Urgent Care :: It's me needing tons of help

[turtledudee]

all of the vets in TX are right here.

http://www.arav.org/Members/TX.htm

[carmat]

and I live about 2 + hours away from them all. There is none close to me at all. And I have church tomorrow, my dh pastors, don't think any of them would look toooo fondly on me missing church to see about turtles.

Anyhoo, I will do my best. It is near freezing rain here so I can't get out tonight to get containers for the turts, will see if I have some tupperware I could spare for the cause tonight to get them seperate from the "well" one...who is not so well either.

[turtledudee]

Whoa 2 hours... dang... i dont know what you could do. What about the "well" one is not so well? Aso, did you feel the hardness/softness of there shells?

(this is my 200th post)
wow, i went for 100- 200 in under 2 months!

[carmat]

I posted on the Q about the pink shells were Donatello and Michaelangelo. Leonardoa was the one I was most coming here for for some answers. He has not been as active lately and not eating either. Then I post pics and all of a sudden the "mood swings" to Dontello and Michaelangelo having the pink spots. I don't know what to do. And he seems to have stopped growing. I got the two littlest ones at the same time so they should be about the same size. (donatello and leonardo) I got Donatello and Leonardo around April.

I did not feel the hardness/softness of their shells. I am pretty wiggy about stuff like that....I may see if dh would do that. He was napping earlier when I measured them.

[SpotsMama]

You probably wouldn't get a vet to see you on Sunday anyway.

[xsavingsaturdayx]

Are you feeding them anything else besides pellets? Red ear sliders need a wide variety of food,my vet told me Red ear sliders sometimes develop those pink spots on theyre plastron because "lack of nutrition,bad water quality,no UVB exposure,execessive growth,or sometimes certain foods like shrimp or carrots can tinge the shell a funky color,or possible septicemia" the cause of my experience was 'lack of nutrition,excessive growth,little UVB exposure' i quickly changed all that though and they seem to be fine the pink color is barely theyre now.

[turtledudee]

well, leonardo might have somekind of winter mode like my turles, eat about 3 pellets per 4 days, sleep, poop, swim, bask. Or he might have MBD if hes not active at all.

[da sAUCE!]

turtledude has the best advice. what part of houston, dude? im from NW, out in cypress.

[turtledudee]

WHOA! im in the NW, in the 1960 area, but technically im in Houston.(according to annex plans.)

[carmat]

Are you feeding them anything else besides pellets? Red ear sliders need a wide variety of food,my vet told me Red ear sliders sometimes develop those pink spots on theyre plastron because "lack of nutrition,bad water quality,no UVB exposure,execessive growth,or sometimes certain foods like shrimp or carrots can tinge the shell a funky color,or possible septicemia" the cause of my experience was 'lack of nutrition,excessive growth,little UVB exposure' i quickly changed all that though and they seem to be fine the pink color is barely theyre now.

All of the above sounds like me. Lack of UVB, I am learning tonight about the difference, water quality I am learning, I had a filter and did not think I had to change the water, but because I took out the gravel I saw their living conditions were not great, lack of nutrition could be also cuz I am just feeding them the pellets I have pictured, and have not feed them carrots or shrimp. Could be excessive growth as well, cuz the big one is EATING EVERYTHING I PUT IN, and I had to take Michaelangelo out of the tank earlier so I could feed Donatello and Leonardo. Then after feeding I put Michael back in. Then also, Leo does not have the pink, and if he is not getting his fair share of the food, could be why he is not growing, etc.

well, leonardo might have somekind of winter mode like my turles, eat about 3 pellets per 4 days, sleep, poop, swim, bask. Or he might have MBD if hes not active at all.

I like that idea. At first I thought well maybe little Leo had eaten some of the gravel, cuz I just got that out earlier this afternoon, but he is getting active, I had him out today for a while, while dh was dumping the water from the tank. So they all had some "mom time" today I carried them around in a bowl everywhere I went so I knew they were not getting out. LOL And what is MBD?

Hoping all goes well with these little guys!

[xsavingsaturdayx]

MBD is metabolic bone disease,other wise known as shell rot.The best thing you can is drive up to your nearest vet (even if it is two hours away) and get them checked out,if you cant tommorow then try monday or whenever your free.Get them eating some romaine lettuce and carrots along with theyre pellets.Feed them seperate so that everyone gets theyre fair share.

[asemilla]

just a little to add.....you might want to start feeding in a diffrent area...rubbermade tub....it makes life easier and you will know what your turts are really eating and how much....oh and everything everyone has already said i just wanna say you guys are the best....you guys really go out of your way to help so thanks to you all

[carmat]

Thanks for all the help!

[steve]

I had to skim through this topic, but I would keep the smaller RES separate from the larger. The pink area... can it be wiped off of a towel?

A number of people have show pink plastrons, its usually with hatchlings in poor water conditions, abrasive substrate/basking area or a lack of a basking area.

[CountryGirl68]

Looks like the larger turtle is 2 1/4" and the smaller ones are 1 1/4" and 1 1/2" respectively (measuring only shell without the curve).

If you let us know where you live, several people here may be able to help you find a vet closer to you. The important thing with the vet is that it be a herp vet - even better if they've treated turtles. You can also try calling local vets to see if any of them have any experience treating RES turtles.