General Care Discussion :: General Health/Behavior Questions

[IgNiTe]

So I recently took over the care of 3 baby RES. My parents bought them for my little brother without knowing the responsibility that was needed to take care of them. In other words..they were in [----] care for about..a month. I fed them/switched their water out 2 times a day. They had no filter/heater/basking area/water wasn't deep...1-2 inches. They had no idea how to take care of them. I recently started doing research and took them into my own hands.

I have reason to believe one of them has a RI...lop sided swimming..breathing with it's mouth open...wheezing when breathing.
The closest Herp vet is In Indy(45 Minutes away) Is there anyway I can slowly help it recover?

#2...I went out and purchased as many of the minimum requirements as I could with my current money.
Heater Adequate for a 40 Gal Tak(I have a 10 Gal)
Default Top Fin Filter(not Very good..)
A Zoo-Med Medium Turtle Dock (very big Basking area for their size and for the tank)
I have no Bulbs what so ever...Can I just simply use a house bulb to light the basking area for now?

#3 I've been feeding them ReptoMin Baby About..2-3 Pellets per turtle per day. (Thinking of cutting back to every other day) Is there anything else I should feed them? Or should I switch their diet etc.

#4..As far as adjusting to their new toys (heater/basking/filter/Tank full of water) They seem to stay around the heater...Basically stack ontop of each other and just sit in the corner. Is this because it's new? Or..should I turn it up. Since one of them has a RI(I believe) I have the water temp set to..mid 80's(Did some research)

#5 My next upgrades will be...
-Basking Bulbs (UVA/UVB) I have nothing bought for these so any recommendations will be appreciated.
-Bigger Tank (maybe...seperating them into 3 seperate ones or atleast 2.)
-Better filter
-?????

#6 I do plan on taking these pets seriously since I can't have dogs cats etc. And For some reason I've grown attached to them..So I couldn't stand to see them have practically no care but routine feeding. It gets cold here so..the water was freezing for some time and I started by changing the water more often warming it up little by little. (now it's mid 80's with the heater)

#7 Thanks for reading my wall of text xD. And any help/tips/advice will be GREATLY appreciated.

~Iggy

[Daniel3507]

you could raise the water temp to around 80 but without a trip to the vet i dont think it will recover

a regular household bulb will be fine. just be sure and monitor the basking temp. after that all you need is a uvb bulb and you are set on the lighting

keep feeding them the pellets everyday if they are under 4 inches. if they are 4 inches or larger feed everyother day. only feed how ever much could fit in the head if it were hollow.

they could just be getting used to the new stuff. i would just give them a few days to get adjusted

like i said for the basking bulb since you are going to be using a regular household bulb the only other one you will need is a UVB. most people use an extr-terra 26w 5.0
seperating them isnt a bad idea since aggression is common
looks like your upgrade list is pretty sound

happy to hear that you are going to be taking good care of them. so many turtles are in poor conditions so its always nice to hear about someone doing what they can.

[IgNiTe]

Thanks, Yea I'll probably be visiting petsmart and other stores and make a list of what I need to buy. As far as the vet..still unsure of how I'm going to get my turtle there I can drive their. But Idk the cost of a routine checkup etc. So it might be a while...Anything else I can do to help it it get better? So feeding them pellets daily is good huh? I'll probably feed them separately so they don't fight over food and one doesn't eat all of it xD. But yea I'm really loving the turtles and I'm glad I took over their care

[Daniel3507]

having the water heater will be a big help for the one with RI. im not sure if there is anything else that would help though. someone else though will know for sure. feeding pellets daily is good for the little ones. once they hit the 4 inch mark though you cut back. it usually takes about a year for a properly cared for turtle to reach 4 inches. and if you feed them separately you can insure that they are each getting the right amount and they wont fight over the food so its a good idea to do that

[IgNiTe]

having the water heater will be a big help for the one with RI. im not sure if there is anything else that would help though. someone else though will know for sure. feeding pellets daily is good for the little ones. once they hit the 4 inch mark though you cut back. it usually takes about a year for a properly cared for turtle to reach 4 inches. and if you feed them separately you can insure that they are each getting the right amount and they wont fight over the food so its a good idea to do that

Alright thanks, I'll just make sure to spend 1-2 hours a night feeding them while I research. Thanks for your input a lot. I just wanted to make sure everything I'm doing right now is okay. Any other tips are still appreciated I will track this topic closely .|

EDITED: Also the one I believe to have an RI just sits ontop of the turtle dock...Doesn't really like the water atm.

All the others one kind of...group hug at the water heater and sleep. Normal?

[BullDog]

It is my understanding that a turtle will NOT recover on its own from RI.
45 minutes is not too bad of a drive. I think there is at least 1 member who drives up to 2 hours to his vet.

Check out this link on how to transport a turtle:
http://www.redearslider.com/transportation.html

Give the vet a call and ask them how much it is for a first time visit.

Also, I think it's important that you separate the sick one from the healthy ones. Otherwise you could very likely have 3 sick turtles on your hands. Do this ASAP.
For temporary accommodations, I suggest a rubbermaid storage container. You can usually get them up to 50 gallons in size, and you can set it up like a regular aquarium.

It's great that you've seriously taken over the care of these guys! Good luck

[SpotsMama]

Usually a turtle needs vet administered antibiotics to get over a serious RI. Maybe the vet will let you pay the bill over time, or maybe you could earn some money to pay for it by doing chores or odd jobs.

Until you can get to a vet, keep the sick one warm, very clean and avoid stress (don't pick him up unless you have to). Try to get him to eat - he needs the calories. If he won't eat his regular food it's ok to offer him treats like canned tuna (packed in water) or boiled chicken or shrimp.

And he does need to be kept separate from the others. Keep an eye on the others. Since RI is contageous, they may start showing symptoms and the quicker you can help them the better.

Good luck. I'll keep you all in my thoughts.

[IgNiTe]

Thank you very much , I might be able to make a trip down in a couple weeks but nothing until then. I just got home from being out and the turtle(no name/gender yet) seemed to be doing okay...Swimming around...not lopsided anymore