Urgent Care

How big is your turtle? around 1 inch
How long have you had it? 2 weeks

What is the water temperature? 80 degrees F
Did you use a thermometer? yes
Are you using a water heater? no
How much water is in there? 5 cups
Are you using a water conditioner? yes
Are you using any filtration? no

What is the basking temperature? 76 degrees F
Is there a basking light? yes
Is there a basking platform that is easy to climb on? yes
What kind is it or what is it made out of? plastic (comes with the tank.)
Is there a UVB light? yes

What have you been trying to feed it? ReptoMin pellets, cuttle bone, shrimp
When was the last time your turtle ate? This morning I think. He bits the food but then a whole bunch of crumbs comes out. So I don't know if he ate any? Yesterday he started to create crumb. The day before yesterday, he never had any crumbs.

How big is the tank/pond/enclosure? The tank is around 11 inch in diameter (4 inches tall), with a steps leading to the basking platform in the center
Is the tank near a window? About 2.5 ft away from the window.
Is the tank in a room with a lot of activity? My sister and my computers are around a feet away from his tank. We are the only activities in the room.

Have you read the Basic Care section? I read a lot of websites on how to properly take care of these little guys.
Have you searched the forums for similar situations? Yes. There is a forum with similar symptoms, but my turtle isn't eating. viewtopic.php?t=14057

Is there any other unusual activity/symptoms? My turtle opens and closes his mouth underwater. He started to do this today. He opens his mouth VERY wide and then sometimes it's just a small gap. This afternoon he would open and close and then come up for air, I guess? Sometimes when he opens his mouth and right when he is about to close it he jerks a little and his mouth opens wide again. He floats when he does this. This happened for around 15-20 min. Now he's just sitting there with his head above the water. He didn't poop for the past two days, but today he poop a little. Seems very watery. Is there something wrong with him?

I have two other RES turtles as well. At first I just had one turtle (around 2 inches). I felt bad because she looks so bored everyday, so I decided to get two more. I tried to put all three of them together but the big one keeps shaking her hands at the others. And when the small ones don't respond, she attempts to bite them. So I separated the small ones from the big one. After doing that, one of the small ones started to bite the other small one. Now I have to separate all three of them. o..O!! The big one has the heater and filter. I can't afford to create two more tanks for the small ones, so I just kept them in the small tank for now. I let all three meet for about an hour everyday (under close monitoring), so that they can somehow get along? The room temperature is very hot so their tank usually stays around 80 degrees F.

PLEASE HELP!!! THANK YOU!!

Does your turtle bask? Your answers list your basking temperature as less than your water temp. Ideally, the basking area should be at least 10 degrees F warmer than the water.

Opening his mouth like that could be a sign of a respiratory inflection(RI), but if there are no other symptoms like swimming on his side, mucus from his mouth, less activity or not eating, I would not worry too much yet.

There's a topic on the main site that lists symptoms of RI

http://www.redearslider.com/respiratory_behavior.html

You should probably read that, and wait to see what others here have to say. I've only cared for a RES for a few months and have not had to deal with health issues.

Thanks for the reply!!

When I move him to the bigger tank he basks. For a very long time too.

At the other forum people said that opening the mouth underwater is fine. He only opens/closes his mouth underwater. No mucus or sneezing/wheezing/coughing. No bubbles too. Swims normally. Just lack of eating today and that mouth thing underwater. He still swims around though and occasionally stares at one direction for a LONG time.

Is there direct sunlight reaching the tank?

Thanks for the reply! The side of the building I live on don't get direct sunlight, so I got them UVB bulbs (Repti Glo 2.0 UVB 26 W) and they also have basking light bulb.

Last night he sneezed twice! And this morning, once. But that's about it. So I bump up his tanks water temperature to 87 degrees F.

He's still not eating. There's no mucus in his nose. He's just sleeping a lot.

UPDATE: he sneezed some more. So I bump up the water temperature to 90 degrees F. Then he slept for a while. Woke up and started to become more active. Took a bite out of a pellet, but looks like he spit most of it back out. I then changed his tank to get rid of bacteria from his sneezes. Made sure the water was back at 90 degrees F before putting him in the clean tank (added conditioner too). Gave him a cuttlebone. He took two bites on the cuttlebone and then gave up on it. Now he's back to sleeping.

