redearslider.com

My 4cm Love was the first who dared to take food from my hands. I guess I enjoyed that too much that i failed to notice the size of food i gave him. I cut defrosted shrimps into small pieces and fed them, which they greedily gobbled up. I was feeding Fattie when I saw Love opening and closing his mouth, then straining his neck upwards in a look of torment. His neck was stretched out of shape, it actually looked thicker than the head! And he kept gasping for air. I panicked and took him out of the water, thinking he needed some oxygen. He went slack and his head and limbs hung down. My roommate and I kept talking to him, we even tried tilting him head-down in the hope that he would vomit out his food, then the other way round to help his swallowing. Nothing worked. He still looked lifeless and limp.

After some frantic googling (which yielded almost zero results), we decided to forego the "gasping for air"theory and put him back in his water as water helps in his swallowing. The strangest thing happened, Roundie came to him and started nudging him with his nose, in a gentle manner that was really surprising to see, as if telling Love he would be okay. (Fattie on the other hand was more interested in the remaining food left in the tank)

It took Love a good 10minutes of vomitting motions to finally get rid of his first piece of stuck food. I also realized why Roundie kept hovering around his "friend", he gobbled up the vomitus immediately

After another 5minutes of that gagging motion, Love finally got rid of the largest piece of food, which he immediately ate back. In 2 minutes Love was swimming around fighting for food with the other two.

My roommate and I were so relieved we almost cried...


[steve's edit -- poll question deleted]

That must have been awfully scary. I'm glad your little one got it out. Be more careful about the size from now on, those litle turtles will try to eat anything! Also, remember that shrimp are a special treat, don't feed them too much of it.

How frightening! I'm so glad it turned out ok. We do have to watch out for the size of their food - they will gobble down whatever they can get in their mouths.

I once had to hold my RES upside down and shake him like a salt/pepper shaker to get him to release some chicken he had trapped in his throat. You were fortunate your turtle was able to dislodge the food on his own. In addition to the size of the pieces, it would be good ( especially if you're handfeeding) make sure a piece of food has been swallowed before giving another one. It takes a bit longer to feed that way, but there is less chance for a mishap like you described (or worse).