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When my turtle basks,i notice a little water droplet drip from his mouth when it is closed.He is swimming fine and eating,nothing different except the drop of water dripping from his mouth.

Im worried because ive seen this for a couple of days.


Is it normal?

Are you sure it's not coming from his nose? If he is acting normal, it's probably nothing, just keep an eye on him.....

The same thing happens with Napoleon, in his case it's definitely coming from his mouth. I suspect an RI for other reasons, I'm not sure if this is a symptom or not.

I'm going to be calling around tomorrow to try to find a decent turtle vet, wish me luck...

How long is he out of the water when the water comes out of his mouth? Reason why I ask is because many times a turtle will get out of the water to bask and they still have water in their mouth from when they were in the water. They don't necessarily "spit out" the water just before they get up on their basking dock & the excess water can stay in their mouth for a while after they get out to bask. And once they let the water drip out of their mouth, no more water should come out after that. I have let Sheba out to walk around and sometimes I pick her up & water drips out of her mouth after she is almost completely dried off (she especially does this if she thinks I am getting food out of the fridge....almost like she is "salivating", LOL!). This behavior is totally normal for some turtles.

On the other hand, if your turtle is opening his mouth a lot on the basking dock & you hear him take a breath every time he opens his mouth, then that is RI & requires a vet.

industrial_girl_2000 wrote:How long is he out of the water when the water comes out of his mouth? Reason why I ask is because many times a turtle will get out of the water to bask and they still have water in their mouth from when they were in the water. They don't necessarily "spit out" the water just before they get up on their basking dock & the excess water can stay in their mouth for a while after they get out to bask. And once they let the water drip out of their mouth, no more water should come out after that. I have let Sheba out to walk around and sometimes I pick her up & water drips out of her mouth after she is almost completely dried off (she especially does this if she thinks I am getting food out of the fridge....almost like she is "salivating", LOL!). This behavior is totally normal for some turtles.

On the other hand, if your turtle is opening his mouth a lot on the basking dock & you hear him take a breath every time he opens his mouth, then that is RI & requires a vet.

Kristin,thanks for clearing things up.My turtle doesnt yawn alot,in fact i havent seen him yawn in days.And yes it is from his mouth and it happens when he is drying out.Im so glad its normal,ive been so paranoid lately

Thanks!

Starchick wrote:The same thing happens with Napoleon, in his case it's definitely coming from his mouth. I suspect an RI for other reasons, I'm not sure if this is a symptom or not.

I'm going to be calling around tomorrow to try to find a decent turtle vet, wish me luck...

Good luck,i hope everything goes well.Turtles are strong animals if anything he should be able to recover no prob .Update us on what the vet said,OK?

yea Norman does the same thing. I think its kinda funny.
My daughter calls him "Norman Needabib"