Urgent Care :: My Turtle keeps openin her mouth HELP URGENT!

[ami]

jojo had that around his tail and legs... I found it could be urine =\ so i don't think its anything.

is she opening her mouth less? how bout food?

[munkly]

she is eating food ... but doesnt swim as much as she used to ant spends most of her time relaxing or just sitting nd keeps looking here nd there nd face looks good also as if shez happy hehe ... but she still opens her mouth nd i wudnt say tht its less then before

[ami]

well thats good shes eating.. give her some time.. but if she's continuing this after a while I think she might have an RI. just try to keep her environment clean and warm.

[munkly]

i took some pics when keechu opens her mouth mite give u guyz a better idea lemme knw yr concerns after lookin at these pics plz ....

[munkly]

also let me knw if the shell nd poops are fine ...

[ami]

wow i think the best i can say is she's developing a ri (not 100% sure) her cheeks look a lil swollen and the open mouth breathing.
the poop looks health (dark and circlular.. look firm? the break down might because ur turtle probably try to eat it =\) but i guess u gotta do some research find out how you can treat ri symptoms... but i think u need to get an antibiotic injection.

[munkly]

yea im certain now thts its RI ... cuz shez opens her mouth all the time now nd bask more then normal nd doesnt go in water much .... nd she doesnt eat anything except pellets tht too i hv to make her eat else shez least bothered .... but how nd where to get the injection :S .... i hv no vets here ... wat type of antibiotic do i need ? any names etc? nd when she opens her mouth i also see a bubble in her mouth like saliva im just too worried keechu is my life

[Azfar]

HUrmm.. I agree with Ami, looks like Keechu has the RI symptom..

and the stool looks solid and fine..

I'm not sure about the antibiotic injection.. have you do some research what kind of medicine can treat Keechu?

[munkly]

none tht i can find here in my country :S .... all i can do is spiritual healing ...

[V Lou]

I searched "red eared slider turtle" at this Website and found tons of great information for turtles. It is most reputable; great resource for everyone:

http://merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp

Munkly, I wish you had a vet nearby. Can you order veterinary medicinal items from PetSmart, Petco, Drs. Foster & Smith, and more if you shop online?

[V Lou]

I am concerned and wonder.....

1) When she opens her mouth, can you see deep inside her mouth?
If so, do you see any soars, either very red or red with white spots?

2) Or is her mouth pink inside?


While you are answering those questions, I could just mention that:
--She may just LOVE to yawn.
--She may be communicating that she wishes you did not get so close (does she hiss?).
--I had a turtle years ago that used to open her mouth to tell me she was so excited, happy to the max! about something; she was awesome!
--One of my current turtles loves to yawn, is just so relaxed and happy.
--One of my turtles the other day fell asleep on his dock with his mouth WIDE open and then his head dropped into the water -- he didn't wake up.... his mouth wide open IN the water.... like forever. I got scared and took him out, ...he was so asleep he wouldn't wake up, so then I thought he was dead, scared me! But, he slowly woke up and wondered what all the fuss was about.

Sometimes turtles do things, have strange habits, or don't do things we think they should do when we think they should do it, ... but they are turtles, so they do turtle stuff and maybe they are okay; strange maybe, but okay.

[V Lou]

... I apologize, I have another question....

Do you have a scale for weighing small objects nearby that you could use to weigh Keechu? Perhaps where you buy herbs? If so, do weigh her everyday. If her weight is increasing over these next weeks, that would be good to know

(If you use someone else's scale, they might not want Keechu to get it dirty. So, use a light weight cloth (or dish) to place Keechu on everytime you weigh her. Use the same cloth (or dish) each time, and always weigh them together. You are only checking their combined weight; hopefully it will go up. Be sure Keechu and the cloth are dry before you weigh them. If they are wet, the added water weight would be different each time, so you wouldn't know if Keechu's weight changed or if the amount of water changed.)

I hope this helps. We need some empiracal data.

[ami]

"Treatments for colds, respiratory infections, and pneumonia include warmth, antibiotics (oral or injected), steaming (with or without medication), breathing oxygen (if the turtle has water in its lungs and cannot get enough oxygen), and X-rays, to check for water in the lungs. "
"Gaping and Yawning:

Gaping can be either totally harmless--turtles do yawn, or a sign of a serious respiratory problem, including pneumonia. You have to watch the turtle carefully and put all the different signs together. If the animal gapes and yawns frequently, and if there are any other symptoms, like swollen eyes, a runny nose, rasping while breathing, or loss of appetite, have a veterinarian evaluate the turtle immediately.

Often a veterinarian will do an X-Ray to determine whether a gaping turtle has pneumonia and water in its lungs. If a water turtle swims lop-sided, mention it to your veterinarian. This is a pretty sure sign, that the turtle does have water in its lungs. "

http://happyturtle.ms11.net/medical.html

what you can dois just keep him warm .. i never heard about this steaming thing..but maybe you should look into it.

[ami]

as for the antibiotics...maybe you can contact a vet over seas and they can prescribe it to you?

[munkly]

@ V Lou ... u can ask me as many questions as u want! im deeply honoured for the concern u hv shown for keechu....

keechu does open mouth alot! and shez not going into water much! nd i dont think they r yawns cuz its been like 20 days or more since shez doing tht and she never did this before ... shez lethargic as well and floats in water .... i put a fish in her aquarium keechu saw the fish looked at her nd swims away ... and shez not eating anything at all ate like 2-3 pellets only tht too after 3 days ... i tried to feed her diff stuff but nutin works just the pellets sometimes...and when she opens her mouth i can see almost everything and its all pink there r no spots or swore which i think is a good sign ... and i dnt hv a scale for weighing small objects but ill try to get one asap! (nd thnx fr this idea)
and i cant order stuff online since mostly the sites wont send stuff to my country :S ... but if i get to knw the name of a med i can tell sm family member or a frnd to bring it along wid them ....

@ ami ... thnx fr the informative site and im sure tht its a RI now ... just am too worried and dnt knw wt to do just praying and keepin the water crystal clear and maintaining the water nd basking temps! thts the best i cud do ... should i use the Potassium Permanganate? i heard it kills germs etc will tht be of any help?