Urgent Care :: Lazy Turtle

[thinice16]

I have a lazy res all he does is lay on the basking platform all day hes has a flaky shell and hes shedding and he doesn't eat any of the veggies i try to feed him because his shell is pyramiding what do i do? oh and i was curious if i can just brush the flakes off his shell with a toothbrush under running water?


-thanks

[Vtolds]

Don't touch his shell, it is natural for them to shed it. Make sure your water temp is 78 degrees and not cold use a thermometer. If his shell is pyramiding that means he is being fed to much not necessarily that he needs to eat veggies. Cut back on the total amount of food being feed. Usually the total amount of what will fit in his hollow head once a day...or split it up into 2 smaller meals. You can keep offering the Veggies, and it is suggested depending on what it is. Also do you offer cuttle bone? Keep a close eye on him after you do any of the above see if he changes his habit of basking all the time. If he doesnt keep an eye out for open mouth breathing, combined with the constant basking it could mean he has RI and could die without treatment.

[SpotsMama]

Have you read up on turtle nutrition on this site? here's the link. There's a gold mine of good info including tips on getting a turtle to eat veggies.

http://www.redearslider.com/index_nutrition.html

[thinice16]

Well he will only eat pellets and he wont eat veggies wont his shell keep pyramiding if i just feed him pellets what should i do?The reason i think his shell is pyramiding is because the guy i got him from only fed him live foods.No i don't offer cuttle bone to them but will it help my lazy turtle.

[mikee]

Lazy Turtle -- First it would check on the basics: water and basking temp.,
filter (gph), lighting (uva and uvb) and clean water. If all that is correct, I would cut back on feeding to every other day and feed modestly. Do not brush off his shell. They need to loose the scutes naturally. Add some calcium to his diet for good carapace health. It sounds like he is spoiled and is over fed.

[marisa]

I'm curious about the shell---can you post a picture of it dry?

[thinice16]

I have all though things in check i just need to do a water change and all is well but he still does even try to eat veggies only the high protein stuff which is not good for his shell its just going to keep pyramiding here some links to pictures of his shell.There kinda blurry.


http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i217/ ... ise011.jpg

http://i73.photobucket.com/albums/i217/ ... ise001.jpg

[SpotsMama]

Cute little turtle.

It looks like there's a lot of white on the shell. Is it really white or is it just a blurry picture?

[mzkitty23]

hey SpotsMama, Krueger's shell has that "whitish" tint to it when it's dry...does that mean anything?

[thinice16]

Yes most of his shell is white but some of that is because of the camera.What should i do?Should i take him to a vet?

[SpotsMama]

White on a shell can be caused by a lot of different things. There are subtle differences depending on the cause. Some of the causes are serious and some not. Possibilities include: (1) shell that's about to shed will sometimes have a whitish or dull look (2) fungus or yeast infections are white (3) hard water will sometimes coat a turtle's shell with minerals, turning it white.

If a scute or part of a scute is white because it's close to a shed, the shell will usually show other signs of a shed - lifting edges, water trapped under the surface, a coppery or silvery look when the turtle is underwater due to air trapped under the surface. The white is usually more apparent when the shell is dry.

A yeast or fungus infection will usually spread outwards from a central point or points. To me, the white of an infection looks bright, even under water.

White due to hard water residue should come off if you rub it gently with a q tip soaked in white vinegar. The residue should coat the shell more or less evenly all over.

The white in the photos above looks bright to me. If it is as white as it appears to be in the photos, then I'd say it's probably a fungus infection. If the shell is flaking off (I am visualizing thin pieces coming off the surface), then the turtle may also be shedding.

[SpotsMama]

thinice16, when pieces flake off, is the shell underneath white or dark and healthy?

[thinice16]

Yes its kinda dark and healthy.So do you think i should just keep the water clean and feed him a little bit of pellets each day because he doesn't eat any veggies?

[SpotsMama]

For healthy shell, the water needs to be clean (like you said), the turtle needs to bask regularly so his shell dries out completely - top and bottom - and when he basks he needs to bask under good UVB light. His diet needs to be balanced and contain quite a bit of calcium. Does your turtle have cuttlebone in his tank?

If a turtle has trouble shedding, you can help by giving him foods containing vitamin E, which helps a shell to shed. Here's a list of foods containing vitamin E:

Tomato
Sweet potato
Turnip greens
Blueberries
Apple skin

On feeding veggies, keep offering different things. Eventually you'll find something your turtle likes, and he'll figure out that veggies are good. In addition to the things on the list, some other things that are very good are fresh basil, carrot peel, bell pepper and lots of green leafy things (red leaf lettuce, green leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce.)

The first veggie my turtle would eat was fresh basil. He'd eat it long before he'd touch anything else.

A good way to get turtles to eat green vegetables is to put water plants in the tank. A good one is anacharis. It's cheap, easy to find and a lot of turtles like to munch on it. You can leave anacharis (and other water plants) in the tank and it won't spoil like lettuce, which is nice.

Have you tried moistening some veggies with tuna water? Some people have had success transitioning their turtles this way.

Don't give up on the veggies! Eventually your turtle will come around - they always do.

On the shell, it's kind of hard to say what you should do because the pictures aren't very clear. You'll have to use your judgement. If the white is peeling/falling off and there's healthy, dark shell underneath, then I'd say let nature take it's course. If, on the other hand, the white isn't falling off, or there is more diseased looking shell underneath when a layer falls off, then you'll need to treat for fungus and a trip to the vet's is probably iin order.

[thinice16]

Well i have some bad news my lazy turtle died i think he drown because when woke and turned there light on here was at the bottom of the tank with his eyes open so i thought he was eating some left over carrots at the bottom of the tank but when i got ready to take the little bit of carrots that was left out i tapped his shell and he didnt move so i picked him up and he didnt move at all so i pulled his head out just a little bit and water came out of his mouth so yeah it sucked.

R.I.P. Blastoise