Reptile & Amphibian Forums

It's been two weeks my little yb hatchling hasn't eaten. I don't know how it's surviving, but apparently it's still able to move around and even looks better. It can open its eyes more, and sometimes swims below the surface, but not all the way down.

I just don't understand. It may be eating the little bits of floating food I put in there, or some of the plants. Despite this, I just don't know what to do for it. Usually I can see when a turtle is eating, and this once I've never seen eat at all.

Sounds like a case of pneumonia. Turtles can torerate this for weeks and survive, but if it is still active, there is still hope. Do the following (and it will be difficult): Get a good weight on your turtle (use a postage scale, if necessary). Beg your vet to give you a syringe of Amikacin (amiglyde) with a 25 gague needle and very, very, very carefully calculate an injection amount to produce 10 mg/kg of body wieght. You may have to dilute the antibiotic with saline to acheive a reasonable injection amount.
Baytril is also given at 10 mg/kg. I have saved many hopeless cases with this regimen : 2 days on, one day off for a total of 6 doses. Inject under the "armpit" alternating sides. Wipe the needle with alcohol before and after each injection. One needle will last for six doses. Good luck!

If this is possible Erico's advice is good. I just recently saved a little RES with Baytril. From your thread below you say you are in Japan so I am not really sure what antibiotics would be avaible to you. The floating and glassy eyes you described could also be signs of malnutrition as well.

Unfortunately -- turtles that have been off food for a while sometimes refuse to eat even after they recover. Trying to get food into him with an eyedropper will be next to impossible. Turtles need to be tubefed. If you squirt something into their mouths they will just spit it right out as soon as you put them down. Tube feeding is the only way to get food into them because the tube goes right down to the stomach to deliver the food.

I am really sorry you having such a rough time of this. I wish I had some answer but I think that you are exhausting your options. See if a vet will give you that antibiotic. As far as tube feeding the animal, if you have no experience with this you stand a chance of doing more harm than good. You can easily tear or pierce something in the animal's gut. Especially a little guy like this.

You know, it's weird, the sickness this turtle has. Just yesterday I saw him going after some floating sticks, some Gammarus. He only took little chunks, and then mostly spit it back out.

Now, today, I found him floating around in the water. May've been knocked in from his perch on the sunny rock. Still refused to eat. But as of yesterday, he appeared to be doing better.

Sorry, I can't find a vet with this much knowledge right now. I'll try. We'll see how he does, and go from there.

I think that's all you can do at this point. Your hands do seem to be tied as far as vet help goes. Keep trying the things he appears to be nibbling at.

Has he ever eaten since he hatched, or was he eating nomally and then stopped?

What is his water temperature?

My experience with hatchling snappers has been they need to be kept above 70 F or thier eating slow downs dramatically or stops.

The picture shows two nestmate snapper hatchlings with different eating habits.

Man, that's something else, that picture. Besides it being a great picture, the differences in sizes is really amazing. I've exerienced the same with res's.

For some unknown reason, a few hatchlings are just finicky, or else weaker. I don't really know what the problem is. This guy, however, grew up in a supermarket fish tank, so I don't know the answers to your questions.

But I've had him for two weeks, and for that entire time I don't think he ate. Then, just a few days ago, he started to nibble on some JBL Gammarus. He didn't eat yesterday, or the day before, but just tonight, he half-way dug in! I was amazed.

Yet he still doesn't swallow all his food. He takes minute amounts, and I'm hoping he's eating something. I put raw meat in a little plastic dish, some cut up shrimp; some floating sticks and JBL Gammarus. I also put in a red worm.

I'm letting him float around inside the aquarium within that plastic dish. I'll check on him later and see how he progresses.

I think putting him outside in the sun might've helped. I don't know. I just hope he survives, since there's nothing else I can do.

You have GOT to be extremely frustrated. Try getting him outside daily for some real sun and fresh air. Sure can't hurt and might even help. Hi might need that more then anything.

I'm used to being patient with turtles, particularly hatchlings. But if I don't watch it, it'll stress me out too much. This is why I'd said "there's not much I can do."

Can't put him outside today, but he seems to be doing well. I can't believe it! He's starting to sink in the water, or to submerge. He ate again-albeit in minute amounts-this morning. He seems to be opening his eyes more and is sunning less sleepily. He keeps his eyes open a little more, etc. . .

I'm afraid I may be getting my hopes up, however, but I owe it to this little guy, since I'd had yb's before but couldn't keep them. I love 'em when they get bigger.

I can't find Tetra Reptomin where I live, however, because they'd banned it from being sold here for some reason or another. This disturbs me, because my last yb's loved the stuff. Putting him outside must've done some good. I think putting hatchling outside, with water plants and all, does wonders, as some of my previous turtles have grown astronomically due to being placed outside in the sun.

Perhaps you can't find Reptomin because a few years ago there was an unfounded scare regarding mad cow disease and your country may still be paranoid. There is one other rarer condition involving Salmonella ( or Arizona) infection of the gut. The animal tends to bask a lot in this situation. Chloramphenicol is indicated for this condition, rather than amikacin, but Baytril might help - not sure.