Turtle diseases

Question
Hi Mark,

I have a pet red-eared slider. The shell measures about 4 1/2 inches. I feed it fish, pellets, vegetables, fruit and reptile calcium on the foods. It's been about 2 1/2 weeks since the problem started.  The turtle, about every 30 seconds it opens its mouth extremely wide and his throat swells up or gets bloated. It then closes its mouth and lies down to rest. What's going on? What should I do? What is the disease?  

Answer
This sort of yawning behavior can have many causes-

- Normal breathing, sort of.

- Stressed- too hot, too cold, too crowded, dirty water, etc.

- Early stage of a respiratory infection.

What needs to happen is you should review the care and diet suggestions at a good site like http://www.redearslider.com and see if there are things in your habitat to change or tweak.

Good luck!