Hi guys, maybe I just need some moral support here more than anything else...
I got a baby RES called Jacques about five weeks ago. He's like max 2 inches long, and I've never seen him eat anything. In his first week here his eyes became swollen and he became incredibly lethargic (probably a result of poor husbandry before I bought him), so I took him to the vet and they gave me a six-week course of Baytril, a calcium supplement and a food supplement, all of which were to be given by syringe.
Anyway, I'm just over three weeks into the course and he's a lot better. His eyes are always open, he swims more, and when I pick him up to give him his meds he kicks with some fire in his belly.
However, he's still not eating 'real' food, and as you can imagine the administration of the meds every day just massively freaks him out. You're not supposed to handle turtles very often, but I have no option but to handle him every single day and then poke at his mouth with a syringe. He must just associate me with fear and discomfort.
My vet suggests that I finish the course of antibiotics, but I can't see him eating naturally while this is ongoing. He's just too stressed out by it. I wonder, if a turtle's first experience with food is a six-week force-feeding nightmare, do they ever come round to the idea of actually eating real food? Part of me wants to just stop with the syringe and try to entice him with bugs and fish. I'm not even worried about any infection anymore, I'm just worried that once all this is over he won't eat and will just starve and malnourish himself to death slowly.
Maybe the idea that a turtle can be mentally scarred is ridiculous though? I don't know. Any advice would be great.
(p.s. My setup is fine, done weeks of research.)
