I took over care for two res turtles in July when my mother realized she could not keep up with the demands of caring for them. One died within the first week and the store replace it with 2 more. I found one of the newer ones dead on its back on the basking platform one morning about a month later. The two that were left have done fantastic together. They play, bask together, and even help each other hunting the feeder guppies in their tank. But, the oldest one which is about 2 1/2 inches began to stop eating very much about a week ago. Then I noticed that it spends almost all day on the backing platform. I rarely see it enter the water. The drastic change in activity and eating worried me but I wanted to watch and be patient. I clean the tank once a week, have a 501 filter, a UV light, and a heat lamp. Then yesterday, the bulb went out in the heat lamp and the temp of the water seemed a little cooler than usual. The RES would not hardly move except to stretch its neck out. It seemed to be trying to find some sun. It is starting to get cooler here and the weather has been pretty chilly for the past week, so I wondered if that was part of the problem, how cold does it have to get for them to begin the hibernation process? None of the local stores carry any heat bulbs so I had to wait until today to go to town (45 minutes away) to buy a replacement. But I was really concerned last night so, I put "her" into the water to see if she could still swim straight, I wanted to rule out a resp. infection. She swam fine but went right back to her basking platform and stopped moving again. When she was in the water I noticed some white translucent film under her chin and I wiped it away. It felt like slime or fungus.
When I got the heat bulb today from the pet store the employee helped me pick out a proper submersible heater and a standing thermometer so that I could make sure that the water stayed at about 78 degrees. She told me that the slimy stuff under the turtles chin most likely meant that it was starting the shedding process for its shell. (The shell has been sort of dry looking lately, but I had assume this was because of it staying out of the water so much. She advised a Vita Shell nutrient and told me to swab or massage it onto the shell and that it would help replace nutrients that are lost in the shedding process.
I recleaned the tank after arriving home, I massaged the Vita Shell onto her shell (which she seemed to really enjoy, she almost instantly stretched out her neck and legs and almost crooned the neck in and out as I rubbed the ointment in circular motion over the scales of the shell). It was the most activity I had seen from her in a couple of weeks. I placed the heater in the tank and made sure the water was above 76 before I put her back on her basking platform.
She stretched out under the lamp immediately. Then a couple minutes later she started making a strange movement with her mouth, arms and neck. If it had been a child opening its mouth wide and closing it again at the same time as the neck and upper arms jutted forward, I would have thought they were going to vomit or cough. But, nothing came out of the mouth and there was no noise either. I kept watching and it kept happening every 20-30 seconds which made me wonder if it was more like a hiccup? The neck was tensing and releasing like my neck would if my esophagus spasmed. But again there was no noise. This continued for a good 10 minutes off and on. Then she lifted her head and ran and dove into the tank. That was the first time she had entered the water voluntarily in almost a week! She swam a bit then went to lay half submerged on another rock formation they have in the tank. I watched to see if she looked ok and she was still doing the weird hiccup thing. I decided I was probably being paranoid until I just went to check on them before I went to bed and she is back on her basking platform and still making the hiccup motion! What could it be? I am really worried that there is more wrong with her than just the shedding. She seems to be happier but the muscle spasm thing worried me. Any ideas? I live in a pretty remote spot and I do not have a vet available to me within about an hour and a half drive. Help Please!
