Turtle Friday: Illness and Treatment

Nothing's wrong with Silent Bob. He's just cute when
he sleeps and I wanted to post a pic of all four "Clerks" turtles!

There can be many different ailments that can afflict your aquatic turtle. The interesting thing is that there are a few remedies that can make them well again. The problem with turtles is that they are all tough guys and usually don't let you in on anything being wrong until it's almost too late. Let's go over some and maybe you can avoid some potentially fatal conditions.

Randall suffered with shell problems that
required creams and oral antibiotics to remedy.
Puffy Eyes / Soft Shell / Stacked Schutes

Believe it or not, these are related situations. All are the result of poor nutrition / lighting and can kill a turtle, especially a hatchling. Puffy eyes are caused by lack of vitamin A. Soft shell is a lack of calcium. In order for your turtlle to absord either, they need vitamin D. So there's a magic blueprint for what you need to be aware of especially if you have babies in your care. There are some good powdered vitamins that include all that. But how to you get that on dry food that you throw in the water? I found the best way is to spray turtle food pellets with liquid vitamins, then roll the food in powdered vit's. Of course a calcium block and full spectrum lighting should be used as well. If possible, direct exposure to the sun would be best. Sorry, sunlight through the window is filtered and has little to no benefit for your pet. If you see these scenarios, it would be advisable to see a "herp" vet asap. It's amazing how quickly a vitamin shot will make a positive effect. Unless there is immediate attention, your pet will, most likely, die. Stacked schutes will pop off on their own with time under full spectrum lighting. Remember NEVER pry off schutes. They WILL come off when they are good and ready. You can accidentally pry too deep and wound the shell. That's a long recovery.

Jay came from teh pet shop sick. It took years of special diet and medications to nurse to perfect health.

Skin / Shell Rot, Injuries, Wounds and similar

Shell and skin rot are usually the product of not enough basking. You might want to warm up your basking area if you never see your pet basking. But if you notice it too late and you see cottony or molding growths on your turtles skin or shell, you have rot. It sounds vile because it is. If it's minor, you can get away with scraping away at the afflicted area with a cotton swab and coat the wound with a topical antibiotic lotion like Neosporin. Steer clear of bacetracin. It's antibiotic is suspended in a petroleum base that will turn the water greasy. Once medicated you should "dry dock" your turtle until the medicine dries into place. A couple hours is fine. These may be aquatic turtles, but they CAN survive with only an hour of hydration a day.

A bite from another turtle nearly ended Dante's life. Months of dry-docking, medications, and extra special care made him well again.

You treat other wounds, cuts, bites the same way. But if you notice that your pet becomes lethargic, stops eating, loses weight, develops red blotches on it's belly and/or skin, or seems sick (der!) then you better rush the animal to the vet. For more serious situations the vet has a variety of topical oinments and oral or injected antibiotics that can be administered. I've had three turtles that required special treatments. One was even near death and the vet didn't have much faith that the guy would pull through. It's been two and a half years now, and Dante is now one of the most energetic turtles in my tank. He pulled through very nicely.