All Turtles Message Board

Turtle Lou · Guest Joined: 23 Jun 2005 Posts: 1

Hello, all,

I've been a long time lurker... well... about a 2 months... but this is my first post Smile

I purchased 2x RES about 6 weeks ago. Turns out about half the turtles sold to all the local pet shops, including the one I bought from, were sick and have died... as has one of mine Sad

The other turtle, (Ralph), was, and still is, surviving fine but I was concerned for him... most especially since the other was sick. The sick turtle never left his dock, never ever ate after the first couple of weeks, and died in about 4 weeks.

I tried everything the local reptile vet suggested... though he wouldn't himself look at him as he said he was too small and too young... and nothing worked Sad

While he was sick Ralph almost never left the dock but he did eat... though not voraciously as these boards, the pet shop, and the vet, suggested a young turtle should eat.

I have some shrimp in the tank too for them to eat and even Ralph showed no interest in them at all... even though the pet shop and vet said he would.

Well this past Monday the poor sick turtle died Sad

Since then Ralph is unbelievably active, chases, catches, and eats the shrimp... a LOT... and has turned into quite the little eating machine when I put his turtle kibble in.

He pretty much now never goes completely on the dock... just the part angled in the water and pokes his head out... and spends a great deal of time swimming and exploring the tank... and of course chasing shrimp.

I'm thinking the two things; the other turtle's death and Ralph's new found activity and appetite, are related... though I can't guess how.

The pet shop has offered to replace the turtle once they're sure this next batch is healthy... but I'm not sure I want another now. Ralph apparantly doesn't like it when there are other turtles around... or was it because the other turtle was sick?

Any thoughts on this? Is it normal for a healthy turtle to not be active if a sick one is around... and then perk up after the sick one is removed/dies?

Oh... if it impacts your advice at all... I have a 10 gallon tank, a UVB lamp on a timer, a floating dock, filter, gravel, some plant and rock things for hiding, and I change the water, complete water change, every 2 weeks... oh... yeah... and a bunch of wee lil' shrimp Smile

Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.

Thanks all.

Take care,
Turtle Lou

dixieee · Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2005 5:15 pm Post subject:

welcome to the board Smile

i'm so sorry for ur loss..i lost a turtle almost in a similar way but that's life and this is a common thing between hatchlings..

anyways, it might be that ur turtle knew the other one was sick..what confuses me is that i heard a lot ( + from a personal experience) that turtles act aggressive with the other sick ones..it's good that ur guy didn't hurt him though

everything else seems fine so good luck with ur guy and if u have any questions, stories, comments or anything related to turtles we'd be glad if u share it with us Smile

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Wed 10/27/2004 is the worst day..i lost my best friend Leo

so now i have a female RES, Green, and a cute stupid male YBS, Mint

5/4/2006 RIP Lemon, u were my first rescue and i'm so proud of u. will never 4get u

STRAYKINGFISHER · Posted: Thu Jun 23, 2005 6:22 pm Post subject:

Welcome to the board, I was reading about the shrimp in the tank and thought they were freeze dried ones until I finished reading the post, they do eat them but when one is sick, they will eat the freeze dried ones because they stink, alot of the times the reason they don't eat is because they can't smell the food.

The reaction of a turtle to a sick friend will vary from turtle to turtle, one may be glad that the sick one finally left because it now has more space, on the other hand, he may seem depressed because of the loss of a friend and not eat for a long time, who knows how a turtle brain works. Laughing

I wanted to ask you if you have those colorful pebbles in your tank, the reason I ask is because if the turtle that died happened to eat a pebble, it would've stopped it up, and it would stop eating, the condition is called "impaction", if you do have pebbles in there, you should really get rid of it.
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