Feeding and Nutrition :: Turtles diet and problems! Urgent.

[MyTurtleMartina]

So I have been a Turtle keeper for 3+ years although the Turtle I have at the moment is 2 1/2 years old. Her species is yellow bellied slider, gender well female, her size is 10 inches, she is unfortunately in a 40 gallon tank but I have been working hard to try to find a job and make money so I could properly care for her and make her a 120 gallon acrylic tank or indoor pond, but all this info is besides the point. I keep my turtle on a varied diet containing fresh plants, occasionally fruits and aquatic plants, live shrimp and guppies with the occasional crickets and meal-worms, with the very rare frozen fish, octopus and shrimp (octopus is fed more than any other frozen food). Problem is, is that I have a step-dad that sometimes feeds here sneakingly and this is a problem because my turtle is gaining weight and some of the water that go down her gullet might be ending up in her lungs and this is not good especially since my turtles basking dock broke just 2 weeks ago and that i dont have the money to buy a new one, so instead i installed a heat stick we bought a while back and put in a bucket for her to lay on, but so far it has not come to any use since she does not want to bask on it, and no she is making wheezing noises when she breathes, she still swims, eats, and walks around normal, and is very energetic, but I am afraid it might worsen. I already know what to do. I am going to try to put her on a 5 day food break, hopefully my step-dad does not feed her, but my turtle if not fed will start trying to eat her rocks which are twice the size of her head, and everything else in her tank, getting more water in her lungs possibly. the routine that i am going to do is take her outside for 1-2 hours, put her in a bucket with a sheet at the bottom and a hot heat lamp shining on her to eliminate any fluids in her lungs. now i am going to talk about her diet that my step-dad gives her, my step-dad thinks the turtle is going to starve to death if i dont feed her at least once a day, he thinks turtles can eat anything, so what he mainly feeds her is store bought feeder goldfish, and frozen shrimp everytime he feeds her, which is no good at all. and than me and my mom continually try to tell him that turtles can go months with out food, they cannot eat frozen shrimp all the time, and definitely should not be fed Goldfish or rosie red minnows. so please help what do i do on that part, also he bought this huge back of frozen seafood that has all kinds of preservatives and chemicals that i am pretty sure are not safe. we feed my turtle organic dried dog food every now and than as a treat since they dont sell organic dried turtle food. i am an organic eater by the way. sorry for bad english, because i am in a hurry right now so i could not take time to type properly. thanks for understanding!

[steve]

Welcome to the forum!

I'd take away all her treats and put away her pellets. Sort pellets out in a new pill box (the kind used for medication) so if people try to feed her, they cannot over feed her from what you set aside. If he wants to give something else, let it be some fresh red leaf or green leaf lettuce. Skip the seafood, dog food and all that other stuff.

For tanks... look into used aquariums and new aquariums are roughly $1 per gallon up to 55 gallons when on sale. Basking areas can be made and sometimes it's better that way.

The heavy breathing might be related to her weight gain. If she's bothering the rocks too much, take them out. If he insists on being involved with your pet, then he should contribute financially and some reading. Perhaps a vet visit to learn more about their husbandry.

I'm not sure what you're trying to do with bucket and all that, can you post a picture of her setup?

[MyTurtleMartina]

Well the bucket thing was meant to keep her under a heat lamp, but I have taken out quite a lot from her tank. At the moment her tank has nothing but a few good sized rocks, her heat stick, and filter. We just recently bought her a basking dock made out of real wood, but due to it being made out of real wood, it is currently sitting in water to get rid of all the tannins. My turtle is quite skinny compared to other pet turtles Ive seen, but fatter than the ones I have seen in the wild. I due feed my turtle very often Red Leaf or Green Leaf, the occasional Romaine or Kale lettuce. When I have the money I buy anacharis or any other safe aquatic plants. Moving on to the picture of setup... like I said her tank is quite small for her size so don't be surprise when I give you a link of it. In all honestly if I had a job I would get her a 120-150 gallon aquarium or a 150-300 gallon stock tank. Fortunately I may have an option for a job at this current moment, because of certain people I know. The only real reason that is stopping me from getting a 120-150 aquarium is my step-dad saying it would take up to much room, but that is load of crap. Maybe it would not take up so much room, if he would get rid of most of our furniture that we have in the house.

[MyTurtleMartina]

Welcome to the forum!

I'd take away all her treats and put away her pellets. Sort pellets out in a new pill box (the kind used for medication) so if people try to feed her, they cannot over feed her from what you set aside. If he wants to give something else, let it be some fresh red leaf or green leaf lettuce. Skip the seafood, dog food and all that other stuff.

For tanks... look into used aquariums and new aquariums are roughly $1 per gallon up to 55 gallons when on sale. Basking areas can be made and sometimes it's better that way.

