Urgent Care :: help

[ms]

My cousin accidentally doused our turtles in scalding water. One died immediately, one is still alive, but it's eyes are swollen shut and it won't eat. Its limbs and neck are swollen as well. No vets in the area are familiar with red-eared sliders, and I'm not sire what to do. The turtle either lies motionless in the water, or gets very agitated and claws furiously at the walls of its container. I keep cleaning it's container and I have filled it with cool water, to soothe it's burns. I know that sliders will not eat unless they can see their food - so I am trying to find a way to reduce its swelling.

[Kemul]

I'm not sure what's the first aid procedure to administer, but I think you
should make the environment as comfortable as possible.

Water temperature should be around 27 degree Celsius (around 78 degree
Fahrenheit) to make your turtle's metabolism run a little higher than normal
to promote healing. You need a thermometer. Don't put your turtle in too
cool water to avoid shock and lower metabolism.

Basking temperature should be around 30 degree Celsius (around 85 degree
Fahrenheit).

It's fine for a turtle to not eat for several days. Hopefully it'll eat soon or you
can try to hand feed your turtle, it needs the energy to heal.

Perhaps others have more information on how to heal the burn.

[TheComputerGremlin]

I don't think a herp vet will only be able to treat burns, you need to go to any vet to make sure there aren't actual burns that need to be treated. If there are, there is a medicine they can give you to put on the burns over a period of time. The same goes for the eyes.

Never put your turtle in water lower than 76 degrees, even to "soothe", it will immediately drop their metabolism and they will starve to death.

There are some eye drops that are available at commercial pet stores that you may be able to use on the eyes, but I'm not sure exactly what they are used for.

How exactly does one's cousin "accidentally" douse a turtle in scalding water? Were the turtles out of their tank for some reason? Were you adding new water into the tank and it was hot? You should ever only use cold or room temperature water for tank filling, as your hot water heater can have sediment that is stirred up when used and will end up in your tank. So you bypass your hot water heater and use only normal tap water. Then you let your water heater heat up the water to the proper temperature. I'd suggest keeping your cousin away from your animals in the future ...

[bradmeisel]

i'm soo sorry to hear about your loss. If you can take your other litttle guy to the vet. The vet may have good cream to help with any burns.

Good luck and keep us posted.

[steve]

Where are you located? Perhaps you can find a local herp organization or group.

[ms]

Bangalore, India. We already tried vets in the area. Basically, they said they didn't know anything about sliders, and that they couldn't help us. I've returned to putting the injured turtle in room temperature water - I only put it in cooler water for a bit after it was burned - that was the vets' only advice. It still isn't eating, though its swelling as slightly reduced. I'm continuing to clean its tank regularly. I would appreciate any other advice you may have.

[SpotsMama]

If any blisters appear or skin sloughs off, put a little antibiotic salve (the kind you can get at drug stores for people) on a q tip and dab some on the wound(s). Let it soak in for 20 or 30 minutes before returning the turtle to his/her tank. Repeat daily, or more often if the wounds are bad.

Keep the water extra clean. Put a little sea salt or aquarium salt (not table salt) in the water to help keep bacteria levels down. 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons of water is recommended. This will also add electrolytes and aid healing.

For human burn victims, an ointment commonly used is silver sulfadiazine (aka SSD cream or Silvadene). It is an excellent topical antibiotic. It is prescription only in the states. We use it to treat shell infections in our turtles and it is quite effective. Perhaps a vet in your area would prescribe some for you. If so, you can use it just like an other antibiotic ointment on wounds or infected areas.

[ms]

I've put silver sulfadiazine on the turtle, and gone through the whole process you described. I can see its eyes sort of moving/blinking beneath the swollen over skin, but it still isn't eating. I've tried hand feeding but it won't open it's mouth. I think it's getting weaker - does anyone know how long turtles can go without eating? I think once it can see again, it will eat, but I don't know how many days that will take. Meanwhile, I'm keeping its take very clean, and I'm putting silver sulfadiazine on it 2 to 3 times a day. Thanks for all your help.

[SpotsMama]

Poor little guy.

Turtles can go quite awhile without eating. Sometimes they are lost for a couple of weeks without food and seem to come through fine. They can't go forever, however, and how long they can go depends on how fat they were to begin with and how large.

Here are some tips to entice eating.

http://www.redearslider.com/entice_eating.html

Turtles are attracted to certain smells. You should offer him nice smelling things like tuna (packed in water) and shrimp and boiled chicken that you'd normally only offer as treats. Hold the food close to his nose so he can get a good sniff and maybe he'll take a bite. He may not feel like eating, however, until he heals a little better.