small RES always sleeping

Question
QUESTION: Hi there Jeannie, i have 2 RES one is small and the other is medium size both same age 6 months old..
the small one has spent the last days always sleeping closing its eyes and doesn't eat except 2 or 3 pieces of shrimp while the medium one is always active and eats a lot both together.
Can u help me plz??? i live in Egypt and its warm this time of year i give them sun bathes every day...

ANSWER: Hi Angy,

If your turtles started out the same size and one has grown more than the other, it may be eating most of the food and taking up the best basking spots.  You may want to separate them into their own tanks until the smaller one recovers.

If you are putting them outside to get natural sunlight, make sure they aren't in a glass tank and that they always have plenty of shade/cooler water.  If they overheat, they may die, and when they're small it doesn't take much for them to get too warm.

Make sure you're keeping them correctly, in a tank big enough for both of them, with adequate basking area and very good filtration.  The water temperature should be 75-78 degrees, with basking temperature around 88 degrees.  If they're able to get some natural sunlight every day, you don't need to provide a UVB light, but again, be very, very careful about overheating.  Juvenile RES are mostly carnivorous, but some greens should also be offered.  Put a piece of cuttlebone in the water so they can get extra calcium if needed.

Here's some websites with care information that may be helpful:

www.redearslider.com
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/caresheet-red_ear_slider.htm (also read the information under "Turtle Care" on this site on water quality and housing)

Good luck!

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: Thanks a lot for the answer and the site. It has been sometime now and my res is still the same size he is so week and is always sick and coughing.... i try to put him in the sun every day, he now eats better but i dont know what to do with the sickness.
Thx alot for the previous answer i hope i can get him through this stage...
thx in advance.

ANSWER: Hi Angy,

Turtles can't really cough because they don't have diaphragms like we do.  If you mean that your turtle is stretching his neck out and opening his mouth, that is a sign of a respiratory infection and means that your turtle needs antibiotics.  Try putting him in some water and see if he swims tilted to one side.  That's another sign of a respiratory infection.  You'll need to get him to a vet who can prescribe antibiotics (usually that would be injectible Baytril).  If he does have a respiratory infection, it won't get better on its own and may eventually turn into pneumonia.  Unfortunately I'm not in your country so can't give you advise on finding a good vet.  I did find this one in Cairo, but the listing is rather old so I don't know if it's any good:

Dr. Farouk Baghat
PDSA Animal Hospital Lufthansa and G.E. Veterinary Commissioner
Cairo, Egypt
Tel: 822294 or 2914985

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: you are right he does swim tilted.... and by coughing yes he opens his mouth and gets his neck back and sometimes he also gets out something like mucous, but i cant get to any vet im in alexandria... here in egypt we almost have no vets its terrible..............
can u help me with an antibiotic that i can find here????
and if his eating and moving increased these days is that any good sign ?????

Answer
I don't know that I can help too much with the antibiotic.  The one that I know for sure is safe and used with reptiles is Baytril (Fluoroquinolone), but I have no idea if you can get it there and I can't give you dosage information because I'm not a vet.  If you google "Baytril dosage for turtles" you should be able to get information on that.  

It's a good sign that he's eating and moving around more, but there's still a great risk that he will become sicker.  If you can expose him to natural sunlight (without overheating!) daily that will help, and increasing temperatures slightly when indoors may also help (no more than a degree or two Fahrenheit, though).  If at all possible, you should separate your turtles so that your other one doesn't get sick also.  Keep me posted and let me know how he's doing.