One of my hatchlings died!!! :(

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tjones

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Ok when I came home last night from work, one of my painted hatchlings was laying at the bottom of the tank, so i reached in to try and make him move, but then I realized that he was dead!!!

Only two hatchlings hatched out of 8 eggs, the hatchlings where eating GREAT, they were very active! There was nothing in the bottom of the tank for him to choke on !!!

What could he have died from??? Could I have been stress, because two days ago I took them out to take the gravel off the bottom so they "wouldnt choke" because I have heard scary stories about that!!!

Im very sad!! I promised my aunt a turtle for her pond, but I only have one left! I wish I could get another one!!! Does anyone have any hatchling painteds that they would like to give me one!!! The one that is still alive is swimming around the tank, I think he is looking for his brother, they used to sit next to each other basking in the heat, they did EVERYTHING together, where one went the other followed!!!

Can someone please help!

Im just wondering if you can keep two different species together in one tank?!? Lets say a painted turtle and a red eared slider!?! Or any other species with a painted, could you keep a eastern painted with a western???
 

Meg90

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I said it on the other forums, and I will post it here too.

You don't even know why the turtle died, but you want to put ANOTHER one in there? What if the remaining turtle was a bully? What if the one that died drowned trying to escape him? What if the remaining one has a disease? Or some bacteria, that his "brother" was not compatible with???

Secondly, there should be a six month quarantine period before you just toss another little turtle in that tank. If you don't, you stand a good chance of ending up with three dead hatchlings, instead of just the one.

Thirdly, it is not a good idea to mix species of ANYthing in one tank. That includes tortoises, lizards, snakes, and water turtles.

You should be thinking long and hard about what went wrong with the last baby. Not be thinking about how quickly, and cheaply you can get another turtle.
 

tjones

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"I said it on the other forum but Ill say it here to"

First off, there are western painted turtles in captivity! Second im guessing that there is nothing wrong with the water or anything that is in it, because I have 3 filters running in that tank!! and yes I was going to have a quarantine period, so dont jump to conclusions, its bests for EVERYONE if you dont!!!!
And I know plenty of people that have different species of turtle in one tank/pond, as long as the species are from the same geological place and climate!!!!!

Both turtles were extremly healthy, they were active and eating great, I know that doesnt always mean that they dont have something wrong with them but, my guess is that they dont!!!! And why do you have to be sooooooo rude about EVERYTHING you say? Answer me that!!



Meg90 said:
I said it on the other forums, and I will post it here too.

You don't even know why the turtle died, but you want to put ANOTHER one in there? What if the remaining turtle was a bully? What if the one that died drowned trying to escape him? What if the remaining one has a disease? Or some bacteria, that his "brother" was not compatible with???

Secondly, there should be a six month quarantine period before you just toss another little turtle in that tank. If you don't, you stand a good chance of ending up with three dead hatchlings, instead of just the one.

Thirdly, it is not a good idea to mix species of ANYthing in one tank. That includes tortoises, lizards, snakes, and water turtles.

You should be thinking long and hard about what went wrong with the last baby. Not be thinking about how quickly, and cheaply you can get another turtle.
 

Meg90

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Something went wrong, or both of them would still be living.

All I am saying is that you need to figure out WHY that baby died, before putting another one in. I think you should post some pictures of your setup. Its easier to spot mistakes, or things that could be improved with a picture.

What type of bulb did you have over their basking spot? What were you using to get them out of the water?
 

tjones

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I accually am unable to upload photos, but i am just using a regular light bulb, until the heat bulb arives in the mail, i was using a blue day bulb 60 watt but then it broke, so i ordered a new one, and i have a uvb bulb on the way aswell!!!! I have a 501 turtle filter in there now, i am getting another one as well, the Ovation 1000 Internal Filter. um, I have been feeding them Zoo-med turtle treats, aswell as crickets, mealworms, and can o' Shrimp!!

what else could it be, the one that died was the largest one, the one that is still alive was the smallest egg and is the runt!!! so im guessing that he wasnt being a bully, but anythings possible!!! I just really want to know what happened!!! I have floating plants but do you think that he could have just drowned, are they stupid enough to fall asleep underwater???

Meg90 said:
Something went wrong, or both of them would still be living.

All I am saying is that you need to figure out WHY that baby died, before putting another one in. I think you should post some pictures of your setup. Its easier to spot mistakes, or things that could be improved with a picture.

What type of bulb did you have over their basking spot? What were you using to get them out of the water?
 

Meg90

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Why can't you post pics? Its pretty easy...I use photobucket.

Do you have an area that they can get completely out of the water? Like, a floating dock, or a portion of the tank that is dry land?

What brand is your UVB?
 

tjones

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Ok I will try post some pictures, and yes i do have a floating dock, and a homemade island type thing!!!! the uvb light that i am getting it the Zoo Med ReptiSun 5.0 UVB Bulb. I will post the pictures when they upload!!!
 

Meg90

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Thanks! It is soooo much easier to help when you can actually see what is going on. Use the IMG link after they are uploaded, just copy and paste it into the post, and it will show up right along with the text, so you don't have to click on anything else.
 

tjones

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Here you go, heres some pics of the accual tank!
CIMG9428.jpg

Right Side
CIMG9429.jpg

Left Side
CIMG9430.jpg

Top View
CIMG9431.jpg

Front
CIMG9432.jpg

Some of the food im feeding
CIMG9434.jpg

Temp of basking area
CIMG9436.jpg

Temp of water
CIMG9437.jpg


And heres some pics of them hatching
CIMG9385.jpg

CIMG9386.jpg
 

Jacqui

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I am sorry to hear about the loss of your one hatchling. Sometimes, yes, there are reasons out of our control why they die. How old was it?

