Urgent Care :: Thermometer Broke

[erinemcgreevy]

My glass thermometer broke inside by tank. Do you think that Murphy may now have mercury poisoning?

[SpotsMama]

They don't usually use mercury in thermometers any more, but there is risk from broken glass and the little lead beads that aquatic thermometers often have in the bottom to weight them. Do you know if Murphy has ingested anything from the break?

Clean up everything thoroughly. Was the thermometer glass? You'll need to drain the tank to be sure you get everything out.

Word to the wise - consider a digital thermometer next time. Whether you wind up with digital or another glass thermometer, just use it periodically to measure temperatures but wouldn't leave it in the tank. Turtles are just too curious and want to bite everything.

[erinemcgreevy]

Thanks, I cleaned everything up and it broke in the corner behind a plant so I know that Murphy didn't get near it. I received my digital thermometer in the mail yesterday and it was when I was removing the old glass one that I noticed that it was broken. I'm just relieved that they don't use mercury anymore.

[marisa]

They also shouldn't be using glass either---the thermometers that suction to the tank are all plastic, that I can see. Still, it's good to clean up anything that they'd be tempted to try to eat.

[SpotsMama]

Top Fin makes a glass aquarium thermometer with suckers that's apparently popular. It's advertised on the Petsmart website. I had a glass one that I stopped using when I saw Spot biting it.

[steve]

I'd also get a second type of thermometer, like a stick-on LCD. Those are fairly consistent compared to the digital probe thermometers.