Urgent Care

Last edited by Leo&Donny on Sat May 25, 2013 12:21 am, edited 1 time in total.

How big is your turtle? 2inches How long have you had it? 2weeks now

What is the water temperature? 80 degrees fahrenheit Did you use a thermometer? Yes Are you using a water heater? Yes How much water is in there? About 7 inches deep Are you using a water conditioner? Yes flukers water cleaner and reptisafe Are you using any filtration? Yes a submerged filter aqueon quiet flow model AT40

What is the basking temperature? 88 degrees fahrenheit Is there a basking light? Yes there is Is there a basking platform that is easy to climb on? Yes a basking ramp What kind is it or what is it made out of? It's a wood replica from petsmart Is there a UVB light? Yes there is

What have you been trying to feed it? Yes Leo eats all the time, but Donny has not eaten since we've got him.

When was the last time your turtle ate? He has yet to eat from my knowledge

How big is the tank/pond/enclosure? Leo and Donny are in a 40 gallon tank Is the tank near a window? No it is away from the window Is the tank in a room with a lot of activity? No there is not much activity

Have you read the Basic Care section? Yes Have you searched the forums for similar situations? Yes and I am afraid what is wrong with him

Is there any other unusual activity/symptoms? Yes there is what seems to be a small cut or hole in donnys left ear, SEE PIC BELOW.

My main purpose for this post is to get any nee information on why baby hatchings do not eat. My baby yellow belly Donny is and has not eaten since we received him from Turtle Shack (we bought him and his brother Leo a red eared slider together). I really want some advice and should I take him to the vet. We are located in the bay area, I did call a reptile vet and they said it would cost roughly 100-400 dollars which is quite expensive. I want to know if this is a major concern. Well, I have been trying to feed Donny his hatchling formula from zoo med which are tiny pellets. Leo our red ear has a HUGE appetite as he is always eating his dinner but, Donny doesn't bother to touch his pellets. I even tried feeding him flukers medley treats which contain died shrimp, dried worms, and dried crickets but, still no response....I'm really worried please help.

First, NEVER buy a turtle from Turtle Shack. I have yet to read a positive review about them.

Second, this happened to me, too. (I didn't buy a turtle from Turtle Shack, but I rescued (another) one from it's previous owner). Anyways, she (Bubbles) didn't eat anything for roughly, I'd say two weeks, too. So I rushed to WalMart (no reptile store around here), and bought some water conditioner and some turtle snacks. What these snacks were, were just dried shrimp. So I added the water conditioner to her tank, and by the next day she was eating the dried shrimp. She still wouldn't eat turtle pellets, though. So I continued feeding her the shrimp snacks, and after about 3-4 days she ate some turtle pellets. Now, her staple is ReptoMin turtle pellets with veggies every now and then.

So, my suggestion is, try feeding her something "enticing." Give her something so good, she won't be able to refuse it. Examples are, the dried shrimp snacks or cooked pork (every one of my turtle just DEVOURED this

).

Another suggestion is to separate the turtles (completely, or for eating). You see, turtles could act as... bullies. This is what Delilah did with Bubbles, and is the reason I had to completely separate them.

So try separating them and give cooked pork or dried shrimp snacks.

Also, where is the picture??? And are there any other unusual spots on her carapace or plastron (upper or lower shell)? If they have some kind of fungi infection, it could alter their diet habits (white spots, bulges, etc.). Another thing, does she bask? Basking encourages activity, and therefore encourage eating.

Is Donny active? If he's acting normal, then keep them together but feed separately. You will have to take Leo out during feeding, and he will probably be fine in a separate feeding container. Feed Donny in his tank, and don't handle him too much in general.

Live prey works well... pick up some feeder minnows. Hold it by the tail, let it wiggle in front of his face and hopefully he makes it a quick meal.

Donny is swimming and basking but he is still not eating. I do feed Donny and Leo in separate containers. It seems like Donny does not happen to have an appetite at all. Today, I went out and bought some frozen blood worms and Leo seemed to love em lol. Unfortunately Donny didn't even approach the worms...I'm leaving him in there for 30 min more as I'm writing this...hopefully he'll atleast take one. I am going to upload the images as soon as I figure out how to upload them. Donny is still scheduled to see his vet this Sat. I pray that he will be ok.

P.s. Also, I forgot to mention that donnys shell is kind of soft compared to Leo's....Donny upper shell seems to be way to soft and flexible, is this because of vitamin A deficiency?? Thank you all for your responses I greatly appreciate it!

I have a lil good news Donny finally ate 3 little blood worms!!! I'm so proud of him

I noticed that he only started to move around and finally took a bite when I moved his feeding bowl right beneath the heat lamp. I believe that the water got too cold when I placed him in his feeding bowl. I am probably going to have to keep him right under the heat lamp when its dinner time.

Great to hear! Though leave Donny in the main tank to feed. He might need more adjustment time and moving him around would not help.

Ok will do. Also is it normal for turtles to float at the top of the water? It kind of scares me.

They don't do it most of the time, but they do it easily when they want to... even the bigger RES.

Ok thank you Steve, you are of GREAT help!

Here are the pics of Donny's hole in the left

I am sorry to have to say that our baby yellow belly slider Donny has passed today around 5:00 pm I am going to miss that lil guy. We tried everything possible to give him the best chance for survival. This morning we took him to a herp vet and his Dr. had said that he was very ill and maybe had some type of abscess infection. We went ahead and preceded with an injection of antibiotics. I believe the injection was a 50/50, and obviously it was too late! I feel so bad....I want to tell everyone on here PLEASE be careful where you purchase your turtles. We bought ours on turtleshack [not reputable] [not reputable].com and poor lil Donny seemed like he had a bad start in life and probably wasn't cared for properly initially from birth. As soon as we received him, he was very lethargic and didn't eat up until 10 days later after receiving him. On the other hand his brother Leo was very active and full of energy. I don't want to come off sounding ignorant, but I can't help to think that may be turtleshack [not reputable] [not reputable] balanced out our turtles by giving us a sick and healthy one...R.I.P. to my lil boy Donatello aka Donny :mrgreen:

I'm going to miss you :oops:

Sorry to hear it. It's a little unusual to have an ear abscess that young, I could only guess they were bred in poor conditions.

Urgent Care :: Please HELP...baby yellow belly not eating & HOLE IN EAR!!

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