I BOUGHT A SICK TURTLE ON PURPOSE

kathyth

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Feb 28, 2012
Messages
3,156
Location (City and/or State)
Beaumont, CA.
I might have lost my mind, but.............

We prepared our pond (300 gallons) for a Western Painted turtle.
I was going to order a juvenile soon.

Went to Petsmart to get dog food and passes their single turtle and stopped when I noticed the orange color. A Western Painted! Something looked very wrong.
I had the you g lady open the glass door and I picked him up. His head hung down.
Shell seemed to b perfect. His eyes were mainly open.
He did not move. He was only fed pellets.

The young lady told me he must be hibernating. I had a nice talk with her about turtles and gave her some information.

I bought him, because he was so sick!
When I got home and really looked him over, I noticed that he is completely emaciated. He has no meat on him at all.
In water he floated and did not move his legs at all.

I put various pellets in the water - Not interested
After trying many things, I tried brine shrimp - bingo!! His name is Shrimpy.
Today he happily ate 2 guppies, that were pre killed.
He moved his legs a little bit, in deeper water today.
He was out in the sun for 4 hours and has a Powersun in his temp enclosure.
Hopefully I can nurse him back to health.

He looks like he never ate in captivity. Poor Shrimpy!

I will keep him warm, fed and he will get plenty of UVB.

Any advice appreciated.
 

Attachments

  • image.jpg
    image.jpg
    899 KB · Views: 131

N2TORTS

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2010
Messages
8,803
I knew you had wings ....^v^....:shy:

Sounds like he is on the road to recovery already! ......:D

JD~:shy:
 

mike taylor

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Oct 28, 2012
Messages
13,461
Offer some fresh greens , worms and minnows . My sliders love mazuri turtle food . His shell looks beautiful .
 

kathyth

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Feb 28, 2012
Messages
3,156
Location (City and/or State)
Beaumont, CA.
Why thank you, Jeff! :)

Mike, I just bought live aquarium plants and will get pond plants in a few days. The place is 50 miles away. I put a variety of lettuces in his water.
Do these minnows have another name??

Thanks!
 

mike taylor

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Oct 28, 2012
Messages
13,461
Nope I use pond minnows . I bred them from fishing minnows . Put them in a big horse water tub .
 

diamondbp

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Nov 17, 2012
Messages
3,331
That turtle must have been through hell. Western painted turtles are one of the hardiest water turtles out there so for it to be that bad off is crazy. I'm glad you have it now. Youve started right by going for shrimp. When dealing with sick water turtles I would get fresh frozen shrimp(I live in Louisiana lol) and over one every day in a seperate container from it's habitat. The fresher shrimp has much more nutrients than dried shrimp and you will notice a HUGE difference in the rate of recovery. Just dont feed him in his regular enclosure because clean water is essential for quick recovery. You also are right on with giving it some natural sun. That does wonders for recovering turtles, granted it's not TO HOT, which this time of year it shouldn't be. Basically in a nut shell it sounds like you are doing this correctly. I hope it turns out well.

Best of luck to you!
 

kathyth

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Feb 28, 2012
Messages
3,156
Location (City and/or State)
Beaumont, CA.
Thanks very much for this info!
Should I get cooked fresh frozen or raw fresh frozen shrimp?
I will get some now!! :)
 

Whitneyrae

Member
Joined
Mar 25, 2014
Messages
113
kathyth said:
I might have lost my mind, but.............

We prepared our pond (300 gallons) for a Western Painted turtle.
I was going to order a juvenile soon.

Went to Petsmart to get dog food and passes their single turtle and stopped when I noticed the orange color. A Western Painted! Something looked very wrong.
I had the you g lady open the glass door and I picked him up. His head hung down.
Shell seemed to b perfect. His eyes were mainly open.
He did not move. He was only fed pellets.

The young lady told me he must be hibernating. I had a nice talk with her about turtles and gave her some information.

I bought him, because he was so sick!
When I got home and really looked him over, I noticed that he is completely emaciated. He has no meat on him at all.
In water he floated and did not move his legs at all.

