Red Eared Turtle

Question
QUESTION: Dear Amanda,

My turtle is a red eared turtle and she is not well. I am as well in Dubai and I as well cant find a veterinary that knows how to treat turtles.

She is 8 cm in size and her bottom shell is very damaged. The top dows not look bad, is just soft but the bottom one is very flaky and soft and it looks like it just peeled away.It was never dropped or hit and before it was very healthy.

She is very week and she as well is opening her mouth very often (i thinks is breathing thru her mouth)and she dows not in in days now.

I am giving her a multy vitamin dietary dupplement (vit A, D3, Calcium, Phosphorus) now and I am keeping her in little water
with Pimafix (antifungical remedy-pimenta racemosa).

Every evening I am putting her in a little water with iodine for few minutes and then get her out and keep her on dry for the night.

Because she is not eating I am giving her the some forced food. I am crushing food palets and mix them with the vitamins and little water and feed her with a seringe. I am not sure how much of it she is swallowing but it must go in some.I started since 2 days but she is still week and soft.

Whever i am putting her in the water something goes out from her mouth. Is like she takes water in and she spits out and it comes with small particules of something.

Please let me know if this is fine or if you have any other suggestions for me. I really want to mke her feel better.

Thank you
Cristina

ANSWER: Hi Cristina,

I'm very sorry, but your turtle is in bad shape and without veterinary attention probably won't survive.  I'll do what I can to help, but don't be too optimistic.

First, go to this link and read it all carefully:  www.redearslider.com.  Most likely there are things in your husbandry that need correction.  In particular, UVB and diet are most important.  My guess is that the pet shop gave you completely wrong information and this is why your turtle is so ill.  

The soft shell indicates that her diet is very inadequate and this isn't something that you can easily correct at this stage.  Vitamin supplementation is very easy to overdose (the correct range isn't really known) and by giving her a supplement you're probably doing more harm than good.  In addition, force feeding is something that needs to be done carefully and should be demonstrated by someone experienced to avoid aspiration of liquid into the lungs.  The open-mouthed breathing indicates that she may have aspiration pneumonia as well.  The shell may also have a fungal infection, but it's hard to say without actually seeing the turtle.  The softness and condition of the shell is what concerns me most at this point.

RES need good water quality, so that means good water filtration.  They also need adequate basking and swimming room (a turtle your size should have a 20 to 30 gallon tank, but an adult male will need at least 50 gallons and an adult female 100 gallons) with water heated to about 75-78 degrees, and a basking spot of 90 degrees.  Diet for a juvenile should include a variety of animal protein (boiled chicken/shrimp/egg, fish, worms, crickets, etc.) as well as leafy greens (turnip, dandelion, collards, kale, mustard, etc.).  A good pelleted diet is OK but ONLY as part of a varied diet, not by itself.  Put a cuttlebone in the water so the turtle can get extra calcium if needed.  

Good luck with your turtle.  Please post back and let me know how she does.

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

QUESTION: Hi Amanda,

Thank you for your reply.

Unfortunately my turtle died.

I managed to find a vet that is aware of turtles but it was too late.

Thank you again.

Cristina

Answer
Hi Cristina,

I'm very sorry to hear about your turtle.  It did sound as though she was in bad shape, so there probably wasn't much that could have been done.  If you decide to get another turtle, there is a lot of good information online to help you.  As I said, pet shops usually don't know much about turtle care and will often give out pretty bad information.  The website I gave you has good information (and there's a forum, too), and here's a couple more links to read:

http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/caresheet-red_ear_slider.htm
http://tortoise.org/general/watcare.html

Hope this helps, and again, I'm so sorry that your turtle has passed away.