Urgent Care :: Found Turtle and it's really dry and not eating! Help!

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Post Posted: Wed Jun 17, 2015 4:37 pm   Found Turtle and it's really dry and not eating! Help!

Hello! Quick backstory on how we came to have an RES.
My brother rescued a turtle from being run over yesterday June 16, 2015. He noticed something moving as a car was approaching to park. It was a RES trying to get up on the curb, but obviously couldn't. He had the man stop so he could grab it and brought it inside. He was SUPER dry. Its shell looks a bit cracked on the sides. We put it(I don't know the gender) in water and it just chilled there. My brother went to a pet store to get it food and a tank. It won't eat at all and its shell looks like it was losing its color. Who know how long it was outside in the heat for. We live in Los Angeles. Any help would be greatly appreciated. We've never owned a turtle before. I'll post pictures as well.

I hope the link works!

http://s288.photobucket.com/user/Jennyf ... ary/Donnie
Jennyfire_
 
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Post Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2015 12:25 am   Re: Found Turtle and it's really dry and not eating! Help!

This was likely someone's pet as it's showing a lot of fungus that common with captive RES but not seen much in the wild. I do not see cracks... which pictures show that?

Keep the water consistently warm - around 78F and try some live food, like feeder fish. Any other symptoms?
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steve
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Post Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2015 5:20 pm   Re: Found Turtle and it's really dry and not eating! Help!

steve wrote:This was likely someone's pet as it's showing a lot of fungus that common with captive RES but not seen much in the wild. I do not see cracks... which pictures show that?

Keep the water consistently warm - around 78F and try some live food, like feeder fish. Any other symptoms?



Is it normal for it to move the little rocks and just want to stay completely submerged in the water? It just stays at the bottom of the tank. :( How can the fungus be treated? I thought it had cracks but I think it was just because it was really dry and the little edges of the shell looked like they were cracked. My mistake. I just feel really bad for it. I'll try live food and I'll also look up a vet that's affordable. My brother is set on keeping it.
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Post Posted: Thu Jun 18, 2015 5:36 pm   Re: Found Turtle and it's really dry and not eating! Help!

It sounds like you have it on gravel. You should remove that, because they can eat it and get impacted. I would say that it's normal behavior for it to hide at the bottom of the tank, because a) It wants to re-hydrate, and b) It's in a completely new environment. It will require some acclimation time before it calms down and starts acting more comfortable.

If you don't mind, could you link us to some pictures? All you need to do is take the picture, and send it to Photobucket. Post the address here, and then we can see it. That way, we can see the extent of the fungus, shell cracks, et cetera.
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Post Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 12:26 am   Re: Found Turtle and it's really dry and not eating! Help!

@Jeremiah - there is a link in the first post that works for me. You are right that the tank needs to be addressed as well.
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steve
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Post Posted: Fri Jun 19, 2015 2:29 pm   Re: Found Turtle and it's really dry and not eating! Help!

Wow, that's embarrassing...Sorry I didn't notice that. Maybe summer vacation isn't that good for me...
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Post Posted: Sat Jun 20, 2015 12:21 am   Re: Found Turtle and it's really dry and not eating! Help!

Heh, no worries :)
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Post Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2015 5:50 pm   Re: Found Turtle and it's really dry and not eating! Help!

We have had a red eared slider turtle for 10 years. He is about 5 inches long and eats pellets. He stopped eating a week ago. He sits on an elevated perch basking in sun, does not go in water. I am very worried. I even put food on perch and he ignores it. We have gravel in the bottom of tank, but he has been in same tank for 8 years.
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Post Posted: Tue Jun 30, 2015 9:04 pm   Re: Found Turtle and it's really dry and not eating! Help!

Hi Linda, can you make a new post and fill in some of these questions? viewtopic.php?t=2142
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