I put various pellets in the water - Not interested
After trying many things, I tried brine shrimp - bingo!! His name is Shrimpy.
Today he happily ate 2 guppies, that were pre killed.
He moved his legs a little bit, in deeper water today.
He was out in the sun for 4 hours and has a Powersun in his temp enclosure.
Hopefully I can nurse him back to health.

He looks like he never ate in captivity. Poor Shrimpy!

I will keep him warm, fed and he will get plenty of UVB.

Any advice appreciated.

God bless you! I hope little shrimpy has a quick recovery, he sounds like he is in great hands :D:tort:
 

N2TORTS

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2010
Messages
8,803
ha ha >heh< .... I thought you and Mr Jimbo were traveling Docs?:p
 

Jacqui

Wanna be raiser of Lemon Drop tortoises
Moderator
10 Year Member!
Joined
Aug 28, 2007
Messages
39,941
Location (City and/or State)
A Land Far Away...
kathyth said:
N2TORTS said:
I think I have a cough coming on ...
;)


Ok, Jeff! Come on over and we will see what we can do for this terrible cough! :p

You know Kathy, sometimes it's just more "humane" to just end the suffering and put the sick animal down... might be true in this case (Jeff not the turtle). :p :p :D
 

Saleama

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Jul 12, 2013
Messages
1,501
Location (City and/or State)
Irving Texas
kathyth said:
Thanks very much for this info!
Should I get cooked fresh frozen or raw fresh frozen shrimp?
I will get some now!! :)

Raw and as said, in a seperate container from his habitat. Even the tiniest spec of raw shrimp in his home will rot and stink up your whole house. I speak from experience, lol. My box turtle smuggled a piece of shrimp no bigger than a pea into his cave. I had to throw out most of the substrate before I found it and got the smell out of the house.
 

N2TORTS

Well-Known Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Feb 21, 2010
Messages
8,803
Jacqui said:
kathyth said:
N2TORTS said:
I think I have a cough coming on ...
;)


Ok, Jeff! Come on over and we will see what we can do for this terrible cough! :p

You know Kathy, sometimes it's just more "humane" to just end the suffering and put the sick animal down... might be true in this case (Jeff not the turtle). :p :p :D

HA HA HA ... HECK I'LL EVEN HELP YA !
 

kathyth

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Feb 28, 2012
Messages
3,156
Location (City and/or State)
Beaumont, CA.
Jacqui said:
kathyth said:
N2TORTS said:
I think I have a cough coming on ...
;)


Ok, Jeff! Come on over and we will see what we can do for this terrible cough! :p

You know Kathy, sometimes it's just more "humane" to just end the suffering and put the sick animal down... might be true in this case (Jeff not the turtle). :p :p :D


Jacqui,
That is a crack up! I'm sorry Jeff! I believe in being humane :p


Saleama said:
kathyth said:
Thanks very much for this info!
Should I get cooked fresh frozen or raw fresh frozen shrimp?
I will get some now!! :)

Raw and as said, in a seperate container from his habitat. Even the tiniest spec of raw shrimp in his home will rot and stink up your whole house. I speak from experience, lol. My box turtle smuggled a piece of shrimp no bigger than a pea into his cave. I had to throw out most of the substrate before I found it and got the smell out of the house.


Saleams

Thanks for the info. I will get raw shrimp. I gave him cooled. :cool:
I do have 5 other water turtles and keep the tank spotless. I would not put a pellet in their water! We believe in the same thing :)
 

Redfoot NERD

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Dec 5, 2007
Messages
3,666
Location (City and/or State)
Tennessee
This is how Shrimpy will look in a year or so -



These guys were little over 3" scl -



One of the prettiest colored [ painted ] water turtles that ever was! Not real common either.. prepare.. they can get BIG!
 

diamondbp

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Nov 17, 2012
Messages
3,331
I agree. I think painted turtles in general are incredible turtles to work with. Juvenile westerns are undoubtedly one if the worlds prettiest turtles
 

Jhwells46

Member
Joined
Mar 10, 2014
Messages
120
I'm so happy there are people like us out there who do crazy things like this! Oh, it's not crazy, it's awesome and means you have a huge heart :) [CLAPPING HANDS SIGN][CLAPPING HANDS SIGN][CLAPPING HANDS SIGN]
 
Top