General Care Discussion

We adopted them from a guy that was given incomplete information about the care for these turtles.

The guy we got them from had them for about four months. They are about an 1 1/4 inch long. they've never had a heat source or uvb light that I know of. We are working on getting stuff together. They came in a 5 gal tank. We will have to rectify that soon. The tank did come with a filter(yay!) I purchased some food I though would be appropriate this morning

http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.j ... lInUS%2FNo

In spite of incomplete care they appear to be in relatively good health(hard to tell for sure, I know). Their eyes are clear and no nasal discharge or sneezing.

Please, any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Welcome to the forum!

Petsmart has a dollar per gallon sale right now, you can snag a 55 gallon for 55$ (extra 5 off if you use a coupon today). The new hatchling guide will let you know of the basics, like a heater, thermometer and filter (these are much cheaper when you buy online).

So far got them a uvb light, a basking light, a calcium bar, and water conditioner, plus the aforementioned pellets. tank will come soon, but one of them seem kind of stressed from the changes already made. I worry that a new environment will make him/her feel more insecure. He/she might also be sick from the sustained cold tank and lack of proper lighting. She/he spends a great deal of time in the basking area resting. She/he has only been witnessed eating today(one pellet). I hope his/her eating will improve soon. Are there any tips to entice eating? She/he has a soft shell, are there any external medicines I can use? Got the water to 79-81 while the basking area is about 90ish. The other one seems happy enough, eating well and swimming a lot.

For your feeding problem. Get some freeze dried shrimp or Blood worms. Hatchings and adult turtles for that matter love them. I just got 2 new babies a while back. One sleeps on the dock all day the other one is full of energy and eats like a pig. Turtles just have different personalities . Try the shrimp and see if the one not eating much likes them. Bet it does. One of my new ones the smaller of them likes zoo med hatchling formula the bigger one maybe 1 1/4" long likes reptomin baby pellets.They both love the shrimp and worms.

So the one is definitely sick. he/she has some mucus coming out of it's mouth. It does seem to be getting better though. He/she is becoming a little more active. From what I can gather, the vet will be able to do nothing. The turtle is just too small to medicate. Should I wait and see? I heard of this product http://www.petsmart.com/search/index.js ... ailInUS/No but I'm not sure which one I should try to get...or if I should just leave it alone and see..

Fingers crossed. Maintain water temps and keep the water clean, hopefully the little guy will come around.

devilduck wrote:Fingers crossed. Maintain water temps and keep the water clean, hopefully the little guy will come around.

Thank you for your well wishes. The waiting is so hard. Especially not being able to do anything more. I can't imagine how much longer the poor thing would have lasted in the cold water. I hope we got hold of him/her in time.

Don't use any water conditioner in the tank. Unless they are eating it I would also remove the calcium bar for now just so the water will be nice and clean. What's the water temp?

We changed the water last night. This morning the sick one had a couple pellets. Eating is a good sign. The mucus seemed less too and he/she was more active. The water is 80f basking area is 92f (taken with a temperature gun). I am starting to feel hopeful about this little one. I'll update again soon.

Update, by the end of the day water temp gets to 86f and basking gets to 97f

That is pretty warm for hatchlings. Are both still eating?

For now until we name them I will refer to them as red spot and yellow spot. The healthy one has a red spot on top of his head and the sick one has a yellow spot on top of his head. Red spot is eating a great deal. Yellow spot only eat a little. I did not see yellow spot eat anything this morning but I saw him eat yesterday. Yellow spot is not as active as red spot but is becoming more active than when we first got him. Yellow spot did not have any mucus coughed up this morning. unlike previous mornings. I am considering seeing if yellow spot would respond well to live food, perhaps some tiny crickets. yellow spot seemed interested when the pellets were moving around after first being dropped in the water, but didn't seem to want to leave the basking area. will try food again later today. We have an adjustable heat lamp so I can turn it down some. Changes in behavior, when we first got them yellow spot would stay on the basking spot and stick his head under water and open and close his mouth spiting mucus out, this morning he hasn't spit out any mucus. Since his activity has not declined I must assume this is a positive development. Will have to get a scale to weight them.

Kozakura wrote: yellow spot seemed interested when the pellets were moving around after first being dropped in the water, but didn't seem to want to leave the basking area.

Basking helps his little body fight the cold, so it's not such a bad thing he doesn't come down to eat at this point, but I think it's a good thing he seems interested in the moving food.
Glad to see things getting better!

Yellow spot ate sparingly last night, some pellets and freeze dried blood worms. This morning he had a good appetite. Several pellets and worms. I dropped food in till he stopped eating. This was the best Ive ever seen yellow spot eat. The inside of his mouth is still sort of grey pink and he still floats weird, so he's not cured yet, but everything says he is improving. Weighed both the turtles on a postal scale last night. Both were 7 grams.

That is good news. Keep us posted.

General Care Discussion :: New owner of 2 baby red eared turtles, need advice

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