Urgent Care

Hi all, hope all is well with you. Must confess not the most attentive member but am sure you will help out my res if you can. Have had Perky for around 2.5 years and she is now around 5 inches long. For all this time and without problem I have been using a kind of scrubbing pad material (green pan scourer) stuck to the glass ramp help her get up onto the basking platform. Thinking that she would probably pull at it, possibly taste it, find it was not good to eat and leave it alone. Indeed this is what happened and it has not caused any issues for the 2.5 years I have had her (you know whats coming don't you?). However she seems to have now aquired a taste for it. One day I caught her pulling at it but this time she appeared to be eating it. So whipped her out and promptly removed the material. But since then she has been off her food (trust me that is not like her at all, she'll take your arm off if she has the chance, greedy girl!). She has not even eaten her pellets, just leaves them to sink to the bottom without interest. Also she is lethargic and does not follow my finger along the tank, again she is usually quite active. So I know for sure she is not well. She has been like this for a couple of days. This morning I found her trailing some of this green material and I pulled it out of her. So it seems quite obvious to me that she has eaten some of this and is having trouble passing it.

What can I do?? I think I need something to give her to try to make her pass stool. Vet is out of the question, I live in China and what few vets there are know nothing about turtles (they are just a staple over here, turtles I mean, not vets :-)

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And to add to the urgency I lost Gums around a month ago with the same symptoms and suspect it was from the same cause. I hope there is something I can give her to make 'her go'.

Thanks in advance, meoldchina

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thats tough to answer. without veterinarian help, im not sure what to tell you. hopefully, it digests and gets thrown out. scary to see this being said. i wish the best for your turtle

i hope everything works out. Good Luck!!

Hi... Please use a something else for the ramp. How much of it was eaten? What are the water temperatures like? Has Perky been pooing?

How much was eaten? Impossible to say really. On a good note yesterday she managed to expel quite a large amount, just not sure how much is left and if she can pass the rest. On a more somber note she is still off her food, not eating a thing, which I am sure you appreciate is not like a RES. Think other than take a hack saw to her and cut her open to remove the stuff not much I can do except hope. Water temp is around 20 degrees C.

Thanks for your support anyway. Meoldchina.

Try to get the water temperature to 27C (80F). What would cutting open the other one accomplish???

Was not talking about cutting the other one open, was talking about cutting Perky open! Not a serious option obviously.

meoldchina

He was just meaning that other than physically seeing if there was still more inside of the turtle, there is not much to do. He just said it in a more weird way.

Sorry, didn't read that too carefully! Soaking in warm water might help a constipated RES, though an x-ray might be helpful when looking for foreign material.

Not sure whether to post or not, could be tempting fate. Just wanted to give an update. Since last Sunday up until Thursday she had not touched any food and was still lethargic but last night she ate a lettuce leaf and this morning had done her business and managed to pass some more of the foreign matter. Of course not sure how much, if any, is left to pass. But have just moved her from her temporary sick quarters to a small heated tank. Perky is presently heartily devouring some more lettuce. So...... it looks promising but too early to be conclusive I think.

meoldchina

Thanks for the update... I hope things continue to progress.

Urgent Care :: turle eat something it shouldn't, not eating

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