How did my baby turtle die? *Details.?
My baby turtle died a few days ago… But I’m not sure why. Here’s the details:
– Died with head, legs and tail erect and bloated.
– Died with its top left leg bitten off but still intact. (Not sure how this happened)
– Temporarily has been living in a 100 gallon tub outside (Cleaned once or twice a week) No filters. And heating devices/lamps not necessary they’re residing in Hawaii it’s hot enough. There was a basking area about the size of two fists in a corner.
– Was living with 3 other baby turtles, an approx. 3 inch turtle and a 10-12 inch turtle.
– Several months before its death, it had a fungal infection (along with a few other of the bigger turtles) and the tip of its tail fell off. I moved my other turtles (at the time I didn’t have the biggest turtle) into a bigger tank, and kept this turtle in the smaller one until the infection went down a bit then moved him back with the others. It’s tail formed into a healthy-looking stub.
– Fed Zoo Med baby turtle food, Fluker’s Freeze-Dried crickets, and I fed my bigger turtles reptomin turtle sticks so it might have eaten that. Small cherry tamatoes, and an assortment of lettuce from my garden.
– Is relatively small compared to the others.
– **For the record I live on an island with no Herpitologists/vets who treat turtles/ect.**
In other words my turtle died like it was a balloon! If you ever saw Shrek my turtle looked like the animals they blew up into balloons.
Peek, what do you mean? They are in a 100 gallon tub! That’s not too small that is actually very large for them. I don’t know if that was a copy & paste but yeah..
Oh I had other turtles that died (I got a bunch but several died because I lacked the knowledge on how to care for them (now I know how!)) and they didn’t bloat when they died.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29035692@N03/sets/72157617712499206/
*shakes head.*
…enviroment way to small.
Contact rescues sites…and vets ..in your city ,state, or country
For land or aquatic turtles:
http://www.anapsid.org/reslider.html
** EACH 4" turtle needs a 55 gallon tank to ”’start”’ anything would be cruel.
***And my pictures don’t lie. All ages and all sizes get along as long as their is allot for SWIM ROOM and PLENTY TO EAT! They can become cannibalistic if you have 2 or more turtles and a small environment. They will kill off the smallest and then fight for the tank for themselves.
They NEED calcium and protein they get it from the fish meat and the fish bones. Drop 30 or 50 or so feeder guppies or small goldfish or just drop in the tank and watch them disappear in a few days!
Did you know that they need to bask under a reptile light UVA/UVB for up to 8 hrs a day for the vitamin D that they need to grow.
TOSS in a bird cattle bone in the water for calcium that will promote better shell growth, it will dissolve real slowly and if they eat it that’s fine!!
**Remember, you need a heater…set at 83 / 85 degrees. If water is cold they will stop eating!
Plus I also feed dried cubed blood worms or tubiflex worms or pellets at least 5 times a week for my five..
They can have garden worms which I collect after a good rain and dump them in the pond, also meal worms, snails, crickets, flies, crayfish small frogs, slugs, tadpoles, ghost shrimp , dragon flies and anything that moves, but only as a treat.
They need leafy greens Romaine, Butter lettuce. (Iceberg and cabbage are bad for them, any other leafy greens will do) for vitamin A that they need at least 4 to 5 times a week.
They love grapes and strawberries and squash , apples cut up..
this is just a rough guess but maybe something bit it. or it could of bit it’s self to.
References :
ok if it had an infection the turtles probably killed it so the disease won’t spread to them, also it would of have an infection on the inside which caused it to bloat or it might have drowned that sounds llike a lot of water.
References :
was it the smallest in the tank cause the others might have ganged up on it after it was bitten (if it was bitten) and i think you need to keep it in somthing better than a tup with no heating. their pretty fussy creatures!!!! XD
References :
MY BRAIN LOL
It probably had a systemic infection or a parasite,or it died from the bite.When things die,they bloat. If it died from a disease,the other turtles may have started to feed on it.However it died,you shouldn’t keep it with large turtles,as they will attempt to eat smaller ones.You should put the smaller turtles in a separate tank.
References :
Have kept and bred box turtles for 14 years. Have also had aquatic turtles.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/29035692@N03/sets/72157617712499206/
*shakes head.*
…enviroment way to small.
Contact rescues sites…and vets ..in your city ,state, or country
For land or aquatic turtles:
http://www.anapsid.org/reslider.html
** EACH 4" turtle needs a 55 gallon tank to ”’start”’ anything would be cruel.
***And my pictures don’t lie. All ages and all sizes get along as long as their is allot for SWIM ROOM and PLENTY TO EAT! They can become cannibalistic if you have 2 or more turtles and a small environment. They will kill off the smallest and then fight for the tank for themselves.
They NEED calcium and protein they get it from the fish meat and the fish bones. Drop 30 or 50 or so feeder guppies or small goldfish or just drop in the tank and watch them disappear in a few days!
Did you know that they need to bask under a reptile light UVA/UVB for up to 8 hrs a day for the vitamin D that they need to grow.
TOSS in a bird cattle bone in the water for calcium that will promote better shell growth, it will dissolve real slowly and if they eat it that’s fine!!
**Remember, you need a heater…set at 83 / 85 degrees. If water is cold they will stop eating!
Plus I also feed dried cubed blood worms or tubiflex worms or pellets at least 5 times a week for my five..
They can have garden worms which I collect after a good rain and dump them in the pond, also meal worms, snails, crickets, flies, crayfish small frogs, slugs, tadpoles, ghost shrimp , dragon flies and anything that moves, but only as a treat.
They need leafy greens Romaine, Butter lettuce. (Iceberg and cabbage are bad for them, any other leafy greens will do) for vitamin A that they need at least 4 to 5 times a week.
They love grapes and strawberries and squash , apples cut up..
References :
Mom to one 37 yr old slider girl now. The other 37 yr old died while I was away being a care giver to my Mom. It was her time she was 37 yrs old and WAY Past her expected life span to be 25 yrs. So my husband and son got me another one !!! CRAP ! Yes it was very nice, but at my age my smallest will out live me. LOL. So now I have 1 female and three adopted males 11, 8 and a 4 yrs old yellow bellied slider and the new one maybe 8 yrs or so hard to say.
These Aquatic Turtles have been a life long commitment.
My best guess was that you weren’t feeding enough protein. Baby aquatics need lots of fish, earthworms, and other invertebrates in their diet. Vegetables and reptomin are insufficient, and canned crickets are questionable.
I always thought reptiles were prohibited in Hawaii. Did yours come from one of the local feral populations?
References :