Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have two ornate wood turtles that ive had for three months , they both had mild shell rot andhave seen a good herp vet , they were started on baytril every other day given oraly , one is perfectly fine , but the other seems to have had a bad reaction , and vomited / excreted a large amount of thick jelly, it was clear and was exactly like frog spawn without the black bits, since then its become very lethargic and keeps vomiting , its only water now but im getting really worried , and the unexplained jelly is baffleing me,it was almost the size of the turtle, if any one can help please i would be gratefull

GO TO A DIFFERENT VET!!! Turtles should not be given Baytril!!!

I'm sorry, my frustration is not directed at you. I'm just sick of hearing about these vets that work on exotics without knowing enough about them. I'm sorry that your turtle is sick, I hope it all works out.

thanks for replying mate, she died on sunday , ive taken the male off baytrill and he seems fine , just so i know and dont hurt any more turtles , what anti biotic works for them ?bearing in mind im in the uk

Goodness, I'm so sorry to hear about that. Unfortunately, as my collection grows, I'm experiencing more of the 'facts of life'. I know how you feel, and it stinks!

I thought a little about my last post, and there are a few things that I want to say about Baytril. Baytril (Enrofloxacin) is a wonderful antibiotic. It has kept many different species of animals alive, and has served the Veterinary field well for many years. It will probably continue to do so. As far as I'm aware, it is still used with great results in certain snakes and lizards. I do not keep up with current treatment protocols for anything besides turtles. Also, if a turtle has an infection and bacterial cultures show a strain of bacteria that is particularly succeptible to Baytril, it can still be used.

Having said all of that, there are several "new" antibiotics that are being used with much higher efficacy and safety in turtles. The broad spectrum antibiotic that I'm currently using is called Fortaz (ceftazidime). It's been shown to be very gentle on their systems, and very effective against anaerobic bacteria, as well as some others. I studied several additional drugs, but I'm sorry that I can't recall their names. Any recent (2005/2006) exotic animal formulary should go through the pros and cons of each. Just make sure that it addresses turtles specifically. You'd be shocked at how many vets think, "Well, if it's good for an iguana it's good for a turtle." They'll just automatically place a turtle on Baytril without even knowing the condition from which the subject suffers. Also, I've never heard of giving a PO dose of Baytril to any herp.

I hope you don't mind, I have a question for you. Being from the UK, are you aware of any turtle that is currently living in ponds and lakes in Britain? I know that fossil records point to Emys orbicularis (European Pond turtles) occurring there long ago. I traveled to London this past summer and visited Stratford-Upon-Avon. While in a pub, I mentioned to one of barkeeps that there were tons of fish in the Avon River. He acknowledged there were, but commented that turtles had eaten all of the fish out of a pond nearby his home. He couldn't describe or name them for me (actually, he said they were sea turtles). I suspect that they are released Red-eared Sliders from the US. Any ideas?

thanks for the help , much appriciated.
as for the turtles in the uk , ha ha ,yes , unfortunately literally many thousands of red eared sliders have been released in the uk, there are infact, nine(4 males and 5 females)full grown adult RES living in the duck pond about 100 yards from me now! people have tried to cath them , but really have no chance , fun watching them try though! they're taking thier toll on the ducklings and amphibians in the area for sure, never seen any other turtles in the uk, i have got a california newt ,. i found wandering down the road 17 years ago.... in liverpool
i really hope people can learn to be more responsible with thier pets

>>>and vomited / excreted a large amount of thick jelly, it was clear and was exactly like frog spawn without the black bits, since then its become very lethargic and keeps vomiting , its only water now but im getting really worried , and the unexplained jelly is baffleing me,it was almost the size of the turtle, if any one can help please i would be gratefull

If memory serves me correctly I believe the type of vomit you've mentioned is a symptom of major organ failure, such as liver failure. Which would say to me that if you'd only had the turtles for 3 months then this would've been a sign of long term poor care for the turtles, in other words whoever you bought the turtle from sold you a very unhealthy turtle in the first place. By the time you saw vomit like that the turtle couldn't have been saved no matter what.

As for antibiotics, sometimes the older antibiotics can work well for a turtle. I have a box who was nearly roadkill last summer. At first I wasn't sure if she was wild or not, then came to believe strongly that she was not wild. When the temps cooled down in October, she sat outside in cold rain all night one night. I didn't know that because I'd seen her go bed before dark but it began to rain after dark, I found her in the cold the next morning soaking wet while our truly wild one had the sense to get underground and stay there.
She got sick from this, we put her on something not very strong, I forget what but it wasn't Baytril and it didn't work.
At the time I had a whole bottle of strawberry flavored chloramphenicol which is a very old but very strong medication, the vet had special ordered it for me for another pet. Because I had it already the vet calculated a dose for the turtle, she loved the flavor so it was easy to get her to take it & it worked like a charm!
Baytril is a good medicine but because it's used so much, maybe over used, my vet likes to try other meds first.. kind of like using Baytril as the big gun & we don't pull out the big gun unless we absolutely have to do it.

I am very sorry for your loss, I think the ornate woods are one of the most beautiful turtles in the pet trade.
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PHRatz

thanks for your support guys, i got another female yesterday and the remaining pair immediately started nodding and mating!they are very beutifull and i hope to post some pics of my cheeky little turtles soon, i think i made a mistake when choosing them , i felt sorry for the one with the very slightly deformed shell, a very bad sign in wild caught turtles , but at least it had a comfortable , and very well pampered final few months, it never really got used to human attention but this is what sometimes happens when you keep exotics, god knows how many newts ive had die within thier first few months of captivity, while many more are fine twenty years later,