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Has anyone ever seen or heard of anything like this before? My baby slider is swimming/floating with his butt way up in the water... He is still active and eating but he can't stay level... his butt floats up and his head stays down. Its almost as if he had helium in his rear end. Nothing is out of the ordinary except for this. Should I be concerned?

I have heard of them swimming sideways but not front heavey like you are describing.

I believe it's a symptom of a respiratory infection. I would definitely be concerned, you should take him to a vet ASAP.

It could mean he just has some gas, that would cause front to back unevenness unlike an RI which would be side to side. He could just need to pass the gas, or he could be impacted. Have you seen him poop? Is his appetite still good? And do you have any small gravel in the tank?
It could also be a symptom of an RI, so keep your eyes out for other symptoms like gaping of the mouth, no appetite, lethargy.

Either way if the floating doesn't correct itself soon I'd look into a herp vet.

his appetite is fine, as a matter of fact, he seems to take on *more* than he can handle and i will have to fish out the the rest of what he chews but doesnt swallow. hes not lethargic at all, he is actually swimming ariound more now than ever. just looks so weird to see his butt so high up behind him... one thing my boyfriend noticed is that his cloaca seems to be a bit more wide than before. this is not something that i noticed, i cant really tell a difference.

Floating with the butt higher than the rest of the body often indicates gastrointestinal upset. What have you been feeding him?

we feed him the same thinig we have always been feeding him which is reptomin baby.. small size turtle pellets. since he is *so* small though, we even have to break those pellets in half.

i cant emphasize enough that he seems happier than ever. as a matter of fact, its a joy to see him swimming around so much as just a month ago he would stay under his flaoting rock and never come to the front of the tank at all. now its like he's got a turbo in him and hes jetting all over the place. he recognizes when we shake the food jar in front of the tank and he comes to the front to be fed.

one thing that is slightly different is that we raised the water level a bit. i heard that babies can actually drown so at first we kept a very shallow water level. now we have raised it to about 3 inches high and he is swimming all over. just...awkwardly and top heavy.

he is still only an inch and a half shell lengh *if* that. very very tiny.

to answer a previous question, there is no gravel in the tank. just a floating rock, heating pad underneath the tank, and a fluval 1 filter.

The heating pad is bad and isn't good for tank with water in them, so you need to get rid of that and get a aquarium heater. No other symptoms like not eating or not pooping? does he bask normally? Do you have a UVB and a UVA Light? Water is the temp of the water and what is the basking temp?

How long have you had him, and how long has he been been swimming that way? Was he that way a month ago?

Small hatchlings will not drown if there's nothing in the tank for them to get stuck behind/under and if they have places to rest (fake plants are good for them to rest on). A higher water level would allow the use of a submersible water heater.

i'm curious as to why the heating pad is "bad" for them? i could see in a larger tank it would not sufficiently warm the water but it seems to be doing a fine job for now as the side of the tank with the heating pad is about 76 degress. his basking area on his floating rock is in the upper 80s to low 90s.

i have not seen him basking too often but i suspect he does it when i am not around as he is very shy. my boyfriend and i have seen him basking a couple of times but whenever he catches sight of us he jumps back into the water.

i cant really tell if he is pooping or not i've never caught him in the act of doing so but i cant watch him all day so its a moot point. i can tell there is debris in the water every couple of days as there is no gravel in the tank but not sure if thats uneaten and semidissolved food or poop.

marisa,

i've had him for a couple of months and he has only been acting this way for a few days. i suspect when we first got him and his brother (who passed away) that he was only a few weeks old if not days old.

i live in new york city and i dont know if anyone else is aware of this but there are so many baby red eared sliders in china town for reasons which are not nice to hear but true...

this turtle is one of the ones i have rescued from an untimely death. not looking for a medal or anything but this is why i have such a young baby slider.

I'm well aware of those poor hatchlings in NYC's Chinatown and environs. A year ago (about) I was walking along Canal St. and it was freezing. They had those poor things swimming in little bowls of water out in the wind.

The sad thing is that you were kind to try to save two of those unfortunates, but there were two more that took their place. Buying them only perpetuates the business.

Because they're kept in such awful conditions, many are sick when bought and don't make it (like your other turtle?)...

If he was swimming normally until just a few days ago, I'd keep an eye on him for a few days and see if he doesn't go back to a more normal position.

thanks marisa.

No problem. But you know, I think I'd up the water temp a few degrees, since he is small. The water temp for a healthy hatchling is about 78F. It would be good to get a submersible water heater to make sure the temp is that warm and consistent throughout the tank area (you said the side with the heating pad is 76F, the side that's not heated would be cooler).

amanlo -- If you are sticking to the basics like 78 water, 90 basking, uvb light, I would tend to think RI. However, I would keep an eye on him and make sure that he is pooping well. When most little guys get RI they tend to float to one side. I have had one that floated rearward also with RI. I put him in a separate small tank and watched the husbandry very closely. Clean water is a must when they are recuperating.