General Care Discussion :: Turtle Sick for a while

[eazyegee]

My turtle hasn't eaten for a week and a couple of days. I tried feeding it everything possible, its favorite treats, pellets. It pays no interest. It doesn't swim or bask. All my turtle does is sleep. If I put it in the water away from the dock it takes a couple of seconds to wake up and swim back to the dock. It swims on its side sort of, I had another turtle who swam on its side all the way and was active and ate but died. I took it to the vet a couple weeks back because it was acting like this and the vet said that the turtle was taken away too young from it's environment and probably won't make it. Its still active sort of when I take it out sometimes to let it walk around in a shoebox when I clean the tank. It walks around for a couple of seconds and looks at what's going on. When I let it crawl around on the desk it walks around then rests again. The water temperature is 80 degrees and the basking is 90 degrees. My question is has any of your turtles gone through this and survived?

[eazyegee]

Also I do put it to bask and he used to go back to the dock when I turned the lights off. And earlier this week and last he used to move around the dock area where the water meets alittle.

[iac637]

was the a herp vet?

[eazyegee]

Huh? If you mean if he was a Vet who treated reptiles then yes. I googled for vets around my area who could treat reptiles.

[iac637]

a vet that specializes in reptiles

[eazyegee]

Yeah I guess.

[iac637]

did you ask?

[marisa]

What environment was the vet talking about, the nest that your turtle hatched from? Was this vet one that specializes in turtles and other reptiles? Once a turtle hatches, it's ready to leave the nest (unless there's something physically wrong with it), so I don't really understand what your vet means...

Your turtle has the same symptoms as another one that died? Since they were together, whatever the first turtle had could have been transmitted to the other one. The lethargy, listing to one side in the water and lack of appetite are all symptoms of an RI. It would be good to have your turtle seen by another vet, a herp vet (if the vet that saw him isn't one), who could give you a better idea of what's going on.

You might bump up the water temp a few degrees (82F) and see if this doesn't help.

[iac637]

I wouldn't think that someone that is a herp vet would say that they were taken out of the environment to early.

[eazyegee]

By environment he meant the lake where he lived. And the turtle that died, died months ago. After it died my turtle stayed active for 4 months until now.

[iac637]

Most of these turtles are captive breed, and they wouldn't have to stay in the lake or pond for any amount of time. You need take him to a herp vet in your area

[SpotsMama]

Well, as you already know, your turtle isn't acting right. I've heard of turtles that have survived an illness similar to what you describe but only when they've received antibiotics. I think the advice given above to find a herp vet that knows how to treat our turtle is right on target.

Until you can get him to a vet keep him warm, keep the water very clean, avoid stress, and keep trying to get him to eat. He needs to get some calories in him right now, so it's ok to offer things like a shrimp or some tuna, which would normally only be occasional treats.

Good luck. Keep us posted.

[eazyegee]

Can do^

[iac637]

make sure when you call the vet they work with reptiles

[eazyegee]

OK I raised the water and basking temperature some 5-10 degrees it was active alittle last night and ate some pellets and shrimp. It didn't want to swim to its food it would rather stretch its head or maybe go a few steps to reach it so I had to push the food towards him. It was swimming sort of tilted but not all the way like the other turtle I had. When I woke up this morning to turn on the basking light I already found him up and twisting and turning in the water and flipping around. When he swam I saw bubbles coming out his trail as he swam, I guess it's from open mouth breathing. And when I picked him up I think he yawned or something like that.