All Turtles Message Board

Danica · Level 1 Joined: 09 Oct 2005 Posts: 23

Hey everyone, this is my first time on a message board of any kind, so I'm not too confident about how it works...but, I'm hoping you guys can help me.
I got a RES from a friend in another city, and it was shipped through the mail...wierd, I know. He is very small, and I don't know how old he is, but he's only about 2 inches long.
At first, I was having a really hard time getting him to eat. After about a week, he finally started eating. Then, after about 2 weeks of eating fine, he all of a sudden stopped eating and won't open his eyes. When I hold him, he is pretty active, but other than that, he just sits in the same spot all day. I am really worried about his not eating and that he won't open his eyes. Do you think he is sick?
Please help me...he is so little and I feel really bad that I don't know how to help him. Oh! He also does this thing...when i go up to his tank and talk to him, he sticks his neck out really far and open and closes his mouth, but still won't open his eyes. Anyway, sorry this was so long, I'm just worried. Thanks for any information or suggestions you can give me!
-Danica

razorbak · Level 1 Joined: 14 Oct 2005 Posts: 20

hi, and welcome. well i used to have baby res before too and one of mine had that same problem. the reason why your turtle is not eating is because it may have an eye infection. in some cases, when a turtle is sick it won't eat. you might wanna take it to a vet to check out the eye or ask someone around here how to cure it. i wasn't too sure on how to cure it either. but i still kept it for a few months then i gave him away to my friend. So sorry i couldn't help any further but you might wanna get it checked out.

contact444 · Posted: Fri Oct 21, 2005 3:10 pm Post subject:

If it's doing the gasping motion most likely it has a respiratory infection. Raise the temp in the tank and get it to a vet. This is a very serious problem. I don't know that it has an eye infection so much as it is just very sick. Are the eyes goopy or swollen. If not I would just say he's pretty ill and trying to sleep and covserve energy.

He will need some medicine so the sooner he gets it the better.

Good luck, hope he gets better.
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2 big RES, 1 Flowerhorn Cichlid, 1 Cockatiel. I will alway hold a place in my heart for Daphne, my albino RES.