Personally, I would not put another one in with this little guy for several months to give time to see if there is something wrong (such as a disease issue) at work here. Plus, make sure in the meantime that your environment is set up as best as it can be.

As to mixing turtles, I am against it as a general rule due to disease, stress, dominance issues, ect.., That being said, I do have my own mixed pond. It houses two RES and a paint and has for many years.
 

tjones

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They hatched on 8-4-09, so they are exactly 3 weeks old.

Jacqui said:
I am sorry to hear about the loss of your one hatchling. Sometimes, yes, there are reasons out of our control why they die. How old was it?

Personally, I would not put another one in with this little guy for several months to give time to see if there is something wrong (such as a disease issue) at work here. Plus, make sure in the meantime that your environment is set up as best as it can be.

As to mixing turtles, I am against it as a general rule due to disease, stress, dominance issues, ect.., That being said, I do have my own mixed pond. It houses two RES and a paint and has for many years.
 

Meg90

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I would lower the water level a little. Also, grab some mopani wood from petco, and toss some pieces in there. Make sure that your little hatchling has lots of resting places, and that it is easy for the remaining baby to get up onto that dock.

I didn't see any filter in the picture...make sure though, that the baby can't get sucked into it. I've heard of babies drowning after being sucked up by the filter and pinned.

Are these CB babies? Do you have the parents?
 

tjones

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if you look at the pic of the front of the tank, you can see the black pipe coming down!!!

And no i rescued the eggs from a skunk, on the side of the road, i thought they were going to die anyways might aswell give them a fighting chance, and yes i talked to the warden and DNR for my county and they know what im doing, and they said it was ok!!!
 

Yvonne G

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I have seen turtles drown another turtle, however it would surprise me that a 3 month old baby would do it. The dominant turtle grabs a big gulp of air then sits on the submissive turtle until it drowns. Or, if your dead baby was the smaller of the two, there might have been something wrong with him from the start.

I'm sorry you lost your baby. Here you were trying to do something good for the turtles and one didn't make it. That's always tough.

Yvonne
 

terryo

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IMHO...you have way too much water for new hatchlings and too much stuff in the tank . A new hatchling should be able to stand on it's legs and be able to put it's nose out of the water. Your baby could have gotten caught on something in that tank. Go to this site, and look at the pictures he has for his hatchlings and athe set ups. He is very nice and will answer all your questions.
http://turtle_tails.tripod.com/raisingbabyturtles2/tour18.htm
 
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Maggie Cummings

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I don't think there is too much water in the tank, but I do think there is too much stuff in it and I don't think they are being fed anything they recognize as food. Baby aquatics need something that wiggles, not something freeze dried. I would feed night crawlers or bloodworms. For starters. Baby turtles are fragile and need careful handling. I would cut a night crawler up into several pieces and feed those wiggling pieces and see if that makes a difference. I personally think the last one died of starvation...they need to be fed better...
 

tortoisenerd

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I'm sorry for your loss and hope you can figure this out. Please do your research and don't rush into anything that could hurt your remaining turtle. Best wishes.
 

Crazy1

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tjones, I am sorry you lost one of your hatchlings. I am sure if you explain to your aunt what happened she will understand. And I have to agree with what has been said before, "you have way too much stuff in the tank". I have raised baby RES and I keep the tank fairly bare so that there is nothing a hatchling can get caught up in. And I can see you still have a few small stones in the bottom of your tank. I would take everyting but the docks out of the tank but the couple of really large rocks you have on the bottom.
The water level could be more shallow, like two times their shell length.
I do not know what type of plants you have in the tank that are real but it looks like one is a Pothos hanging in the water. Pothos can be toxic to turtles and tortoises if enough is ingested and for that small a hatchling it wouldn’t take much. Also I am not sure what you keep your temps at in your house especially at night. However you should not have a white or day blue light on at night (they need night time too) in the tank the water needs to be warmed and I believe you said you had ordered your heater? But it is getting down to the mid 50’s in Wisconsin and that is way too cold for hatchlings especially at night. Water temperatures can drop drastically. For now I would use a infrared bulb until you heater arrives since you ordered it.

I always took my hatchlings out and placed them in another tub like a plastic wash tub or one of those plastic shoe boxes when I fed them. (Make sure you have water in it so that they can get there head underwater or they can’t eat.)That way you get to see just who is eating and how much. I had one that would actually take food away for the runt so I had to feed it separately. Duck weed, cats ear, most aquatic plants are good to feed them and as Maggie said cut up night crawlers or blood worms would work well. Oh and turtles aren’t stupid. They actually do sleep underwater. Most of my RES preferred to eat mostly plants when they were really small.

Now regarding getting another or more small turtles, I would highly advise against it at this point. You already know that they need a quarantine period. So you will not be able to put them together for at least 6 months. Most of us do not think you should mix species especially new hatchlings. I would work on getting things set up just right for the one you have now. Research all you can about your painted hatchling. Better to have one happy healthy turtle now, than a couple that do not survive.
Some turtles and tortoises just are not meant to survive. The mortality rate is really high for hatchlings. I know it hurts and you are sad right now but focus on the hatchling you have left and making his life the best it can be.
Oh an just a heads up, that floating dock you have suctioned on to the left side of your tank almost drown one of my young RES. The suction cup came loose on one end and he got trapped between the dock and the glass. I was lucky and found him just in time.

Sorry this was soooooo long.
 

dmmj

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I agree with maggie on the food issue, hatchlings like wriggling food, they are more carnivorous. Also I have heard that hatchling survival rates even under the best of care can be upwards of 50%, and the tank looked a little to crowded to me, just my opinon I am thinking good thoughts for the remaiing one. Painted's are a very pretty turtle.
 
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