Turtle Troubles?

Question

I have a red eared turtle about 2 months old that I recently recieved from it's first owner.

(1.) How do you tell that the turtle is breathing?

(2.) It jerks every so often while on the basking rock(head goes up and down while front legs look as if is trying to push it self upwards), is that normal? What does it mean?

(3.)How do you treat swollen eyes?

(4.) How close should he be to the heat lamp?

Any suggestions on how to care for my new turtle would be greatly appreciated!! Thank You!

Answer 1

1. if it's alive it's breathing (they can capture air from water)
2. I'm unsure, go to a vet, your pet isn't healthy but it might just be relaxing.
3. go to a pet store or vet
4. close enough that you can FEEL the heat but not too close. about 2 feet?

do not touch your turtle, unlike cats and dogs they dislike cuddles, the first thing you should do is get it a vet. treats such as earth worms should be given once a week. if your pet is a baby it'll want meat much more than vegetation but do not give it too much.

Answer 2

1. Look at the soft spaces beside the neck. If they move, its breathing. Turtles breath slowly, so be patient.

2. Head bobbing, push-ups, and the 'sun worship position' (head stretched up and back, front legs pushing the turtle up, back legs splayed out) are perfectly normal during basking.

3. One swollen eye can be an injury, but both is usually either dirty water or a vitamin A problem. Review the basic cares at one of the sites below to learn how to deal with this.

4. The heat lamp should warm the basking area to about 90 degrees. Move the lamp to accomplish this. The turtle should never be able to touch any part of the lamp.

I'd bet that there are a couple glitches in your basic care- I'd guess the folowing:

a- Small tank. Turtles like big spaces. Aim for 10 gallons of water per inch of turtle. This means that a baby turtle should be in a 15-20 gallon tank. You will also want to plan for the near future when you'll need 60 gallons of water.

b- Water quality. Turtles are messy eaters. You need 2 or 3 times the filtration a fish needs, or you'll be changing water a LOT. If you smell 'turtle', the water needs changing.

c- Water temp. We want the water around 75-80 degrees,

d- Diet. For small turtles, try a mix of high-quality turtle pellets and live bloodworms to start with. You can add other live or frozen/thawed things like small fish, worms, crustaceans, etc.

For more ideas, check out http://www.redearslider.com or http://www.austinsturtlepage.com

Answer 3

1- for breathing you can usually them breath when their legs are spread out. the skin near the thigh will move with each breath.
2-It's probably jerking to try and move from the rock.
3-swollen eyes, go to pet store and ask for recommendations of any product they may have. I recommend an antibiotic for the water.
4- Not closer than let's say a ruler (30cm) but always make sure that the heat lamp is only on a section of the aquarium. they should be able to move away from the light when they want.
Here are some ideas for treats. They really like shrimps and ham. Good luck.

Answer 4

Swollen eyes can be a sign of a vitamin A deficiency in turtles. A vet experienced with reptiles should be able to give him an injection of vitamin A. Swollen eyes can also be a sign of an upper respiratory infection in turtles. Either way, it should be seen by a vet!!

Answer 5

Sounds like you have a reptile dysfuction! Seroiusy though-the previous answers are excellent and should be of much help. Enjoy your turtle!

Answer 6

Red eared sliders, being aquatic in nature, tend to breath using a pulsating motion from their necks. There is also a section of baggy skin just in front of the rear legs that will occassionally inflate with air. Turtles, lacking a flexible ribcage (their ribcages are fused to -- and part of -- their shells), have no diaphragm like we do. That, and their reduced metabolisms (they don't have to heat their own bodies like we do, relying instead on environmental temperatures), mean that their breathing is very subtle unless they're stressed or excited.

The spasms that you've noted aren't necessarilly anything to worry about -- in fact, you may note that he appears to be straining when climbing up to bask. Water turtles have relatively poor skeletal-muscular efficiency outside of the water, despite their grace while being submerged. This inefficientcy can cause poor motor cordination and make them appear... well... old. They're water hunters, so this doesn't present a problem for an actively feeding turtle while it hunts underwater. In fact, pitty the grasshopper that falls into the water!

If your turtle has swollen eyes, it can be caused by several different factors -- but is usually always treatable. The most common, as another poster here noted, is a vitamin A deficiantcy (more common in land turtles than water turtles). The second cause is excessive stress, which weakens a turtle's immune system (hey, stress plays a number on US, too!) and allows them to fall victim to fungal and bacterial problems that they would ordinarilly never worry about. Treatment involves three steps:

1) Purchase a bag of powdered tetracycline (sometimes called OXYtetracycline) at any farmer's feed store. This usually costs less than $5 a bag, and you've got more than enough to treat your turtle. Two to three times a day, create a mix of water and tetracycline -- just enough tetracycline to make the water a light yellow -- and soak the turtle for 15-20 minutes in this solution. I've used five gallon buckets for this in the past, and would recommend them since your turtle can't excape it if you should have to tend to something else while soaking it. MAKE SURE THE TURTLE CAN REACH THE TOP OF THE WATER TO BREATH. Simply adding antibiotics to the turtle's normal water area won't help: Tetracycline is light-sensitive, and loses effectiveness within approximately a half an hour of exposure.

2) Get yourself two thermometers. Place one in the general area of his water, and one by his basking area. Unless you plan on hybernating him (which I don't recommend if he has eye problems), you'll want to keep the temperature between 75-85 degrees. Lower than 75 degrees, and any food your turtle eats will merely rot in its digestive tract rather than contribute to nutrition. Fish water heaters, high-watage light bulbs (100-150W depending on the depth of the tank it's being housed in), and ceramic heaters are all options. NEVER allow the turtle to be close enough to touch any sort of bulb or ceramic heater. And no "hot rocks" for water turtles! They aren't meant for moist environments -- nor do they do anything to raise the ambient air temperatures. The overall temperature should be more of a consideration than distance between a light and the turtle, so long as the light's well out of the turtle's reach (they can actually get out of the darnedest places, so make sure nothing climbable can lead to the light) Keep in mind that if you use nothing but light bulbs to heat the tank, your turtle will experience quite the temperature drop at night when the lights go out. Ceramic heaters may be more expensive than bulbs, but they throw no light, and have no filaments to burn out. You can light a cigarette off of one, though -- so give it distance from not only the turtle, but drapes and other flamables as well.

3) Keep the tank clean. Filters won't do it. Healthy water turtles have hearty appitites, and what goes in will be more than happy to come back out. Keeping the water freshly changed also reduces bacteria and aids you in your quest to clear up those eye infections.

Every attempt should be made to get your turtle to eat. Red Ears enjoy largely animal-based foods, but will sometimes nibble at a leaf of romaine lettuce or spinach that you allow to float on the water. Otherwise, earthworms (don't worry about the size -- the turtle's good at cutting them down to be easilly swallowed), mealworms, waxworms, goldfish (dead or alive), ground hamburger (as a treat only, or when you notice that his bones are a bit more pronounced than usual), and even canned dog food are often greedilly accepted. The average yard -- assuming no pesticides have been used -- will often keep a turtle in food for quite some time; turn over a rock or two, and you're bound to find something he'll like. Pet stores also usually sell crickets, mealworms, and the like. Bait shops can be a good place to find earthworms, if you'd rather not dig up the yard and probes don't appeal to you. Lots of good care books are availible, too, and are worth their weight in gold.

Answer 7

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