Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I've left several messages here about my baby turtles, particularly about one not eating. I didn't have enough money for a vet appointment so I decided to hold out a little longer before rushing him to the doctor and instead paid very close attention to him. I figured out the problem today when I saw him trying to eat. I put some blood worms in the water and he moved himself to their general area and started snapping around. My other turtle simply swam up and chomped down on the worms while my sick turtle only seemed to be able to navigate to their general area. I took the sick one out of the water and tested his reactions to visual stimuli and sure enough he had no reaction to any visual stimuli. My other turtle Mr. T, reacted to all the stimuli. So, I have a blind turtle. By holding food in front of the blind turtle I was able to help him eat, but I was wondering if anyone else had encountered a similar situation with one of their turtles, and if anyone had some suggestions to improve the newly named Stevie's way of life. Some people told me earlier to seperate the two turtles but I've noticed that Stevie hangs around his brother constantly and when I did seperate them Stevie started to panic and began swimming erratically so I think it's better to keep them together. I'm taking Stevie to my laboratory veterinarian tomorrow; I found that the lab next door to mine uses turtles for behavioral research and that they have a reptile vet for their research animals, if he can't help me I'll take Stevie to the animal general and pay the 110 dollars for an appointment. Any suggestions to help my blind baby?
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Kristen Penberthy
1 leopard gecko (Zanzibar)
2 Red Eared Sliders ( Mr. T and Kallisto)
1 guinea pig (Alberto)
1 cat (Circe)
1 Entlebucher (Bailey)
Lots of South American Cichlids (Margarita, The Incredible Hulk, Michelle Jackson, Al Cappone)

I have had blind turtles for many years. If, indeed, he is blind the reason he panicked was that he was placed in unfamiliar surroundings and was struggling to navigate around.

The you can easily had feed him worms and bits of shrimp and in time he will respond to having the food rubbed near his nose. He will also learn to surface feed off floating food just fine.

You still need to have him looked at by a vet though. Many times what may appear to be blindness may be weakness on the part of the animal due to fact that he has not been eating properly like you other turtle.

If he is blind trust me he will adapt very well. Mine always would respond to the sound of my voice (or anyone who called to them) and go right to the spot in the pond where they were handfed. They lived a very normal life in with all my sighted turtles.

Steve

sorry about your turtle, but it will certainly make you pay attention to him. i would not seperate them if they seem to get along so well, if they are both males though, they will fight when they get older most of the time. i would make a large basking spot for stevie and feed him seperatly (in a diff. container) to make sure he gets enough and other than that i don't think there is a whole lot you can do. good luck!

I've got an albino and he's blind, I used to feed him with plastic tweezers and it worked great. After a while he just started to eat by skimming the top in the general vacinity of the food, so I no longer have to hand feed him.