Urgent Care :: Orange Liquid???

[Kazari24]

I came home today and my turtle was on his rock as always. I noticed he had some kind of liquid on the side of his mouth. I wiped it off and it looked sort of light orangish and it was sticky in a way and it had a smell to it. Did he throw up or something??

[flutterby]

Has he eaten any carrots or other fruits/veggies with that color?

[Kazari24]

No..not really. Just shrimp but not much s hrimp and the pellets diluted. He hardly eats lately. It could have been the light on my finger to make it look orangish. but it just smelled weird.

[industrial_girl_2000]

Are there any other symptoms? I noticed you said he hardly eats lately. How warm is his water temp? Have you tried offering him any other foods besides shrimp (veggies or fruits?)? Just feeding him shrimp isn't the most nutritious thing on the planet. What kind of pellets do you give him?

Turtles can throw up. My personal experience with them is when they eat too much, they can throw up. They don't know their limits with food sometimes ("eyes are bigger than the stomach"). But in your case that doesn't sound like the problem if he isn't eating much.

[Kazari24]

well i was force feeding him pellets, he may have eaten too much. I try to only give about 4-5 does before instead of 8 so i have been backing off but when i put him in the water afterwards, he eats on shrimp too. He wont touch the pellets so i have been crushing them into a fine powder and putting water in it to make it a solution so he can get his calcium. So hopefully backing off some will be okay for him. He didn't look sick after that. He ate a lot last night too but that's good since he hasn't been eating anything lately. who knows..maybe he was just not feeling well lol. I have to give him this solution too with the pellets .

[industrial_girl_2000]

well i was force feeding him pellets, he may have eaten too much. I try to only give about 4-5 does before instead of 8 so i have been backing off but when i put him in the water afterwards, he eats on shrimp too. He wont touch the pellets so i have been crushing them into a fine powder and putting water in it to make it a solution so he can get his calcium. So hopefully backing off some will be okay for him. He didn't look sick after that. He ate a lot last night too but that's good since he hasn't been eating anything lately. who knows..maybe he was just not feeling well lol. I have to give him this solution too with the pellets .

Try the Tetra Reptomin foodsticks. Many finicky turtles like those for some reason (probably because they look like thin long worms).

If you need calcium, you can also allow one of those fish-shaped or turtle-shaped water neutralizers (it's just a block of calcium you throw in the water & it dissolves....the fish-shaped ones are cheaper). I have been using these for years & have never had a problem with soft-shell.

[Kazari24]

Yeah I have a calcium bone to put in the water. He use to nibble on it but since he hasn't been getting into the water lately I haven't been using it. I am trying to wait til he gets back in the water more to use that again. I have the reptomin foodsticks for babies and the one that comes in a variety pack with shrimp and krill.