Urgent Care :: drowning and pnuemonia.

[roudav24]

I woke up this morning to find my baby map turtle and yellow slider wedged under water behind my new rock display not moving. I assumed they were dead after spending a few seconds looking at them. My first step was to remove them from the tank and miraculously they both woke up. The map turtle recovered in minutes but the slider has been very ill all day. It was the afternoon by the time he had his first swim and it is only recently that he has been looking his usual self. The reason why I am posting in urgent care is because in my research I have discovered that even though he may look well he has a high chance of developing pnuemonia as a result of his ordeal. Can anybody tell me how long pnuemonia takes to set in after such an incedent and exactly what I do about it?

[kachua-love]

Hi, you can never really tell when the pneumonia will set in, the turtle will appear to be healthy and suddenly you will see symptoms... They are very tricky that way . You can prevent it though by keeping temperatures proper, i.e. 75-78F water and 90-95F basking, the higher land temperature entices them to bask. Keep them away from drafts and cold air and hopefully there won't be a problem. If it shows signs of pneumonia bump up the temperatures a bit for a while.

[TammiT]

Well I sadly had one of my turtles drown about a week ago. He has a bad habbit of bitting at the screen that covers the intake on the filter. Well to make a long story short it was fine when I left on Sunday morning and when I returned his hind leg was stuck in it and who knows how long he was there. Did CPR he started breathing took more then 3 hrs in a dry box under a heating lamp to recover. I called a vet friend of mine about getting some antibiotics to prevent the respirtory issues and she said she was leary about treating without symptoms to just watch him. I bumped the temps up to 78-79 and so far all is well.

Good luck with your little guys.

[steve]

Meanwhile see what you can do about preventing another incident. Remove decorations too small for them and adjusting or hacking filters intakes to prevent it again.