Feeding and Nutrition :: Seems to have a hard time swallowing?

[Kaliko22]

I am new to this forum, I am a part of caudata.org for my axolotl but they don't seem to handle turtle questions. I have a juvenile Res, and he has recently started to eat less and even when I give him pieces of earth worm it is like he doesn't swallow them as easy. My daughter noticed right around the time this started that he looked as if he pooped out blood. What it was was he had eaten a piece of his shell that he had shed. It was one from the outer ridge, so not a big one. The piece did look stained red. I assumed that this could be the problem but he doesn't seem to be getting better. His water is warm enough and he is active like normal. When given his regular turtle food he eats some, but not as much. Goes crazy as usual for worms, but just seems to have a hard time getting it down. I am not sure if tank size could have an issue? The man that had him before had him in a 20g tank and wanted to get rid of him. Now he is in a 40g breeder. Now that he has grown I am going to get him a nice big tank just has to wait a couple months until tax return. Any help would be great! He seems fine otherwise.

[cutepanda86]

He ate a piece of his shell? Wow. One would think that doing that would damage his throat and his insides. Have you taken him to the vet?

How big is your turtle? A 40 gallon breeder should be fine (provided your turtle isn't bigger than 6 or 7 inches) and would not affect his swallowing unless there is not enough water in the tank for him. If he's a juvenile then he definitely shouldn't be that big.

[Kaliko22]

He is right at that length. So time to start thinking of an upgrade. Does their appetite go down after shedding at all? Maybe like a kid where they wat like crazy then grow, and appetite decreases? No vet yet because he is active and still eats, just not eating as much. Unless he ate another piece and can't pass it? :/ not sure if I have a vet that handles turtles around me but I will start looking into it. There's no gravel or anything either, bare bottom, so I know it couldn't be impacted from anything else.

[cutepanda86]

My Sheldon hasn't started shedding yet (since I bought him) so I'm not sure. He's had a fungus so he's a little behind on that one. I would definitely look into a vet. Message Steve he may have a better answer for you.

[Kaliko22]

Ok thanks. He's still very excited about food too. Just so weird he's not eating as much.

[cutepanda86]

Welcome. It's good that he is still eating.