Urgent Care :: I think my turtle has RI?

[maymay]

I've had my 1 inch turtle for almost a month. In the beginning he was fine. I have everything I could possible need for him. Everything with basking, tank size, heater, temperatures, food enticing....

So here are some of the things i have noticed:
-From what I noticed within the past few days to a week, is that his eyes are closed a lot of the times (I guess he's sleeping).
-He stays in one corner most of the times.
-When i try to move something in the tank to check on him, he'll SLOWLY open his eyes. He doesn't do this all the time though. At times he'll open his eyes quick.
-I see bubbles at his nose. Sometimes 1, sometimes 2. The bubbles seem to stay there for a while compared to my other turtle when he has a bubble that goes away faster. (At this moment there isn't any, but i'll probably see it later on in the day)
-I believe he is open mouth breathing. Not every now and then, but breathing almost every 2-4 seconds. (Sometimes not)
-He basks fine.
-He isn't eating. (I entice with boiled chicken, tuna water, boiled egg, shrimp...doesn't eat any of it)
-Nothing wrong with his eyes (not puffy or swollen) or anything physical that I see.

From what i've been reading in other forums, it could be RI. Is there any home remedy? Or anything I could buy from the pet store? Or a vet is the only way to go. By the way, how much does it cost for you to go to a vet?

Thanks!

[marisa]

The open-mouth and bubbles are when he's in the water or when he's basking? His behavior is markedly different than when you got him?

The lethargy and lack of appetite in themselves sound like something isn't right, and you could be seeing the start of an RI. What are the temps of the water and basking area?

As a precaution, I'd increase the temps, about 82F for the water and low 90's for the basking area. If it is an early stage of RI, it sometimes can be knocked out of the system with the added warmth. The lack of appetite is not an encouraging sign, though. If your turtle still doesn't eat and become more active with the added warmth, it would be good to take him to a herp vet (good to start looking now--there's a sticky with links if you don't know of one near you). Let us know how he does.

[maymay]

The open-mouth and bubbles are when he's in the water. And the only behavior that he had in the beginning was that he didn't eat as much, but still did eat a little.

The temp of the water is 75 and the basking is 85.

So it sounds like it could be a sign of RI then? Well I'll try to raise the warmth. Hopefully it'll work.

[steve]

How much would he eat? Right now, my male RES will only eat tuna meat and it's pretty frustrating,

[diyabolo]

We're dealing with RI in a baby right now as well, and I think the open mouth underwater and bubbles are your turtle trying to clear out mucus. I would immediately do as marisa said. Separate him if he's with any others, raise the temps, and even cover the tank to keep it humid inside if possible. Be patient, as you might have to keep things that way for days or even weeks before improvement. You don't want it to get worse. He's probably too young for a shot, and giving oral antibiotics is a nightmare.

Steve, we had almost the same problem, a RES who would only eat tuna and krill for 2 years. We finally broke it by crushing pellets and mixing them with tuna and feeding it on a plastic spoon so it doesn't come apart in the water. Start with a tiny amount of pellet and gradually raise the proportion until it's mostly pellet and a little tuna. After only a week of that ours was eating solid pellets, and now he loves them.

[steve]

His current tuna fixation has more do to the color... for instance he'll also go for cuttlebone. Pellets soaked in tuna water had no appeal and he's very paitent in getting what he wants.

[staman]

I agree with diyabolo about the bubbles. When you see a turtle with bubbles stuck to its nose or mouth its almost definately mucus. And we all know what mucus is for: to defend/defeat infection. Raise the water temp to 82 ,basking to 93-94 and keep his as dry and as warm as possible... Keep a real close eye on him...

[staman]

Forgot to add this: Steve im also having a tuna related problem with one of my baby RES. I have 2 turts, the professor and emerald. The prof is the type of turt that runs around the tank all day--eats anything he gets his hands on, always happy etc.. Then theres emerald *sigh*. She refused to eat anything except my aquatic plants for over two weeks. Tried shrimp,chicken,boiled egg, pellets, everything soaked in tuna water with no success. Then one day i said ah hell im just gonna put a whole hunk of tuna in the water. I came back 5 minutes later and emerald has her face burried in the stuff just gobbling it. Even pushes the prof out of the way for the scraps. Im worried its gonna be her crack cocaine....Dont have the heart to sto pfeeding it to her though

[diyabolo]

Steve, give it a try anyway. We were in the same place and never dreamed he would start eating pellets. And he also wasn't fooled for a second by soaking. Tuna with a tiny amount of pellet will still be the right color. Be sure to feed it by hand or spoon so it doesn't just dissolve in the water. Just getting him to ingest some pellet and begin to recognize the taste and smell as something edible is more than half the battle. Just be patient and raise the pellet/tuna ratio slowly. Eventually he should start to get the two confused.

[maymay]

Just an update....my turtle is doing great.....he wasn't eating at all, and sleeping all the time, and now he wants to eat all the time! Raising the basking temp, and the water temp helped a lot!

[marisa]

Good to hear! Per your other post, what's the temp of the basking area and water now? (You wondered if he was getting burned.)