Hey guys, my son's Nanna found a hatchling Red Eared in their back yard a little over a week ago and now we are trying to raise it.
We have it in a large sweater container with about five gallons of 77 to 82 degree water. I removed the chlorine and started with a cheap Penn Plax in tank mini canister filter. After a couple of days, I added a basking platform from Walmart with the 100 watt Zoo Med combination uv/heat lamp in a Zoo Med mini dome positioned about 12 inches over the platform. His stress level seemed to go down about three days ago and he pigged out. I fed him three live doodle bugs or antlions which he didn't swallow, but chomped up getting the goody out of them, then he did swallow about four mouthfuls of the dried shrimp for turtles you buy off the shelf. He preferred the shrimp over the pellets or dried krill. I didn't think I could over feed him, but now I'm afraid I have.
The next day, in the afternoon, he was very lethargic, and would just lay there with his eye membranes shut. If I pushed him in the water, he would only do just enough to find a resting spot. I was afraid I had the lamp too close, so I moved it up to about 14 inches above his platform. I placed the thermometer on the platform and it raised to about 92 degrees.
In the morning, he was much perkier, looking for a way out of the tank and stuff, and was a little jumpier which seems more like normal behavior. By the afternoon, he was catatonic, like the night before, but perhaps a little worse. I did about a 75% water change being careful to maintain exact water temp and removed the chlorine. By the next morning, he was active again, although not very jumpy. Perhaps by now he is used to us, or perhaps he is just declining.
To speed this post up, this has been going on for about three or four days, since he ate. The only three factors I can attribute this to are perhaps:
1. he ate too much or got sick from the antlions or something in the turtle food
2. Water quality
3. The heat/uv lamp
I have tried to keep the bio load to a bare minimum, only leaving a couple of pieces of food in case he wants to eat, and I have removed every little thing I can before I introduce fresh food, using a turkey baster. I have performed two 75% water changes, along with a complete change when I revamped the tank first thing last week. Now I admit I haven't ran the filter constantly, but I have run it at least 12 hours a day. Water temp has stayed between 77 and 82 with absolutely no sudden changes. I run the lamp about eight to ten hours a day, which I suspect is the root of the problem. He seems to fall asleep under the lamp which can't be good for him. Tonight I got the feeling he was dehydrating himself under the lamp. His demeanor seems to steady decline throughout the day, until the evening times when my wife insists he must be dying. I admit sometimes, I wonder myself. Today he drug himself up onto the basking platform, and stretched his head out and just laid it on the platform. He definitely looked dead at that moment, and I certainly didn't think that was good. Don't get me wrong, he is till able to swim in the evenings, but only does what is necessary, and quickly finds a resting spot.
Tonight, I switched the sorry Penn Plax filter for a Marineland 100 power filter good for 20 gallon tanks. It has much better physical filtration with some charcoal, and a bio wheel. I also conditioned the water with the ready made bio conditioner that is supposed to start the tank right off with good bacteria.
Other things to consider are this. The first two days, we had a gravel substrate which had some pieces perhaps small enough for him to swallow, although I doubt he did given his ultra finicky nature swallowing the small pieces of shrimp. Also, I built a nice habitat for him with some polished black stones, large river rocks, and some flagstone that is called fieldstone that I got from my local stone supply house. I don't want to rule out that the stones may have some kind of contaminant, but I doubt it. His tank is really nice with a basking platform, a couple of shallow spots and another dry perch that is in the shade from the uv lamp. Also, he has several shady tunnel like spots under water.
I know I will get advice to take him to a vet, but I need some justification. I have a good inclination that the vet will not be able to help or know what to do for a hatchling that hasn't established itself. Also, I'm sure letting it go may seem advisable, however I feel that now it's best chance of survival is in the controlled situation it is in now.
I'm just seeking some reassurance that this may not be completely abnormal, or perhaps some advice on giving this thing the best chance. Is it possible that he is getting too much light? Is there any advice on a certain food that the little suckers just can't resist. I have the feeling that if he is really hungry, he will eat, but right now, I'm worried that if he goes too long, he will decline past the point of no return. He had already gone about four days without eating before he ate the first time, and now it looks like this could go on for a few more days if he makes it that long.
