Urgent Care :: My turtle doesn't seem the same! PLEASE HELP!

[izziepop07]

Our turtle who is about 5-6 in. is usually a very active turtle, she comes to us when we come up to the tank, and always "holds our finger" when we put our hand in the tank. She usually eats like crazy and swims vigorously, and usually never basks when we are in the room.

Recently she has begun to bask a lot, in front of us, and she sleeps A LOT. And when we stick our fingers/hand in the tank or even just walk up to the tank she doesn't get excited the way she used to.

Her shell and belly are normal color, her eyes are not puffy, she has pooped, water temp is on average 75-80....I just don't know what it could be, unless she is just tired!

Any help would be nice! We our new RES parents and are nervous that we should take her to a VET or something!?????

[octpusgirl8]

How long has she been acting like this? It doesn't sound normal. Does her breathing sound louder than normal when she's out basking? Does she eat? How long has this been going on? It might be a good idea to take her in to the vet, if she's sick it's best to take care of it sooner rather than later.

[izziepop07]

She has been acting like this for about 2 days. Her breathing is the same, she hasn't been gasping and she is breathing threw her nose like normal, she eats like normal, and she eats everything we give her. And she basks under water, with her back legs out and her front legs in, and she basks out of water as well.

[octpusgirl8]

Is there anything different in her life lately? A new food or anything? I've heard of turtles acting sluggish for a couple of days after eating too many hard to digest veggies.

[izziepop07]

We just recently introduced her to cuttlebone for calcium. But other then that we've been feeding her the same diet that we usually do.

[industrial_girl_2000]

How much of the cuttle did she eat?

[Poopie's Mama]

Hi - I am experiencing the same thing with my RES also after I introduced a cuttle bone for the first time. My RES has been basking excessively (up to four hours without going back in the water). He seems to be falling into a DEEP sleep while basking - nothing seems to startle him. He even slept on his dock last night which really concerned me. I cleaned his whole tank this morning hoping that might help. My RES is about 6.5" long by 4.5" wide and 2.5" high. I found him on my lawn last about 9 months ago. My RES only nibbled on the sides of his cuttlebone, but I'm tossing it just to be safe! There's no way I can afford a vet visit, so I'm just going to do eveything I can think of and hope for the best. I hope your turtle recovers too!

[izziepop07]

We usually just break off pieces and drop it in, and she eats all of what we put in her tank. Maybe she just doesn't digest it properly. I won't give her anymore. I've called places in my area that treat turtles and plan on taking my turtle if she is not better tomorrow morning. Do you really think that the cuttlebone could be the source?

[grey goose]

Did you remember to peel off the hard backing on the cuttlebone? I've never heard of a turtle getting impacted from it (the hard backing) but I'm sure it would be hard for them to digest.
If you did take it off, I doubt very much cuttlebone is the problem. If they are just a little lethargic, but still eating and swimming, it may just be the change of seasons or they got a chill from too cool water or the tank is in a drafty spot. Try bumping the tank temps up to 80F (82F max). Make sure the basking area is around 90F. What is the room temps? If it is below 70F, try covering the top of the tank to hold in the warm air but don't cover the basking area.

[izziepop07]

We didn't know about the backing on the cuttlebone, but we crumbled all of the pieces into small pieces. She eats a few bites of food if you put it in front of her, and she has times of swimming back and forth like somewhat normal, but then she'll get really tired and lethargic like. We are changing her water in a few minutes, and I am setting up an appointment with the doctor by us, that we got from the site, for hopefully tomorrow!

[octpusgirl8]

Good luck, let us know how it goes!

[izziepop07]

I will keep you posted on how it goes!

[izziepop07]

Alright, so last night we changed the water in her tank, and added a heater to make it warmer in there for her. We also saw when she came up to the surface of the water she didn't gasp with her mouth open, but she was breathing very heavily through her nose, and a brown looking goo came out of her nose that I think was a mucus, so I've made an appointment at the Herp vet in my area at 3:30 this afternoon! I've read about traveling care and will transfer her like the website says. I will keep you all posted on her progress!

Thank you all for your prompt help, you really helped me understand what to do and to not to panic.

[izziepop07]

Ok, just got back from the vet. He took a culture of the inside of her mouth to check for ulsers, because he said that could explain the brown [-----] coming out of her nose. Also, he said that if she has an infection it is in the early stages. So she got a Vitamin B injection as well, because she hasn't eaten any veggies or anything, because we just learned the proper eating habits for the turtles. I felt so bad when he gave her the injections!! :'( We go back on Friday to check and see how the antibiotics are taking. Thats how it's going for now!

[steve]

I'm sorry she's sick

You did great by acting quickly, let us know how she's doing!