General Care Discussion :: Two questions.

[Pizza]

So one of my turtles breathe really loud when they're in the water, usually after swimming (mostly after swimming hard), and when it stops, and pokes its head out of the water, it begins to breathe like this for a few seconds. It isn't constantly, but it's noticeable. It's just loud breathing, is this normal or not?

Also, I recently gained an 11-12 inch female RES, and it's 15+ years old. I wonder if it's pyrimiding or not, the shell doesn't form like a triangle, the middle of the carapace actually looks quite normal, but it's the left and right sides of the carapace that kind of bump up (or bulge out), making two small, raised areas. The turtle seems healthy and fine, so I'm just wondering if turtles at this age and size have the sides of the shells slightly "bump" up?
It also seems to be swimming and clawing at the sides of the tank frequently, so it might be eggs, I'll have to get that checked out and make a nesting area if so in the next few days, but could eggs cause these two bumps? Maybe it was a previous deformity? Since the turtle looks fine now.

[cam722]

I can't answer about the breathing issue as I've no experience with that, but as for the pyramiding. Pyramiding isn't that the whole carapace is "triangle" shaped, it's the individual scutes being raised in a pyramid shape. So it would have a lot of bumps all over it's shell, instead of being nice and smooth. I don't think the fact that a turtle needs to lay eggs would affect these scoots, I believe you can feel the eggs on the back underside of the turtle if there were any.. but not on the carapace. (Again, not something I've had to deal with) If you can post a picture, that might help and I'm sure someone else will be able to answer the breathing issue.

[Muirner]

breathing loud outside of the water from what i hear is signs of an RI. What is your turtles behavior like other then that? Active? eating?

[Pizza]

It's pretty active, and it only breathes loud sometimes, it's not a common occurance.

And I'll try to get some pictures once the turtle has settled in, it's still pretty aggressive to me.

[myeeyore174]

my turtle breathes loud sometimes as well, not on a regular basis though. maybe (depending on how big your tank is) they are tired.

[BullDog]

I think you're right myeeyore... I notice when Ralph is frantically swimming in his tank (ie whenever he sees me) when he comes up for air I can hear him breath. Also, if he's been under water for a while, then comes up, I can sometimes hear him too...

[industrial_girl_2000]

So one of my turtles breathe really loud when they're in the water, usually after swimming (mostly after swimming hard), and when it stops, and pokes its head out of the water, it begins to breathe like this for a few seconds. It isn't constantly, but it's noticeable. It's just loud breathing, is this normal or not?

Also, I recently gained an 11-12 inch female RES, and it's 15+ years old. I wonder if it's pyrimiding or not, the shell doesn't form like a triangle, the middle of the carapace actually looks quite normal, but it's the left and right sides of the carapace that kind of bump up (or bulge out), making two small, raised areas. The turtle seems healthy and fine, so I'm just wondering if turtles at this age and size have the sides of the shells slightly "bump" up?
It also seems to be swimming and clawing at the sides of the tank frequently, so it might be eggs, I'll have to get that checked out and make a nesting area if so in the next few days, but could eggs cause these two bumps? Maybe it was a previous deformity? Since the turtle looks fine now.

Congrats on inheriting a BIG baby! Can you post a picture? Eggs don't necessarily cause shell bumps. That's probably just genetics, but posting a pic or two can help us help you with this question.

I would definitely prepare a nesting area, just in case she needs it. Also, if you let her out of the tank, does she dig in the carpet with her hind legs? Let her walk around for a few hours & see if she stops in one spot & starts digging digging digging. If so, that is definitely a sign of eggs.

When a turtle pokes it's head out of the water & starts breathing again after being submerged for a while, it is normal to hear a slight whistle noise from their nose as the water clears out or a slightly windy breathing noise. As long as they aren't breathing with their mouth open, it's fine.

[Pizza]

In that case, my turtles heve never been breathing with their mouths open, so I guess it's fine.

I haven't let her out onto the carpet yet, but that's a good suggestion, I'll try it over the weekend when I have more time.

As for pictures, I'll try to get some over the weekend too, the turtles are more docile now (except for the big one again, which won't stop clawing the glass), and I have misplaced my camera somewhere.

As for the bumps, they arent that bad now that I look at them, they just seem to protrude outwards on the two sides of the shell, they're about half a cm higher than the middle of the shell.

Another question came up, regarding my littlest turtle (also the only male), while the 3 larger females spend most of their time out in the water doing their thing, my male spends 90% of its time (even when sleeping) just chillin' under my Turtle Dock alone, where it's darker, and is not disturbed. It's been 5 days since I've had him now, is this normal? He comes out occasionally, usually when I put food out, that's about it.
The other day I saw him flutter his claws at a female(mating perhaps?), he chased her around for a few minutes, then she snapped at him, and he retreated back into his dark corner, that's the most activity I've seen from him.

[marisa]

If you've posted the size of your tank elsewhere, I don't remember (sorry), but how big is the tank/container you have these (4?) turtles in? If it's too small, he could be stressed. If he's made advances toward the females and they've snapped at him, perhaps he's intimidated. Does he eat well? Does he bask at all that you know of?

BTW, a 15-year-old RES that's 11-12 inches is not likely to be pyramiding---this would have already happened, and the damage is done. I saw an wild adult female Eastern Painted turtle last summer that had two bulges on both sides of the carapace toward the front of the shell (kind of like padded shoulders); it was definitely a deformity. Being gravid (with eggs) wouldn't have anything to do with the lumps.

I've heard of turtles sometimes making a noise (like a low whistle) when their head emerges from the water, but this is not considered to be the norm. I've seen it chalked up to expelling air, especially if they're near the glass (kind of like blowing on a bottle) or something to do with the turtle's nasal passages. With no other symptoms, it's just something your turtle does.

[Pizza]

Well from my previous post:

"And right now their current enclosure is too small I know that, at 90G, I plan on getting a larger tank (or several smaller) in the next few months, if I can sum up the $$$, or I'll just get a big tub of some sort. The turtles like to be together though, that's for sure, they all huddle up together.".

Well what you described is nearly exact with how my turtle looks, so I guess it's fine now. And I think my turtles breathing is fine, based on what you, and others have said.

Yeah, the tank is too small, I'll try to get a bigger one when I get enough $$$. I've only seen him do that thing once so far, of course I don't watch them all day, but other than that situation, he seems to get along with the others fine, he swims among them, and they huddle together, he tries to climb over one of them sometimes. He eats when I put food out there (only when it has all sunk down to the bottom though, same with my other turtles). Most of the time however, he likes to stay in his dark little corner under my turtle dock, though sometimes another turtle joins him. It's strange, he often swims out of his dark area, then swims back in, and repeats this a lot. And he's tried basking, or getting on the dock, but he can't get on (as described in more detail in my topic in "Habitat - Indoor, Stabilizing the Turtle Dock). He tries to get on, but always slips off the edge, or can't pull himself up.