Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have had him since April and I didn't know what I was suppose to be keeping him in. I have been keeping him in a large bowl with area to swim and area to bask. I have no light, heater or filter. I just had no idea what I needed for him and he has been perfectly content up until recently. I think since the cold weather began. But, I always tried my hardes to change his water and clean his bowl at least once a week or more. Timmy has been a very happy turtle since I got him...he always ate and dug around in his rocks and swam about. But, now he just stays in one spot for long periods of time in the dry area of his bowl. And there seems to be a problem with his eyes. He can open them sometimes, but there is like a layer covering them. I know this sounds terrible!! But now I have put him in a 10 gallon tank and have a light shining in for warmth. I plan on going to the pet shop Wednesday to pick up other suipplies for him...but it is expensive and I don't want to spend all that money if I think I might wake up the next day and he'll be past on.
Has anybody ever heard of this problem with their eyes and is there anything I can do to treat and prevent it in the future?? And since he has had this sort of "cold" in his eyes he hasn't been active and hasn't been eating...I'm worried about him and I just really don't know much about turtles...and i don't know what to do. And taking him to the vet isn't really an option, since I am a broke college student. But, I don't want him to suffer...I love the little guy!!

Hello,

I am sorry to hear about your store. I don't want to be mean but I'll like to say: you are definitely not a responsible owner! You know that your turtles needs heat, light and all the stuff! But you didn't want to get all those necessities because they are too expensive. Well, maybe you shouldn't keep a pet at the very first place. Yes it's true that you can get a turtle for a few bucks, but the upkeep is going to cost you a lot of $$$, and you know this from the beginning already. Now that your turtle is sick - obviously because it has not been kept in a proper habitat, with no heat, basking spot, etc - and you still don't want to pay for the necessary supplies???? Then too bad your turtle is gonna go away soon. If you really do love your turtle: you can still get him all the necessities, get him into a proper set-up (heat will boost up his immunity). Regarding his eyes - he is probably not getting enough vitamin A - so his eyes are swellen. Or it might also be that it is too cold and the water is not clean, etc. I would definitely suggest you get him to a Vet to do a full check up. I will not be suprised that your turtle have other problems as well. Of course that'll mean $$$. A cheak remedy is to buy bottled turtle eye drops; that might clear the inflammation. If you definitely don't have the $$$ and are not willing to take care of the baby anymore, please give it to someone that can provide the proper care.

i would say the first thing u need to do is make sure the water is about 82-84 for now until he gets better, and the eyes...yes the water is probably pretty dirty or its a lack of vitamins...if you cant afford the vet, go get the turtle eye drops asap, its like 4-6bucks, the heater will really help your turtle get better, my turtle got sick, i put a heater in there, in within a week he was better, active, and eating...and if you really do love the little guy/gal, do this ASAP, there is no time to wait around

No you have th wrong idea...I just realized that he needed all of those things to survive...I didn't know I needed a heater, filter and what not!!

i was under the same impression when i bought one in chinatown in NYC for a mere $5. I bought him a little cage and some rocks and food and left him on my dresser for about 2 weeks and then started looking around for care tips, realized that my setup was severely insufficient.
so i bought him a bigger tank, a light for heat, provided a nice basking spot and got Stewie some fake trees. Well, that lasted about a week or so until I figured he needed more room and such. So i went back out, bought a 10 gallon tank (for a mere $10 that will last for at lesat a year until he grows too big and i can expand more), and also bought a uvb lamp, filter, and water heater. now he's got about 5-6" deep water, a nice basking area, nice warm water, and plenty of plants for him to hide out in. I've noticed some decent growth from Stewie since i moved him into his new tank. I also wanna get rid of the rock set up (and leave them just to weigh down the plants and fill out the bottom) and get a nicer basking area, maybe put some slate or some other material to build up an area and provide a bigger swimming area for him. But now i have the essentials, uva/uvb light, filter, water heater, basking area, and all that good stuff.

My little $5 turtle has run me maybe $150-200 in 2 months time, and Stewie is definitely worth every penny.

The first semi-aquatic turtles I've ever owned were 3 adult red eared sliders. I got them for free from some classified adds. Little did I know there is no such thing as 'free' turtles. They are expensive animals to maintain. When I got them they came with a 30 gallon tank with a stand. Here are some items I've had to buy for their well being;

75 gallom tank and stand ($200)- I had to buy this because having 3 fullgrown female sliders in a 30 gallon tank does not allow for sufficient excercise. I even feel that 75 gallons is too small and I am looking to upgrade in the future.

UVA/UVB bulbs and fixtures ($70 ). They obviously needed these for health reasons. The kid who gave me the turtles never exposed them to UVB. As a result their shells looked like beaten up battle tanks. Over the course of months, their shells finally recovered.

Proper filtration ($70)- This should be obvious

Basking area materials ($40)- My basking area consist of cork with a very large turtle dock leading up to it

Titanium heater ($35)- This is a fully submersable water heater made out of titanium. Excellent for turtles because it doesn't break.

As you can see, turtles are an expensive choice for animal companions. Tha doesn't even include all the money that goes into food, burnt out lightbulbs, vet visits, etc. etc. If you aren't willing to spend the money, then DON'T get them. It would be irresponsible to do so.

Copyleftpenguin, your set up sounds really cool. Do you have pictures?

When I got my little turtle 4 months ago (Vet says he's probably 9 mo now and I know he's only 62 grams), I got him the bare necessaties. Tank, Filter, lights, food, tank decoration (took me a few days to figure out how to best set up a basking area). But I'm upgrading and your basking area sounds neat. I'm trying to get ideas for when I'm ready to create new basking area.

I'm changing from 10 gal tank to 23 gal rubbermaid after Xmas. He's getting large tub for outside after winters over.

How's it going? I would be more than glad to post pictures of my setup. I'm getting my hands on a digital camera this weekend.

are close. I live in Illinois.

Linda

I am going out tomorrow to the store to see what I can do to help Timmy...it makes me sad to see him not feeling well. I just prey he will recover from this.