Urgent Care :: my turtle makes funny noise :(

[RESCHIU]

help!!! today i found that whenever my turtle crack his mouth a little to breath, there's bubble coming out and also it makes funny "popping" noise. Is this the sign of coughing? (he didn't open mouth all the time, and he seems to be fine breathing underwater too, so I'm really not sure what's going on....)

[marisa]

This just started today? Is the popping sound like a clicking? Open-mouth breathing can be a sign of a respiratory infection, but you said yours doesn't do this all the time? Does he do it out of the water? Turtles don't, however, crack their mouths open to breath (they have noses), so if this is how your turtle is breathing, it sounds like something is going on. The bubble could be mucus, which is also a sign of and RI.

What are the temps of the water and basking area? Is your turtle eating and active otherwise?

I'd bump up the temps a bit, the water to about 82F and the basking area to 91-92F. Warmth activates the immune system and helps the turtle fight infection.

If you start to see other symptoms (wheezing, frequent yawning, listing in the water, for example) or the behavior you described doesn't go away, it would be best to take him to a herp vet. There is a post with links to them on the Urgent Care forum and on the site.

[RESCHIU]

it seems like this afternoon my turtle doesn't make clicking noise as much as this morning, however, I still notice that when he cracked his mouth(crack very tiny bit), I can see like a drop of water coming out from his nose(I'm sure it's water because it's clear), it just started today, and I think it could be because I brought him home with me during weekend and my house tended to be a lot colder then my dorm, I guess taking him home with me isn't good idea , do you think this sympton will become better? or will this progressively becomes worse?(after I take him back to my dorm which is a lot warmer)
Thanks again, I'm just glad he's not making noise anymore

*and yes, he still eats and everything, he still goes under water and things like that, just whenever he comes out of water, he would crack his mouth every once in a while.

[Glencoe]

i had the same problem. dont wait around for it to get better. i went to the vet and got some shots to give my turtle. hes been getting better everyday. before i took him to the vet, i noticed it was mianly in the evening and morning that he made the sound and not all the time. trust me, take care of it now before it gets worse.

[marisa]

Be careful how you transport him when you bring him back to the dorm and don't expose him to cold drafts and breezes. I'd keep the temps are few degrees higher as described above for a bit just to make sure he's OK. If the symptoms reappear or you see any of the others mentioned above, take him to a herp vet without delay.

[RESCHIU]

thanks for everyone's reply, I notice he doesn't make noise anymore but still some water droplet coming out of his nose, I'll keep my eye on him and if it's not going away, I will take him to the vet. Thanks again for your help and care

[RESCHIU]

He's doing much better now since he got back to his nice warm tank, now I know not to put him in cold environment for too long or take him out to sunbathing when there's little wind blowing.

by the way, I notice my turtle become a very fast eater recently, sometimes he even eat his floating stick in one bite (he's just 3 inches), I'm just afraid if the food can digest properly that way....is this normal for them? or is it signs that I didn't feed them enough?(I feed him 4 in the morning and 4 at night, few shrimps and cuttlebone in between, however, he's always begging for some more after 4 sticks I gave him)

[sonyj]

They are extremely good beggars and will always make you feel like you haven't given them enough. As far as offering more, I wouldn't. Do you feed shrimp every day? If so, don't. Shrimp is a treat therefore it shouldn't be offered more than once a month. It's too high in protein to be eaten often. Supplement veggies into his diet daily and this will help with the begging.

To give you a for instance, just this morning I came home from taking the kids to school to find that my husband had fed Koopa his pellets (on a non-pellet day) just because Koopa had "looked" hungry. He said Koopa was swimming frantically at the top of the tank like he does when he wants food. I laughed and said, well, Koopa knows who the easy mark in this house is. Today was his veggies day but he got pellets again as well. Oh well, I guess occasionally extra pellets won't hurt, but I better watch and make sure it doesn't happen often.

[RESCHIU]

haha, that's a cute story you had , I see, since my vet told me my turtle is malnutrition which leads to MBD, I was extra aware of whether I'm feeding him enough or not, I will definitly decrease amount of shrimp and increase more veggetables for him. You know what? my turtle never touched veggies for past 3 and half years, but he started to eat it which made me very happy.

just another curiosity, do turtle ever feel full?(such as fish never gets full)

[marisa]

I think if fed "enough," they'll begin to lose interest in the food. But what a turtle considers to be enough is, I think, far too much food. (They eat as much as possible at every opportunity because in the wild they wouldn't know where their next meal was coming from and they may go for days without eating.) It's better to leave a turtle wanting more than feeding him until he's "stuffed."