Turtle's legs black and falling off?

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lying07

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Hi, my sister had a baby red ear slider (3 inches shell) and hadn't been taking care of it properly. It wasn't eating anything and was extremely lethargic, so I took it from her. It's now in a 10 gallon tank, heated to around 75 degrees F, and with a large basking stone that the turtle goes on for about half the day and a full spectrum UVA/UVB light. I coat all pellets in Repti-Cal calcium before feeding, and have cuttlebone in the tank as well.

While it did take me a few days to get her to eat again, now she eats 3-4 pellets a day. However, her feet have curled up and turned black, as well as the tip of her tail. Yesterday, the tip of her tail fell off, and today her right "hand" fell off. t looks like her left "hand" is the next to fall off. I suspect the blackened limbs are due to lack of circulation for whatever reason.

As she is a very small turtle, I don't think the vet will take care of her.... I'm wondering what I can do to save her, or should I let her go? Is she in pain? She still eats fine every day but her swimming is awkward. Even before anything fell off, her swimming was lopsided (a sign of a lung infection??) What is the cause of her blackened feet? The rest of the limb does not seem to be black.

I also have another baby turtle in there, about 3 inches, which on 2 separate occasions I have found this turtle attempting to bite the limb of the other turtle. Could this be why my turtle is losing circulation?

*********I'm not looking for info on how to raise turtles. I will change the tank size, of course, when the turtles get bigger. The issue at hand is what does my turtle have and how do I treat it?**********
 

Jacqui

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lying07 said:
Should I just put it to sleep?

No, he/she can live an almost normal life without all parts of it's limbs and your saying it's just the last part of the leg (the foot, I believe you called it the hand) correct?

I agree, the first thing I would do is separate it from the one trying to bite those appendages. Even if that has nothing to do with the problems this one is experiencing, living with the more aggressive turtle puts the hurt turtle under stress.
 

lying07

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Yeah, just the extremity of the limb is damaged. But it will surely have a hard time swimming, and its limbs will bleed for a bit, right? Will it be happy or would it rather die? I don't know if turtles can make decisions like these... it's still eating fine but I don't want to see it suffer.
 

John

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lying07 said:
Yeah, just the extremity of the limb is damaged. But it will surely have a hard time swimming, and its limbs will bleed for a bit, right? Will it be happy or would it rather die? I don't know if turtles can make decisions like these... it's still eating fine but I don't want to see it suffer.

I've seen res live through alot more damage than that,they don't care about happy they just wanna survive at all cost and reproduction is the final prize
 

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RE: Turtle's legs black and falling off

Hi lying07:

Welcome to the forum!!

May we know your name and where you are?

It doesn't sound too good for the little turtle. But they are pretty hardy critters and who knows if she'll make it or not. I imagine the blackened feet must be pretty painful as they die off. I've never dealt with that before so I don't have any words of wisdom for you, sorry. All I can say is what I would do in your situation, but you have to make up your own mind. If I couldn't afford to take the turtle to the vet, and couldn't afford the medicine to treat the turtle, I would put it out of its misery, as I think its probably suffering.
 
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Maggie Cummings

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I think that's a pretty s***ty thing to say about a Vet. No matter how small, it is still a life and Vets are sworn to care for anything living. I would take it to the Vet and if nothing else have it humanely euthanized.
 

ALDABRAMAN

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maggie3fan said:
I think that's a pretty s***ty thing to say about a Vet. No matter how small, it is still a life and Vets are sworn to care for anything living. I would take it to the Vet and if nothing else have it humanely euthanized.

I agree!
 

Jessicap

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I would also check if it is shedding properly. I know other reptiles will lose limbs and tails because the skin does not shed properly cutting off the circulation. You may want to increase the heat some too. Reptiles need their body temp up to about 80 to be able to digest their food properly, so a high of 75 may be too cool.

Good luck!
 
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Maggie Cummings

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Shelly said:
maggie3fan said:
Vets are sworn to care for anything living.

Unless the owner has no money. Then, for many (most?) vets, it's "see ya later!"

That is not my experience at all. In fact I moved here 5 years ago without any money and went into the fanciest, most expensive Vet hospital in Corvallis; gave them my talk and I still make the same monthly payment that I started making 5 years ago. My bill has been paid off several times over, and I take another reptile or cat to them and the bill starts all over again. They have never refused to see any animal I've brought in.

They've made Bob the mascot of their Senior Dog Rescue. They send somebody to get me and him and I just corral him in; and he attracts all kind of attention, people who wouldn't normally go to an event like that see Bob and come over to see him and ask questions about him and they end up learning about adopting a senior dog.

I first went in in clean clothes, without any holes in them and I talked to them honestly about why I don't have any money and how I am going to pay off the bill, and *most* Vet hospitals are quite receptive. So don't lump all Vets together. Some are pretty good, some are great, but YOU have to be upfront with them, honest and without an attitude.
 

exoticsdr

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Shelly said:
maggie3fan said:
Vets are sworn to care for anything living.

Unless the owner has no money. Then, for many (most?) vets, it's "see ya later!"

Yeah, I HATE that....my neighbor's air conditioning recently went out and because she didn't have the money, nobody would fix it for her...imagine that.
 

Skyler Nell

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Do you have any pictures? I'm kind of interested to see what this would look like, and that may help people determine the severity of the damage. I think you should give the little one a chance. especially if it's only part of the legs that are falling off.

I'd say boost the heat, separate from the other turtle, and keep his tank as clean as possible to prevent infection.

Nevermind, this is an old thread. Disregard my advice haha
 

african cake queen

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hi , i agree post pictures and vet. would be good. try some very small worms. lots around now. i use to feed my slider pelets, worms &crickets. spoiled him rotten. i save his life in a public rest room in the sink. he was also in bad shape. frankie stayed with me for 2 years before i would adopt him out. true story! good luck. lindy

hi, i forgot, maybe you could feed him in a diffent container since i think you said hes in a 10 gallon.try and keep water clean too. lindy
 
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