Urgent Care :: ****PLEASE RESPOND QUICK TURTLE SWALLOWED SHARP ROCK ****

[krysten]

I NEED RESPONSES OR ANSWERS AS SOON AS ANYBODY READS THIS. MY TURTLE MAY HAVE SWALLOWED A SHARP PLASTIC PEICE POSSIBLE WITH A NAIL ATTACHED ON IT THAT FELL INTO THE TANK FROM HIS BASKING AREA. HE IS SWIMMING AROUND FINE RIGHT NOW BUT AT ONE POINT WAS OPENING HIS MOUTH REALLY WIDE AND HIS NECK STARTED TO BULGE AND MOVING WITH HIS BREATHS, BUT NOTHING HAPPENED AND IT STOPPED. HE DID IT TWICE ON TWO DIFFERENT INSTANCES AND EACH TIME HE DID IT IT ALMOST LOOKED LIKE HE WAS CHOKING. HES SWIMMING AROUND FINE NOW, BUT IM SCARED TO [----] THAT HES GOING TO BE DEAD WHEN I WAKE UP, ITS 2AM AND I DONT KNOW ANYBODY ELSE THAT I CAN CALL WITH KNOWLEDGE ON THE MATTER PLEASE HELP!!!

[azazeal]

he is trying to regurgitate the plastic, i don't think you can do anything to help, keep an eye on him and hope for the best. good luck and keep us posted

[Diamondbacks4Life]

Are you sure you cant find the piece with the nail. I dont think he would of ate that. IF he did swallow it, it certainally wont kill him over night, it will either pass or become stuck someone where along the way in his body. You would need to find a vert and have an xrzy taken to see if it is in there but i really dont think he would of ate it. It would be something really hard and no taste for the turtle.

[Peva]

That's scary. But as said above, turtles aren't mindless, and only eat actual food. Take some pictures and show us?

[krysten]

Thank you guys for your responses. they're like the things the cable guys nail into the wall to keep your cables neat. basically a U shaped peice of plastic with a nail in it. I was trying to nail eggcrate to an ATBA that i made for them. I did however speak to a Vet last night at about 3 am. ( she charged me 20 dollars to do so) She basically explained to me the same thing, and that I would pretty much have to monitor the little guy closely for a few days, since as i told her, he's acting normal now. The really sad but truthful part is that she explained to me that if it is just a piece of plastic, she would have to do an endoscopy. Between anastesia (sp?) and the actual procedure it would probably cost me close to 1,000 dollars. Now I've bought everything for these two guys between the tanks, the fluval, the right lighting and materials for the ATBA's that i've built, but im scared if this is what im going to have to do because I cannot in any way shape or form afford to pay that. Im keeping my fingers crossed because like Peva and Diamondbacks said, it doesnt make sense that he would have eaten it. If i didnt see him doing that weird thing with his throat as he was opening his mouth really wide I wouldnt even be worrying at ALL. However, does anybody know if that could be anything related to an aggressive action rather than a regurgitating type action?

[marisa]

Check really carefully for that missing piece---it could still be in the tank. From your description, the inflated throat when he's breathing doesn't sound out of the ordinary.

[richieboy]

I wonder what happened here. Too many people leave us hangin'!