I am just curious I had a red eared slider and he passed away after having it only a couple of months and i was just curious if he had a disease could he have passed it to a human?
2006-12-14 02:55:06 · 3 answers · asked by Tiffany 1 in Pets ➔ Reptiles
The main illness a turtle can give a person is Salmonella- a rather mild food poisoning. Otherwise, few of the things that can infect a cold-blooded animal will bother a warm-blooded one.
Turtles often die on us quickly when we follow 'old' care ideas.
You see, turtles love space, warmth, and sunlight. They want BIG tanks (at least 10 gallons of swimming space per inch of turtle), heated to about 75-80 with basknig sites heated to about 90, and lighting that simulates the sun and provides UV-B rays.
They also need reasonably clean water, which takes about 2-3 times more filtration than fish do, and a diet that is rich in nutrients. Too many inexpensive packaged 'turtle flakes' simply are not good, nor are things like head lettuce, hamburger, hot dogs, or mealworms- all things many shops recommend using.
Once you get a good habitat going (which can easily run $100), turtles are pretty easy to care for and can live a couple decades with few problems.
Put a turtle in a small bowl or small tank without enough room to play, keep it too cool, and/or don't permit it access to real sunlight (or a good fake, and the UV-B rays don't pass through most glass or plastics) and it will be in trouble.
Compound the problem with poor diet and dirty water and most pet turtles sadly die within months.
The good news is that it probably was not a disease that did it, so no infection worries, and that if you decide to try again using better care info, you will probably be successful!
2006-12-14 04:12:38 · answer #1 · answered by Madkins007 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes, turtles can carry multiple Zoonotic diseases. Fungal, bacterial, viral, and paracitic. They are also carriers of salmonella. Though unless it was a serious internal paracite issue, I doubt it was any of these that killed the turtle.
2006-12-15 03:27:19 · answer #2 · answered by lemonnpuff 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
no i dont think so i think red ears are resistant to it not sure 100%
2006-12-14 03:36:13 · answer #3 · answered by ellimnist 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