Urgent Care :: Turtle has budges/lumps and spins errotically

[Franklin&Fiona]

Please help can anyone tell me what is wrong with my turtle. She is not even a year old yet and has suddenly developed two fair sizes lumps/buldges on each side of her head. She tilts her head to one side all the time and when she is swimming she will spin around and around very fast and almost do flips at times.

Anyone know what is going on with my turtle?

[planet.caravan]

Are the lumps on the ears?
Some sort of ear infection?

[jenaero]

Sounds like she has ear abcesses. These need to be opened, drained and treated by an experienced reptile vet. They will only get bigger and possibly burst if left untreated. Please get her in asap, as abcesses can be quite painful.

I'm not sure what to tell you about her behaviour.

[papoopeepoo]

by erotically do you sporadically?

regardless, i think jenaero's got the right idea. you need a vet.

[steve]

I think they meant "erratically". Could be what I encountered a few years ago... seemed to be a neurological issue that caused rapid swimming circles, including swimming upside down, and inability to coordinate which made eating/grabbing food extremely difficult.

Listing, tilting and swimming lopsided could be an indication of respiratory infection.

Are there any other symptoms? If your turtle is having difficulty swimming, it should be dry docked immediately.

[Franklin&Fiona]

Thanks for the advice she has had difficulty eating since I got her, I have had to pull her out of the tank and break up her food and even then its hard. If it is nerological or repratory what are the odds of survival she is half the size of my other turtle and both were same size when I got them.

Another question is there a chance she could get the second RES sick?

[steve]

Well, there is a bit of guessing but you should treat unknown illnesses as contagious. It took a few months for my turtle to go back to normal, another user did nothing and the turtle died and others I've talked too have not updated their situation.

[marisa]

I'm thinking the erratic behavior is at least in part related to the ear abcesses (problems with the ear can affect balance in humans, and I wouldn't be surprised if the same held true for turtles). At least that's where I would start----getting your turtle to a herp vet to have those abcesses lanced and drained, and, if need be, start on an antibiotic regime. She's also most likely in pain from the pressure that the lumps are putting on surrounding tissues.

Find a herp vet if you don't already have one and take your poor turtle in for treatment.

[Franklin&Fiona]

Hey everyone,

Thanks for the great advice unfortunetly she died on christmas day. Tried to get her to a vet on the 24th but no one could see her till this week. What ever ilness she had took her quick because the lumps only became noticable a few days earlier! She will be missed.

[marisa]

I'm very sorry to hear it.

[bradmeisel]

you have my condolences.

[rturtle1]

so sorry to hear what happened. may she rest in peace. she is in turtle heaven now