General Care Discussion :: Please Help

[wowzersitsnancy]

I got a red eared slider a month ago from the flea market and he is ridiculously small and everyone told me he would die soon but anyways when i first got him the same day i let one of my friends who is 16 hold him she dropped him from about 4 feet high but he landed on a shirt(luckily) but it was pretty high and i think he's having side affects now.
Since I've gotten him I've been feeding him normally and cleaning his water everyday but he isn't eating at all. I also saw something about mucus being bad he has a nose bubble everytime i look at him i guess thats his mucus? and today I went to go feed him and he wouldnt move at all! i put him in my hand and he still didnt move so i thought he was dead then my little brother shook his cage a bit and he moved his leg so he wasn't dead but he isnt moving and im scared hes sick.
help??
what should I do?
How do i know whats wrong with him?

[joeybsmooth]

At this point you can only take him to the vet.

BTW do you have a good set up for him ?

[megcornell]

Can you describe his set up?

What are his basking and water temperatures? Do you have the correct lighting and heating set up?

Without proper temperatures, turtles can easily fall ill. It sounds like your guy has a respiratory infection (RI).

[wowzersitsnancy]

nope when I braught him the lady told me to buy one of her cages and stick a rock in the corner and put him near a window and he'll live so thats what I've been doing I baught him an aquariumy thing and baught a rock to put in the cornor and small rocks so he can get on to the big one since hes about 2 inches tall.

And can I get rid of a respiratory infection myself? or do i have to take him to a vet?

[Rubicon]

If you're going to spend the money taking him to the vet. Then spend the money on the correct type of habitat!

[wowzersitsnancy]

How was I supposed to know he needed so much stuff?
I asked the lady the basics and that's what she told me so I didn't bother to look in to it anymore and now that I do know I still can't get him the stuff he needs because im 16 and literally have less then 2 cents with me so he'll have to stay in the wrong habitat for a bit longer and he's going to the vet for free my neighber is a vet :]

[joeybsmooth]

I ok my friend this is what you can do .

gt your patents to get you a rubbermaid. These things are big and cheap and can hold water. More then likely there should be a lamp some place in your house you can use for a heat lamp. And while he needs one more light and some thing stuff this should be ok for just a lit until you can get something better .

[SpenceMasta]

pets cost money, if you dont have money or generous parents, dont get a pet, hatchlings will rarely survive having a respiratory infection AND basically wallowing in a puddle, find anything big and capable enough to hold a couple gallons of water, fill it with a few inches of water, have spots where the turtle can climb out and dry off and use a desk lamp or anything like that to shine a light on those basking spots, and DO NOT handle him often, reptiles are not animals that enjoy playing with humans, it scares the life out of them

[Bascomb]

wow-ancy -- Money aside your turtle needs help. Keep him in their water and don't take him out so much. They get cold quickly and that will add to the RI he probably has. Raise the water temp to 80 degrees and keep the water clean. When changing the water put him in another container that is the same temp as the tank water. If this condition continues you will need to get him to a herp vet. for treatment. Turtels are great pets but do need care. Good Luck! b.

[grem89]

get a job! haha but yeah get that turt in better conditions asap

[JELslider]

Don't feel bad... I didn't know what my turtle needed either until my RES got an RI and died. At the time I had two. They weren't mine, they were my roommate's and she neglected them so bad that I told her I was taking over ownership. Well the second one died and now all I have is one... she is now spoiled.

Here is what you need to help her:

1. Take her to the vet, cause she won't survive being so young without medical help.
2. Get a UVB lamp & bulb, shine that on her docking area.
3. Get her a docking area, a place for her to climb out of the water and sun herself. (Turtle Dock)
4. A ten gallon tank will be great for any young turtle.
5. Get a filter so you don't have to take her out of the water so much to change her water. If she is sick, she doesn't like to be handled, and it just freaks her out! Keeping everything the same is best.
6. Get a thermometer, so you can always know the temperature in the water... for an RI you should bring it up to 80 degrees. Keep her warm.
7. Get a water heater to manage the water temperature.

The old lady was right about one thing... put her near a window, they love to look outside.
4.

[wowzersitsnancy]

I put him in the lake :[
My front yard has a man made lake and I saw 3 baby red eared sliders near the mud eating some green stuff so I had my dad put him there while I was in school so I wouldn't cry but now im not sure if I did the right thing? Would he die in the lake? There are no fish well there are but We threw them in there a while back(no they were not my pets they were catfish someone gave to us to eat but we couldn't they were to cutte) so yea would he survive?
oh and I asked the vet he didn't have a respiratory infection nothing was wrong with him he was healthy ^.^
but she said he doesn't like being captive and that whoever sold him to me probbly caught him from the bayou or the lake when he was a baby.

[megcornell]

Honestly, you couldn't have done a worse thing for the turtle. Since he was ill to begin with the sudden temperature change must have been terrible for him not to mention he's less likely to be able to hunt and survive. On top of that, you've exposed everything in your lake to your sick turtle. You wouldn't release a sick dog in the woods, likewise you should never release a sick turtle into a lake. Especially a lake with no food source in it.

It sounds to me like your neighbor-vet told you the turtle was healthy so you wouldn't feel as bad.

If I were you, I'd research pets in the future before buying them. It's unfortunate that things turned out the way they did in this case.

[joeybsmooth]

I hate to agree with megcornell but what you did really did not help. But yeah you should have looked up more information first. But I am really upset with the person that sold it to you and gave you bad information.

[wowzersitsnancy]

I'm reporting her to one of the owners of the flea market because that's animal abuse she just wants to sell the turtles and doesn't care about there well being at all and Megcornell I honestly didn't know putting him in the lake would be bad I asked a few people before I did,they all said it was alright and I was still hesitant but they all told me it would be better for him so I had my dad do it while I was gone If I knew he wouldn't survive I would have never done it.