UPDATE: since the last time i posted. I've been trying to keep his water temperature above 90 degrees. Usually around 94 ish. He stopped eating 11/29/12. He then threw up that night. It was mainly cuttlebone, which i guess was too hard for him to digest and he was not eating too fast as he stopped eating that day. But the next day he started to eat normally. Active (swims like crazy at the tank sometimes). BUT the only thing now is he keeps on sneezing every once in a while. Usually when he sticks his head above the water to breathe. He breathes a little weirdly. Sometimes he breathes and you see that his neck expand and deflates at a constant rate. But other times it expands...holds for awhile...then deflate...the rate is very abnormal. And that is when he starts to sneeze. After every sneeze he becomes in active for a while and then he decides to sleep. No sneezes when he sleep. No mucus in his nose. His eyes are ok. Shell is ok. He sometimes stands lopsided when he goes up for air, but usually he's not. And sometimes he swims lopsided and sometimes normal.

Anybody know what's wrong? Is it RI?

Oh right...sometimes he just sneezes once a day...and like today he sneezed over 10 times...it varies a lot. I've been observing for a long time and ive done a lot of research...nothing really matches his condition. I really want to bring him to the vet...but the only time I did that...my other turtle died the same day I bought him back from the vet and the bill was $350 ish. I really can't afford to do that again. :[

feed it live brine shrimp. i had a sick turtle that wouldnt eat anything but live brine shrimp. The turtle ultimately died (rescued him too late) but at least he ate before he passed on. just make sure you dont overfeed ethe shrimp to your turtle.

What is he willing to eat?

He eat the ReptoMin pellets, cuttle bone, and Krills. He won't eat Carrots (sliced thinly) though. I havent try feeding him anything else. He eats every time I feed him. I just don't know why he sneezes every once in a while. He's active and he is no longer doing the opening and closing of his mouth underwater.

The sneezing, in this case, could be because of a variety of reasons. The water temp. being TOO cold, Low water levels, the water temp. being TOO warm, etc.

I would suggest getting a large rubbermaid (or similar type) of container(s) as soon as possible. The bigger the better.
Please also take time to know the ins and outs of keeping a RES (red-eared slider).

Link:
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/c ... slider.htm
Plus, the main site, redearslider.com, has some good information too.

p.s. It might seem like a LOT of reading at first, especially if your not use to it, but the more you read the better you'll know how to take care your turtles.

Ok, I had this issue with my first turtle (Lily, I miss her dearly - she was such a soul). As you may already be able to tell, I don't bear the greatest news.

What you've described, at least from what I can see, is a Respiratory Infection. These are quite serious and common in baby turtles. They can get them in a multitude of ways, but the most common is from an open enclosure at the pet store and human-turtle contact with improper hand-washing.

You need to see a vet! I know that sucks, and the bills are expensive - but TRUST me, you'll feel better afterwards. We were, unfortunately given bad news with our vet visit - our little turtles veins were too small for the antibiotics that she needed, and she did end up dying about a week after the vet visit.

My biggest regret with Lily: I was in denial for too long. I noticed the exact same signs about a week after purchasing her, and I thought "she'll pull through" - SEE A VET, it's an absolute must. Expect about 300 dollars for visit, x-ray (which they need to do to confirm respiratory illness), and medicine (if your little guy needs it).

IN THE MEANTIME: raise the water temperature and basking site. You need to turn your tank in a "hospital tank" - remove all plants, take out any gravel - all he needs is a basking site with higher temperatures (95 degrees or so - bring the light closer until you reach this), and WARM water - for a baby that size, anything between 85-88 degrees is good for getting healthier.

Also, about the carrots: a lot of baby turtles won't touch vegetables, so don't worry about that.

Sorry for not updating in a long time. Been busy. My turtle is fine now. I didn't take him to the vet. I left him out of the water for one day, but not when he has to eat. After one day, he got better.

I think what happened was, he ate the cuttlebone too fast or the cuttlebone was just too hard that his intestine might have gotten hurt eating that. DONT FEED YOUR BABY TURTLES CUTTLEBONE. The white stuff that kept on coming out of his mouth stopped after I left him out of the water for a day. I'm just glad he's all better now.

I put all three turtles together and they seem to be getting along. Except sometimes the big one bites the little ones leg, arm, and face. Something new I've been dealing with.

Why won't you keep them separated until they are larger?

Urgent Care :: Turtle mouth opens/closes + stops eating + a little inactive

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