think it may have been a basking light issue. We had no idea the UVB lights needed to be changed out that frequently. My wife thinks it may have been the same light we got when we upgraded her tank about 3 years ago. I feel like such a bad turtle Papa.
The thing we can’t understand is how she seemed to get so sick so suddenly. Should we have noticed any signs if this were the problem

So sorry for your loss. Take care and don't beat yourself up!

im sry for your loss. how often should uvb be changed out?

18" tubes should be changed every six months. They say compacts last a year, I change mine every 8-9 months.

I'd change any fluorescent bulb out at 6 months, 9 months tops for a strong bulb. A MVB lasts a year.

I'm sorry to hear you lost him. Did he have any problem with his shell (lack of Vit D 3, which is converted from UVB rays would have not allowed him to absorb the calcium in his diet) in terms of softness or other abnormality?

If it where only the light issue, I would think there would have been some sign of a problem beforehand. What was your turtle's diet like?

marisa wrote:I'm sorry to hear you lost him. Did he have any problem with his shell (lack of Vit D 3, which is converted from UVB rays would have not allowed him to absorb the calcium in his diet) in terms of softness or other abnormality?

If it where only the light issue, I would think there would have been some sign of a problem beforehand. What was your turtle's diet like?

That's the thing, I never noticed anything wrong with her shell. No discoloration or softness.
Her diet was mainly Reptimin. She would rarely eat green and red leaf I would give her. Most of it she just left in the tank. She did like to nibble on the anacharis I'd put in the tank, but other than that, very little veggies.
Also, I always felt she didn't bask enough, but it was hard to tell. The few times I saw her on her dock, she imidiately jumped off once she saw me, so who knows how long she was up there when we weren't around.
Like I said, it seemed so suddenly. One day my wife pointed out that she seemed to be just floating on top of the water most of the day. The next morning she was on her dock before I even turned her lights on which I'd never seen before. When I got home from work she was still on her dock and had't touched her food. The closest Rep vet open at night was an hour away, and by the time we got there he said she was pretty much unresponsive.

As you referred to her as a she, was there any indication that she was gravid and an egg possibly burst internally? Most deaths are often unexplained. I'm sure you provided her with the best care you could. Don't be too hard on yourself, maybe she just had some bad genes. I'm sorry for your loss ...

TheComputerGremlin wrote:As you referred to her as a she, was there any indication that she was gravid and an egg possibly burst internally? Most deaths are often unexplained. I'm sure you provided her with the best care you could. Don't be too hard on yourself, maybe she just had some bad genes. I'm sorry for your loss ...

Actually, after looking on this site, I asked the vet about that. He said nothing showed up on x-rays.

Sorry for your loss. Did you have her since she was a hatchling? How big was she?

Did the vet do a necropsy? Did he also do a cell count, check for parasites or organ failure?

Sorry for your loss!!!

steve wrote:Sorry for your loss. Did you have her since she was a hatchling? How big was she?

Did the vet do a necropsy? Did he also do a cell count, check for parasites or organ failure?

My wife had rescued her from a girl at her work who had bought her as a hatchling from a street vender in So Cal.
I would say she was about 3 inches long when we got her and close to 8 inches when she died. The vet did mention she seemed big for her age.
I don’t think a necropsy was done. Vet said red blood cell count was low, at 17 when it should be 28 to 33 and that protein and calcium levels were high. He said no parasites or infection, nothing contagious. Mentioned possible neurological disorder.
The more I read on this site, I’m thinking it was probably a combination of things. Lack of UVB and veggies, possibly overfeeding?
Man, I really wish I would have known about this site years ago. The little details, especially here in the forums, would have been so helpful.

What was your turtle's diet like (you didn't say when I asked above). If you overfed your turtle a high protein diet, over the years it could have contributed to a shortened life (excessive protein taxes the organs, particularly the kidneys, and can contribute to renal failure). Or, she could have had some abnormality that took a while to show up. (Or, it could have even been a combination of the two.)

Again, I'm sorry for your loss.

marisa wrote:What was your turtle's diet like (you didn't say when I asked above).

Actually, I did

marisa wrote:What was your turtle's diet like?

Kingpin Gwin wrote:Her diet was mainly Reptimin. She would rarely eat green and red leaf I would give her. Most of it she just left in the tank. She did like to nibble on the anacharis I'd put in the tank, but other than that, very little veggies.

That's why I'm thinking it's a combo of diet and lack of UVB. Probably too much protein and calcium and no way to metabolize it.
Poor turtle

I am so sorry you lost your turtle, it's never easy to lose a pet, especially unexpectedly.
Reptomin is a pretty balanced pellet, I don't think it would kill a turtle to exist mainly on it for life. I mean, it could have been too much protein and that was enough to stress the organs, but I'd lean more towards the fact that your turtle had a genetic predisposition that made the effects worse.
Did her shell have pyramiding? That would be a good way to tell if there was long term over-feeding of proteins involved, and I'd imagine serious shell pyramiding would be paired with serious organ stress from the protein as well.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of things that can impact a turtle's health. You clearly cared about your turtle and gave her the best habitat that you could, I'm so sorry things didn't work out better.