Urgent Care :: Found turt upside down at the bottom, barely living

[Spike 7.62]

How big is your turtle? 2.5"
How long have you had it? 3 months

What is the water temperature? 84-88F
Did you use a thermometer? Yes
Are you using a water heater? Yes
How much water is in there? 40 gallons
Are you using a water conditioner? no
Are you using any filtration? yes, 2 filters both rated at 40g each

What is the basking temperature? 80F
Is there a basking light? Yes
Is there a basking platform that is easy to climb on? Yes
What kind is it or what is it made out of? floating turtle dock suctioned to the side
Is there a UVB light? Yes

What have you been trying to feed it? reptomin pellets, krill, shrimp, aquatic plants, cuttle bone, blue berries
When was the last time your turtle ate? Yesterday, 24 hours ago

How big is the tank/pond/enclosure? 40 gallon
Is the tank near a window? Yes, but curtain is closed
Is the tank in a room with a lot of activity? moderate to low activity

Have you read the Basic Care section? Yes
Have you searched the forums for similar situations? Yes

Is there any other unusual activity/symptoms? Laying limp, bubbling nose, minor movement of head and front legs only.

So tonight I came in to feed the turtles at their regular time, and I noticed that one of the Snappers was upside down at the bottom of the tank, mouth closed, eyes open, legs stretched out. I netted him out and brought him to the surface and examined him. There are no signs of physical attack, no bite or claw marks. His legs, face shell and tail are all intact and without injury. It just seems as though he had drowned, although he wasn't trapped at all. I have two river rocks and a faux rock cave with two openings, so there isn't anywhere he could have gotten trapped. He was laying in an open part of the tank.

Once I had him at the surface for a little bit, he flinched. Bubbles came from his nose, his front legs moved, but that was all. He would do this once every 2-3 minutes. Then he started doing it more often, every 30 seconds or so. Nothing that I do stimulates him, and he did not feed today. Currently he's laying on his dock sprawled out, occasionally moving his head and legs. If I pick him up, he is limp.

Yesterday, and even earlier today he was without any symptoms at all. I even took pictures of him within the last 3 days, he was walking around and being active. He swam normally, ate the normal amount of food, everything. Earlier when I turned the UV light on, he was in his normal spot doing his normal thing.

My suspections are...

Possible RI? He shares a tank with other turtles, and none of the others show symtoms. He has shown no prior symptoms, and I don't think a respitory infection will take one that fast. The water temp is between 84 and 88 degrees F and has been. Would that cause him to sink like that?

Possible near-drowning? He does like to sleep submerged, is it possible he over-slept and stayed down there too long? Or perhaps he was in the middle of his sleeping, and I interrupted it and this would be normal..? I doubt that, but this is a strange situation.

Other natural cause? He's just a baby, but I guess anything is possible.

I'll also post this on the Snapper forum I belong to.

Thanks for reading!

-Spike

[jozzep]

Never heard of that, or at least in such a brief time frame.Snapper are bottom dwellers and it's normal for them to walk the bottom of the tank.
Maybe your water is too deep for such a small turtle?
And those temps are too high. You should lower to 76/78.
Hope he gets better.

[steve]

Wow, not sure what could have happened

How is he doing now?

[papoopeepoo]

Jozzep makes a point about snappers being bottom dwellers. From what I understand (I've never cared for one) snappers need to be able to reach the surface while they stand on the bottom. It may be that your turtle just got exhausted from swimming and gave up. You're lucky you found him when you did.

Lower the water and see how he/she does.

[Spike 7.62]

UPDATE

Good news! I've been monitoring his progress closely since the incident occured, and it appears he's steadily recovering. He became more active, and even walked around a little bit. After a few hours, I was able to feed him, and he seemed pretty hungry! He ate some reptomin pellets and shrimp pellets. I gave him the regular days amount. I think the poor little guy is exhausted though, he is staying on the dock and sleeping. However, when I pick him up, he'll move around just like normal; air walking, moving his head and tail.

The other snapper may understand his plight, since I brought my guy to the surface, the other ally snapper hasn't left his side and the two are cuddling together in sleep on the dock.

papoopeepoo, I think you make an excellent point. Snappers do love the bottom, I see mine walking down there all the time, and in fact sleeping there. I always assumed that they would surface as needed, but it's possible that my guy became too exhausted and couldn't. Maybe he was swimming too much, chasing the fish, exploring, searching the bottom for pellets, keeping occupied, anything. I'm just glad that I found him in time that he didn't drown!

I'll update again as his condition changes. I don't know how long it takes for a turtle to drown, but I think I might have stumbled upon him just in time!

-Spike

[Spike 7.62]

UPDATE

It appears as though he has recovered fully from his near-drowning incident. He is active and swimming again, and has his full appetite back. It wasn't feeding time yet, but I gave him a few pellets anyway to try and build him up.

I'm going to chaulk this one up to exhaustion/near drowning. I'll assume he got tired underwater and couldn't surface. Luckily, I found him before he died. I wonder if he suffered any brain or lung damage? Also, to keep this from happening in the future, I am going to get him and the other snapper a different tank, either one of those "breeder" tanks which are lower, or a 20-30g. I really don't want this to happen again, but if he stays in the 40g, I fear it's just a matter of time.

I'll also lower the temp a little bit. I raised it about 2 weeks ago because it's starting to get colder up here, and my house is chilly as it is.

-spike

[Spike 7.62]

Last update:

Well, it seems as though my goofy little dinosaur has pulled fully through. Several days have passed, and he is fully active; again roaming the bottom, eating fully, swimming, basking (some say snapping turtles dont or wont bask, I can say they certainly do!) and doing normal turtley things.

Thanks to everyone to kept an eye on this and replied. Hopefully if something like this happens to anyone else, they are as fortunate as I was, and their buddy will recover.

-spike

[freshprince2146]

Good to hear your snapper has recovered!!

[steve]

Glad to hear the news!

[marisa]

Yes, they do bask. Some, however, prefer that the "basking" area be below the water.

If the snapper is a hatchling, it's better not to have really deep water.

[str1p]

correct me if im wrong, but the post says that your water temp is 84-89 and your basking temp is only 80. that water temp is pretty hot for turtles, and the basking temp should at atleast be 10 degrees higher then normal water temp ie 75 water temp, 85-90 basking temp

[Spike 7.62]

Ya know, you're correct.. I'd have to have an air conditioner or something for the basking area to be cooler than the water temperature haha. It was my mistake, I switched the numbers. My water was a little warmer than it should have been at the time, but currently it reads as 79 degrees.

Thanks for the concern though!

-spike

[regalesse]

my youngest turtle tardy a little male with a shell about 1 3/4 inch long was found upside down in the community turtle tank. he was not moving and is barely moving now. he appears to be completely exausted from what ever happened. at least he is alive.

[regalesse]

tardy has finally woke up from then ten hour nap after the ten hour nap. he's still lethargic and has not gone for a swim yet, but seing him awake is a much needed relief to me. he's another rescue that has become a permanent resident

[steve]

What is a community turtle tank? What kind of setup does he have?