Urgent Care :: female res giving me a scare...

[Szuturon]

ok... Hinata giving me a scare again...
one again it appears as though she's unable to dive. but that's not the thing that's scaring me.
this time its this... i took her out of the big tank to put her in her feeding tank. for some reason... she keeps extending her head out and then she'll kind of open her mouth for a bit. if u need a mental image... try to imagine a turtle yawning without closing its eyes. its scaring me cuz it almost looks like she's choking on something or wants to throw up. i'm not sure if i should be feeding her. what should i do? should i take her to the vet?

[sonyj]

Keep an eye on her and if she continues this behavior any longer I would seriously think about taking her to a vet.

It reminds me of a post here while back about someones turtle that had something stuck in their throat. You may try searching for it and see if it's similar to what your turtle is doing. I can't remember who it was that posted about it now, but it should come up if you look/search.

Good luck and keep us posted.

[Szuturon]

well if it helps... i spent about 5 mins watching her do that gagging motion thing... and i didn't see anything in her mouth whatsoever.

[marisa]

Any other symptoms? If you give your turtle something to eat, will he eat it?

What are the basking area and water temps?

If your turtle can't submerge (again) and appears to be yawning/open mouth breathing frequently, it sounds like he's needs a herp vet. (Keep him a bit warmer until you get him to one.)

[Szuturon]

well here's the update...
i placed her in her feeding tank and moved her to my upstairs kitchen stove. even tho its not on its always warm there. i've gone and replaced her water early this month just in case.
now i notice she doesn't like to go into the water very much. she stayed on the rock that was have submerged in the feeding tank like wolfgang (my male res) before he passed away. i put her in the water to wake her up and try to feed her but she didn't take the food. i'm gonna try again after work today. however, although she didn't take the food, i saw she was able to go underwater. she wasn't exactly walking on the bottom of the tank but she was kinda floating... under the surface... she did that gagging motion again and someone on a different site said it might be a respiratory infection. currently i'm going to try to pick up either a ceramic heater or one of those underwater heaters...
water temperature in feeding tank, i don't know... but temperature in her home tank right now is about 68-70F.
i've moved her UVA/B lamp and now the heat lamp is directly over the basking dock. so hopefully its warm enuff for her there at the moment. i'm just going to keep it on 24/7 until i can get the new heater.

[marisa]

An RI was what the posts above were talking about as well...

A water temp of 68-70F is definitely too cold. Temps like those can contribute to respiratory infections, particularly with smaller turts... You need to get a submersible water heater ASAP and set the temp a bit warmer than would normally be the case, about 81-82F (if your turtle is a hatchling and were healthy, about 78F would be the norm).

What is the temp of the basking area. Normally it should be in the range 88-90F, but since your turt may be ill, I'd bump it to about 91-92F for a bit.

When you get the water heater, if it's cold where you are (like it is here), it would be good to cover a good portion of the tank at night (I use either plexiglass or cardboard with my turts). It will keep the warmth from the water heater trapped in the tank and warm the ambient air temp. I'd even cover as much of the tank as I could safely cover now. BTW, one option to keeping the lights on all night is to buy an infrared heat light, which won't interfer with your turt's sleep cycle. Zoo-Med and ESU are two brands that are sold in petstores.

[Szuturon]

If i buy her an infrared heat light AND an underwater heater, should i keep the infrared heat light on 24/7 and only turn off my current heat lamp during night?
I'll be buying the new stuff either tomorrow or Monday. If i don't see an improvement by next week, I may just take her into the vet...

[steve]

I'd get the underwater heater and keep the heat lamp on a 12 hr cycle. The infrared heat light suggestion is an alternative if you want to use a bulb instead of the underwater heater. Do you have a UVB bulb and how big is your tank?

[Szuturon]

here's my setup:
40 gallon tank (filled only half way so 20gallon worth of water)
Heat lamp
UV lamp (the back says "3%+ UVB and 7%+ UVA)
floating basking dock
underwater filter
some fake plants that float and a fake tree she loves to hide behind.

i measured the temperature today for the basking area and it's about 80 degrees. the water is about 74. I took 2 stacks of printing paper and laid them on top of the tank to trap heat in for the time being.

now knowing the temperature of the basking area, does anyone suggest i fill the tank with more water so the dock floats higher so it might give her more heat? or should i buy a new bulb that has higher output?

[sonyj]

Under normal circumstances, I'd say to fill the tank up as high as you can without giving a means to escape from the top. RES are aquatic and the more water you can give them to swim the better.

But if yours is still having trouble swimming and submerging, I'm not sure I'd do that yet. Maybe you should wait until she's better to fill it up and get a higher wattage bulb. Position it as close as you can to the basking area. The basking temp should be around 90, with the water temp no less than 78 for a healthy hatchling. Try bumping the water temp up to 80-81 for an ill turtle.

Hope she's better soon.

[marisa]

The infrared light was actually given as an alternative to keeping a light on 24/7, what Szuturon intially was planning to do...

Regardless, get a submersible water heater. Allow 5 watts per gallon of water and make sure the heater says it's fully submersible.

If you have a UVB light, you can either use a regular lightbulb for a heat light, keeping it on an average of 12 hours a day. If you want your turtle to be warmer at night, you can use an infrared heat light instead of the lightbulb and keep it on 24/7. I've done this with turts when they were in a cold room and really small. Putting the UVB light on a time would be good...

[daredevilgirl013]

Ok if your UVB is 3% you're having problems there. It needs to be at least 5, but the higher the better. The highest one I could find around me was a 7%. You really need to get a better UVB.

UVA bulbs
Standard household incandescent bulbs are acceptable to use to provide both light and heat. Other bulb types may be flood or spot lights. Floodlights direct their light and heat over a wide range where spotlights offer more light and heat over a concentrated area.


UVB bulbs
A specially coated bulb is required to emit UVB rays indoors. Florescent UVB bulbs come in different sizes and strengths, from tube-shaped to ones that fit a standard socket. They are low-wattage and produce very little heat. UVB bulbs are only efficient after 6 months and need to be replaced afterwards. Florescent UVB bulbs do not project UVB very far, so it is necessary to have it positioned as closely as possible - 6 inches would suffice. It is beneficial to have a bulb that produces approximately 5-10% UVB. A helpful tip is to avoid cheaply made brands and to purchase a product that states the production of UVB (about 5-10%) on its packaging

Submersible heating
Water needs to be temperature controlled and the preferred range is 78-80 degrees F for hatchlings and 75-78 degrees F for adults. Water too cold can cause a turtle to become inactive and less responsive. A loss of appetite may also occur and your turtle may think it will be going into hibernation. However, the conditions are not correct and your RES will need immediate medical attention.

A simple submersible water heater is required to prevent temperatures from declining to dangerous levels. Follow the manufacturers' instructions to prevent injuries and consider using a heater guard to prevent potential burns and breakage. Monitoring water temperatures is still required since many heaters are not very accurate at gauging temperatures. Heaters should not be plugged in for 15 minutes after insertion and should not be taken out for 15 minutes after being unplugged. Sunlight or a basking lamp is not the proper way to maintain water temperatures and can be extremely dangerous.

[marisa]

I'm using the same 3% UVB light (I think) with my baby painted and have used the same light with other turtles without problems. They need to be changed regularly, however. A higher percentage of UVB light can be good, but the set-up and how far away the bulb with be from the turtle are also considerations.