The heavy breathing might be related to her weight gain. If she's bothering the rocks too much, take them out. If he insists on being involved with your pet, then he should contribute financially and some reading. Perhaps a vet visit to learn more about their husbandry.

I'm not sure what you're trying to do with bucket and all that, can you post a picture of her setup?

I want to thank you for your time that you spent to give me some tips on getting my step dad to understand, helping me with better diet choices, and getting used aquariums. Although the breathing sounded like wheezing but its gone now after I took her into the hot sun yesterday, my beliefs for the wheezing was just fluids in the lungs. Any how her is a link to a twitter that I just made that has photos of the turtle and the tank that we have of now.
https://twitter.com/MyTurtleMartina

[steve]

Do not force her under a lamp. Since they are cold-blooded, they bask to thermoregulate and that means they will want to sometimes get closer or further away when they want. Use a large box, and keep the heat off one end. There are certain types of real wood that can be used... like Mopani driftwood or cork bark. Red leaf, green leaf, romaine are good. Dandelion leaves are even better if you can grow them yourself.

[MyTurtleMartina]

Do not force her under a lamp. Since they are cold-blooded, they bask to thermoregulate and that means they will want to sometimes get closer or further away when they want. Use a large box, and keep the heat off one end. There are certain types of real wood that can be used... like Mopani driftwood or cork bark. Red leaf, green leaf, romaine are good. Dandelion leaves are even better if you can grow them yourself.

Yeah I have this 24x12x18 bin that I was gonna put her in, and the heat lamp on one side, It was actually suggested to me by a turtle specialist who kept turtles for 50+ years, he recommended this whenever your turtle had respiratory infection. That the heat would help eliminate fluids in the lungs and increase respiration. Yeah the wood I bought was from a fish store that was selling there Mopani driftwood on sale, so I got it for cheaper I think she's gonna love it. I understand alot about turtles, since they are the only subject I actually study, and I sit down with reptile specialist to even discuss the information I know and compare with them, I have even given them some good ideas that they did not think about. I understand that Turtles which are reptiles are cold blooded, of course I would not leave my Turtle in the burning heat with out anywhere to get out of it. Her wheezing is gone now since I took her out into the sun, and she would walk in and out of the shady spots when ever she felt like it. Sorry if I made it sound like I was forcing her under a heat lamp, I don't want to kill the Turtle now. I am not very good with english so people misunderstand me all the time.

[MyTurtleMartina]

What I meant by keeping her under a heat lamp, was that she would be able to feel the heat until I could get her basking dock thing sorted out, but she was not gonna be forced under it, but that tactic is no longer needed since I am getting her basking dock setted up today. It is made out of mopani wood with other tools to keep it still. Turtles according to this one book should bask for at least 30 minutes a day to prevent shell rot and respiratory problems. I use to have a Snapping Turtle but due to my stepdad not allowing me to get a much larger tank or even build a indoor pond I could not keep him sadly due to his huge size. He was actually more friendly and human social compared to my yellow bellied slider I currently have. It sounds weird to some people that a Snapper could be so friendly, but its the truth, and I have talked to Turtle specialist that kept them for 40-50+ years.

[steve]

I'm not sure if its RI. I once went to a vet who had several decades of experience and was well respected but I completely disagreed with everything. There is a lot to learn about the subject and a lot we don't know. Make your own educated conclusions based on what you read, hear and experience. I'm happy to discuss turtles with you and anyone here .

[MyTurtleMartina]

I'm not sure if its RI. I once went to a vet who had several decades of experience and was well respected but I completely disagreed with everything. There is a lot to learn about the subject and a lot we don't know. Make your own educated conclusions based on what you read, hear and experience. I'm happy to discuss turtles with you and anyone here .

Well yeah I have talked to turtle specialist that said Snapping Turtles don't make good pets, turned out that the majority either never had one or if they did they never interacted with theirs and mishandled it. Mines I handled it with respect and always interacted, including handfeeding which I don't recommend due to their bite force. I got bit a few times, even bled, but once my Turtle notice that it bit me, it quickly released its mouth. Yeah I definitely agree it is better to make your own conclusions. I love discussing Turtles, along with discussing other animals like Snakes, Sharks and Manatees. I will be posting pictures of my snapper soon on twitter in case you want to see him. I have brought him to reptile vets many times and they said that he was one of the healthiest Snappers they have ever seen.

[steve]

Turtles, in general are not really hands on pets. Even RES have sharp enough beaks to cut skin. A snapper can easily take a finger off

[MyTurtleMartina]

Turtles, in general are not really hands on pets. Even RES have sharp enough beaks to cut skin. A snapper can easily take a finger off

Yeah I agree Sliders have sharp beaks, my Yellow Bellied Slider made me bleed once from hand feeding, but I am use to being bit by all sorts of animals... since I catch animals a lot than release them. Here is a picture of my cute Snapper when he was only a year old https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BhfGRTuCUAAH5NC.jpg