Texas River Cooter juvenile suddenly not eating

[Adrian B]

Hello All,
I'm very worried. My 8 month old rescued TX RIver Cooter hasn't been eating for the last few days and she has been somewhat lethargic. Plenty of oxygen in the water, filters clean and working, water is clean, basking light was not a regular 11 hrs for a while because her tank faces the window and I thought the morning sus was good for her but now she's back on I on 11 hrs a day. I might be missing something she's so little, but I don't 'see signs of her having a cold or her eyes being swollen. She does show some minor wititish grey irregular spots (shell rot?) on her shell and I treated that with betadine solution and today with a hybiclens solution which I then rinsed off gently.
I am reading all sorts of things about vitamin A deficiency, lung infections, etc, and don't really know where to start besides treating the shell spots, but can't imagine that alone affecting her appetite...Could it??. I also increased the water temperature from 70 to 75 degrees today to see if that helps. In these last few months, she has never really eaten anything other than her romaine lettuce and her krill. Loves the stuff. Now she wont touch it. Never touched the dry shrimp or her friut pellets, crickets, worms or anything else I tried, but that seems to have never affected her before. Always healthy shell color, active and growing normally. Any ideas and guidance will be greatly appreciated.

 

[DoubleD1996!]

Hello All,
I'm very worried. My 8 month old rescued TX RIver Cooter hasn't been eating for the last few days and she has been somewhat lethargic. Plenty of oxygen in the water, filters clean and working, water is clean, basking light on 11 hrs a day, I might be missing something she's so little, but I don't 'see signs of her having a cold or her eyes being swollen. She does show some minor discoloration on her shell and I treated that with betadine solution. I am reading all sorts of things about vitamin A deficiency, lung infections, etc, and don't really know where to start besides treating the shell discoloration spots but can't imagine that alone affecting her appetite...Could it??. I also increased the water temperature from 70 to 75 degrees see if that works. In these last few months, she has never really eaten anytiing other than her romaine lettuce and her krill. Wont even touch the dry shrimp or her pellets, crickets, worms or anything else I tried, but that seems to have never affected her before. Always healthy shell color, active and growing normally. Any ideas and guidance will be greatly appreciated.

Pictures of your set up might help.

Are you using uvb along with the basking lamp?

I like to keep my hatchlings outdoors this time of year in something secure. Warm water stirs the appetite. Try taking it to 80.

Also, a more natural diet. River cooters are called water cows for a reason. Try some aquatic plants such as duck weed or water hyacinth. Pellets and dried krill are more like treats in moderation. Mine predominantly eat plants with occasional protein like whole shrimp, crayfish, or shiners.

Also, weeds. Mine go crazy for dandelion greens, and other weeds and leaves that are usually safe for torts.

 

[Adrian B]

Thank you so much. Great advice. I'll strat taking her outside more and also increase the temp for a bit see if that helps. I also went down to the San Marcos river and collected some healthy natural aquatic plants. See how she takes to them...No. I have not been using a UVB lamp along with the basking lamp. Somehow I thought my basking lamp included UVB, but now I can't quite remember. Tomorrow I am cleaning the tank and putting the new plants in and will take pics of Tortie and also of her set up. See what you think. Again, I can't thank you enough! Have a good night!. Adrian

 

[Adrian B]

Pictures of your set up might help.
some
Are you using uvb along with the basking lamp?

I like to keep my hatchlings outdoors this time of year in something secure. Warm water stirs the appetite. Try taking it to 80.

Also, a more natural diet. River cooters are called water cows for a reason. Try some aquatic plants such as duck weed or water hyacinth. Pellets and dried krill are more like treats in moderation. Mine predominantly eat plants with occasional protein like whole shrimp, crayfish, or shiners.

Also, weeds. Mine go crazy for dandelion greens, and other weeds and leaves that are usually safe for torts.

UPDATE:
I totally cleaned out her tank, added those aquatic river plants, bought and installed a real good UVB bulb, and increased the water temperature. I am happy to report today she actually grazed some on the aquatic plants, took a few bites off her romaine, and ate a few pieces of krill. Insignificant amounts compared to how much she had been eating normally, she almost seems to not have the same bite strength or something, but at least I am no longer worrying she is starving to death as she did seem to have swallowed some food. I hope the UVB light and increased temerature do the trick for her to help get back to normal completely.

 

[zovick]

UPDATE:
I totally cleaned out her tank, added those aquatic river plants, bought and installed a real good UVB bulb, and increased the water temperature. I am happy to report today she actually grazed some on the aquatic plants, took a few bites off her romaine, and ate a few pieces of krill. Insignificant amounts compared to how much she had been eating normally, she almost seems to not have the same bite strength or something, but at least I am no longer worrying she is starving to death as she did seem to have swallowed some food. I hope the UVB light and increased temerature do the trick for her to help get back to normal completely.

