Urgent Care :: New owners in need of help

[EJ07]

Well got back from the vet, and he didn't seem optimistic. He was not a herp vet; but from my calls to other vets, he seemed the most knowledgable. The herp vet is too far away for me to get to during the week. He gave him a calcium injection and another vitamin injection, I wanna say vitamin b (I forget the number). The calcium shot was because his shell had started becoming soft the last few days. I didn't bother to mention it because I thought that the eating was the major concern. He wanted to give him one more but said he was to small for it. He weighed in at only 4 grams.

Once we got home I tried feeding again but not much luck. I do leave the room when he is in the feeding tank; but don't think he is eating, and if he is, it's not much. He just seems to freeze up whenever anyone else is in the room. Since we got back I came in twice and he was swimming around and looked great but stops immediately and then just floats. I'm not sure if its normal for him to still be doing this. I plan to continue pedialyte soaks and trying to get him to eat.

[penelope]

I am glad you saw the vet - even if it wasn't a miracle cure, you can rest at ease knowing you did attempt.
Calcium is a tricky one - especially if they aren't eating. But, I guess you have to tackle one thing at a time. Absent food, UVB is even more important.

I am pleased to hear that he is basking

I read back a bit and noticed that you said you were taking him outside for a pedialyte soak - as Steve mentioned, going out in the sun is a very good thing!
However, if the weather gets ugly, you can give him a soak indoors. Just buy a cheap thermometer and check the temp of the water as you fill it from the tap - It may take a little trial and error, but you'll get it. If it gets too cold during the soak put him back in his cozy tank.

Just a thought - if his tank water is warm, he is basking sometimes and swimming a bit when you aren't looking, then maybe trying to feed him in the tank. It is worth a try.
Also, it won't hurt to go back and try to feed him things he wouldn't touch before (fish, worms, pellets soaked in tuna, etc.). Ya never know...
Just keep the portions small so you can tell if he ate them or not. If he eats them, then add a tiny bit more.

If he stops what he is doing when you enter the room, maybe a little quiet time will help.

Please keep us posted.
and best wishes to both of you!

[steve]

Did you discuss force feeding with the vet?

[EJ07]

Thanks for the advice, Penelope. I usually use the thermometer from his tank to make sure the water is warm enough and leave it in there while he soaks to make sure he doesn't get to cold. We were feeding him in both tanks and trying different things all the time, with no luck.

Steve - I did talk with the vet about force feeding but he steered me away from it.

Unfortunately the morning after the vet visit - turtlebug, that's the name my girlfriend originally gave him, didn't make it. I don't know if the injections were to much or what. He did seem a lot better after the visit and the little guy probably swam more that night than he did in the prior weeks combined.

I'm at a loss in trying to figure out what went wrong. We definitely lacked the knowledge at the start to adequately care for him; but tried our hardest to learn. I thought we provided a good habitat and were doing the majority of things right.

The guy who sold him to us was not much help, as looking back, he only gave us a small sheet that had some of the important info on it. From what my girlfriend said, he made it seem like turtlebug would be fine in that little plastic container. Even the pet stores we went to knew where we had gotten him. They said they had about 20 people each who came in to get equipment and when finding out how much, just left the turtles. I'm sure you hear of this happening all to often, and its terrible. The things people will do to make a buck.

Anyway thanks Steve for all your help and you too Penelope. We have all the equipment now and we did really enjoy having a res, even though it was so hard at the end. I will probably look to adopt another come the spring. That will give me time to learn more and also the weather will be nice enough to get outside for actual sunlight.

[kamekichi]

I'm sorry for your loss, but glad you aren't giving up on having a turtle. I wish you the best of luck in the future.

[steve]

Very sorry for your loss. There are plenty that need rescuing out there, I'm sure you can provide a great home next spring.

[Gracie Turts]

best of luck next spring!