General Care Discussion :: what is the main cause of turtle geting sick?

[Wildcoyote]

I just was reding the topic about urgent care i feel realy sorry for
all the sick turtles out there.
I hope that my turtle never gets sick.
And so here's my question....

what is the main cause of turtles geting sick?
and how do turtles get Abscess?

[N4784N R4613]

I would have to say the main causes are, dirty water (and all around habitat), and temperature fluctuations. And I have no idea about the abscess.

[pumpkinsherbet]

do you think stress could cause it too? i keep my habitat clean, do regular testing and water changes. and the temps haven't fluctuated at all.

[SpotsMama]

Another principal cause of illness is exposure to a sick turtle. Lots of the little turtles come from poor habitats where a lot of them are crowded together, and when one gets sick he spreads it to everyone else. Then, someone buys the cute little turtle, not realizing that he's been infected because they don't show symptoms right away.

And yes, stress will weaken the immune system and make it harder for them to fight off illness if they are exposed to it. Same thing happens to people, but I think to a lessor extent.

[Starchick]

Main cause? Uneducated owners. Any given part of a turtle's needs that isn't met can lead to some kind of illness, so make sure you know the basics! Redearslider.com has pretty much everything you need to know to create a proper environment for your turtle. The most common problems I've seen since being on this board have been respiratory infections, shell rot, pyramiding and soft shells. As all the other replies have mentioned, have a heater in the tank and watch to make sure it's maintaining the proper temperature ALL the time, make sure you have both a heat lamp and a UVB lamp, feed the proper diet and provide calcium and any other necessary supplements, and keep your tank clean, keeping an eye on water quality (ph, ammonia, nitrate, nitrite). It's a lot of information to absorb, it definitely took me a while to get Napoleon's house up to par, but those are all things that you need to pay close attention to in order to avoid the most common problems. Good luck, and please feel free to ask more questions, this board has been a total lifesaver for me and my turtles. And if you haven't, be sure to read through the main pages of redearslider.com, there's so much great information there.

[DavidY]

I think baby animals in general can be a real challenge for anyone. Their small size and initial weakness make them very sensitive to any kinds of fluctuations or changes in their environment. Stress and other factors give pathogens like viruses, parasites and bacteria, the upper hand against the baby.

Also, not all babies will survive to adulthood. That's why reptiles have so many offspring, since usually only one or two out of an entire clutch will survive the first few weeks. Buying hatchlings can be fun because they are so cute, but keeping them healthy can be a challenge even with our best efforts to provide them a clean healthy environment. The older they get, the better their chances of survival are.

[pumpkinsherbet]

oooooooooooooooh,

do you think it could've been caused by something he ate? i went to change his water this morning and there were little green leafy bits in it. the last thing he ate was radish leaves a week ago. if they had gone just slightly bad and he ate them could that have made him sick?

[xsavingsaturdayx]

I doubt it was something he ate, but i still wonder how in the world he got a RI, since you have all the right equipment and you take care of him and aeryn realy well. He shouldnt have gotten it. The water in the tank, has it been a constant temperature lately? (before he got sick)

[pumpkinsherbet]

yeah everything's constant, but the dr. didn't say RI, he just said bacteria. john's shown virtually no difficulty breathing. the only factors that have really changed in the house are the stress - me being more tense than usual and the fact that the cat has been pushing her luck when it comes to hanging around the tank. then there's the new basking spot, but i don't see what kind of damage that could do. it actually provides more space and heat for them than the basking dock did.

[xsavingsaturdayx]

Oh okay, i thought the Doctor diagnosed RI. Hm, did you ask how john may have gotten it?

[pumpkinsherbet]

no i sure didn't, but i can go back to the vet tomorrow and ask if it's maybe something to consider... ? i know people get sick if they eat something bad, maybe turtles can too? a week seems like a long time for the tummy to hang on to food, but i don't know the ins and outs of turtle digestion.

[xsavingsaturdayx]

You can alway's call and ask instead of going all the way up there. I dont know if food can make a turtle sick, it's an interesting question though. I would like to know.

[pumpkinsherbet]

well i lucked out on veterinary location, it's actually walking distance from my house so i don't mind going up myself. i will let you know what i'm told, though. definitely.

[DavidY]

oooooooooooooooh,

do you think it could've been caused by something he ate? i went to change his water this morning and there were little green leafy bits in it. the last thing he ate was radish leaves a week ago. if they had gone just slightly bad and he ate them could that have made him sick?

Do you mean the leaf bits came from him? And they were undigested? That's odd. Definitely worth mentioning to the vet. Reptiles are cold blooded so their digestion is related to the temperatures available to them. That's one of the reasons a good warm basking area is needed. I know that snakes can take several days or even weeks to digest their meals, but they are generally slow moving animals. Lizards and turtles have faster metabolisms and seem to digest their meals during the day. So for John to be passing undigested food a week after eating them is unusual IMO, but I'm still learning about turtles myself so I'm no expert. Seems reasonable that it would be a result of his bacterial infection though.

One of the things I've learned about lizards is to not feed them too close to when the lights go out (like within 2 hours before lights out) since the food in their stomachs will not have a chance to finish digesting and it could start to rot giving them an upset stomach.

Also, human doctors warn that overstuffing yourself during a meal will reduce the concentration of stomach acids allowing pathogens (such as parasites, bacteria, viruses, etc), if present, to survive the digestion process and infect the host. Such pathogens often are found in raw vegetables and lettuce (and live insects and fish, usually only wild caught ones though).

Things to consider when feeding our turtles too, I guess.