Sounds promising. Good luck!

 

[DoubleD1996!]

UPDATE:
I totally cleaned out her tank, added those aquatic river plants, bought and installed a real good UVB bulb, and increased the water temperature. I am happy to report today she actually grazed some on the aquatic plants, took a few bites off her romaine, and ate a few pieces of krill. Insignificant amounts compared to how much she had been eating normally, she almost seems to not have the same bite strength or something, but at least I am no longer worrying she is starving to death as she did seem to have swallowed some food. I hope the UVB light and increased temerature do the trick for her to help get back to normal completely.

Glad to hear

 

[Adrian B]

Hi D,
Here's the pictures you wanted to see of her setup. Two filters (one in back with the incoming oxygen, the larger one just filtering the water from the bottom); the two lights, the basking one over the rocks, and the new UVB to the right. Also, a close up of her basking, which shows her two slight discoloration spots. How does all of this look to you?

 

[Adrian B]

Sounds promising. Good luck!

Update revision:
When I said she was eating some, I might have overstated what is actually happening. After closer inspection, She is "trying" to eat, but seems to not be biting down hard enough or opening her mouth wide enough to ingest the food. It's as if she is missing her mark in her attempted bites, falling short of her target. I even cut down her lettuce into little pieces but still. She's otherwise not lethargic. swimming climbing on her basking rock, etc. I looked for signs of mouth rot as a supposed possible culprit I read about when this happens, but did not see any. No redness no swelling...nothing.

 

[TammyJ]

If she can't eat properly then maybe she needs to see a good reptile vet before things get worse.

 

[DoubleD1996!]

I agree with Tammy, but she could also use a bigger setup.

Those two white spots are the scoots shedding. It's jut a part of growth.Slight pyramiding, but nothing she can't grow out of and still have a smooth shell.

If you can, get a kiddie pool. Maybe get some netting or something to cover it and keep her safe, drill overflow holes for rain, and let her live outside for the summer. That way she gets hood uvb and a little more room to swim.

However , I'm not certain about the eating issue. I've had fresh hatchling cooters go after large leaves.

 

[Adrian B]

Hello everyone,
Good news! Torttie is now back at devouring her lettuce like a mini alligator, as she always has.

Hopefully some useful observations I can offer others from the experience :
I think her water temp was too low and she was not getting enough UVB light. Both these miscalculations in my part, (the latter was me wrongfully thinking that because her tank is by the window that would offer enough UVB). These two factors alone might have screwed with her natural calendar and maybe sent her into early hibernation mode or something which made her sluggish and stop eating.
Taking her outside and letting her walk around during the day for several hours, totally cleaning out her tank, adding those nice river plants, and installing that expensive UVB light might be what helped most. I also cleaned her shell real good when I thought she had shellrot and then started adding this product to the water called ,Turtle Fix as an antibacterial, just in case she had something I wasn't seeing. The product is just diluted Tea Tree Oil, which is really a rather benign natural antibacterial I have actually used a lot on myself on occasion. She seems to have taken to it, actually!

A big thank you to all of you that so kindly gave me the support and advice I needed! It really made a big difference!

 

[DoubleD1996!]

Hello everyone,
Good news! Torttie is now back at devouring her lettuce like a mini alligator, as she always has.

Hopefully some useful observations I can offer others from the experience :
I think her water temp was too low and she was not getting enough UVB light. Both these miscalculations in my part, (the latter was me wrongfully thinking that because her tank is by the window that would offer enough UVB). These two factors alone might have screwed with her natural calendar and maybe sent her into early hibernation mode or something which made her sluggish and stop eating.
Taking her outside and letting her walk around during the day for several hours, totally cleaning out her tank, adding those nice river plants, and installing that expensive UVB light might be what helped most. I also cleaned her shell real good when I thought she had shellrot and then started adding this product to the water called ,Turtle Fix as an antibacterial, just in case she had something I wasn't seeing. The product is just diluted Tea Tree Oil, which is really a rather benign natural antibacterial I have actually used a lot on myself on occasion. She seems to have taken to it, actually!

A big thank you to all of you that so kindly gave me the support and advice I needed! It really made a big difference!

Glad to hear. Uvb can't penetrate through glass, but we've all been there.

Try not to completely drain the tank, but half the water. You want to keep the beneficial bacteria alive in the filter.

Api makes great products. I've used turtle fix for years. It even helped with a respiratory infection.