Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My boxies have a resp infection. I can only afford to take one to the vet. I will take the other ones when i get paid but it may be too late. what can I do for them? Is it a death sentence?
This just sprung up and is spreading. I have them seperated. What happens in the wild if they get this infection?

up the humidity and soak it daily in warm water, whats the temp at?
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1.2.1 Terrapene Carolina Triunguis
0.1 Nymphicus hollandicus
1.1 Melopsittacus undulatus
1.0 American Cocker Spaniels
1.0 American Short Hair? Cat
1.1 Rouen Ducks

See if your vet will check/test one and prescribe meds for you to dose all, or some similar arrangement. Or at least try to work out a payment plan/schedule: you could indeed lose all your turtles.

In the meantime, a wise thing for you to do would be to save enough money so you can provide care for any and all of your animals should the need arise.

That having been said, you should now ask yourself this:

Do you really think you're equipped to 'rescue' even more turtles, given the circumstances?

Remember:
"If you can't afford the vet, you can't afford the pet."

Please do the right thing and get proper care for your turtles, and refrain from acquiring any more.

Stephanie

If you read my last post about me putting in my 2 cents worth of knowledge, I knew it was coming from your last post. This is why I tell everyone to keep each new addition separated for at least 3 - 4 weeks to prevent this. It is very serious. But first things first.
Separate each one that is sick in its own enclosure. *Yes, EACH sick one shouold have its own place.
Bring the humidity up to at least 70 - 80 percent,
Bring the heat up to at least 85 degrees - CONSTANT.
You should soak them it their own dish with lukewarm water with a 25 % mix of Pedialite. (3 cups water, 1 cup Pedialite)
Keep them secluded & quiet. Try not to disturb them.
Don't know if they would eat, but keep the diet simple. (Nightcrawlers for now.)
When you go from one turtle to another, you have to wash your hands with soap & water. Yes your hands should be sterile. That's why each enclosure has to its own utilities. You have to prevent if from spreading more. Yes, The more turtles you have, the harder it is to control.
I am NOT a vet. But I know they are going to need medication from the vet. Maybe you can work out a deal with the vet that specializes in reptiles where he might give you a break or workout a payment plan. This way, you can bring all the sick ones in & get them treated. The sooner, the better. But you have to contain it. I am so sorry you bought so many.

BTW, I have a good number of them, BUT I never started the way you did. I would only adopt one or two injured boxies a year, separate them, care for them, nurse them back to health & when I am sure they are fine, I introduce them into my group. Now, for the past 35-40 years, they breed constantly. There is no need to buy so many. I take in all boxies that are unwanted, injured with cracked shells, missing limbs, even swollen ears. I have no problems with that. But with R.I., that is one thing I am so "cautious" with. Anyway, Good luck & drop me a line to keep me updated. Yes, I am interested & I do care.

I have not got any new turtles this year. So I don't understand how seperating new ones would help me. I keep them outside and all my turtles have been here a while.

"can't afford the vet, can't afford the pet"

My grandmom has a dog that had a $2500 vet bill for some surgery. I doubt everyone here has a dog and $2500 just in case the dog may need it.

There is alot of condecending advice here.

Never have kids because if you get laid off from work,lose your health insurance and god forbid something happens to your kid you should have lived by "can't afford the vet, can't afford the pet" .

It is funny how people attack other people for their beliefs. everyone thinks they have the answer. Just like in religon. everyone is wrong that does not agree with you. I never said that not buying the turtles for that guy was wrong. i just was mad becuase people attacked my logic. What makes you or me right?

By keeping the sick ones separated from the ones that are still healthy, the chances of all of your turtles becoming infected are greatly diminished. Its called quarantine, and is an effective way of preventing contagion from spreading. I just treated one of mine for the same thing: isolated him to keep him away from the others, took him to the vet promptly, paid the vet willingly, and put him back in the general population when he'd recovered. All of our turtles live outside year round, and once in while, one of them comes down with something. We have not lost one yet, nor do we intend to.

I am not condescending, but rather trying to point out to you the error of your ways, so to speak.
Within the last couple of days, on this forum, you stated that you had offered to purchase 10 eastern box turtles for $200 from a less-than-scrupulous dealer, ostensibly to "rescue" them from ending up in pet stores or in the hands of someone who might mistreat/neglect them. Seeing the irony yet?
Luckily for you (and the turtles) that you did not buy ten more box turtles that you can't afford to treat should they get sick.

You have an opportunity to learn from this experience and to become a better turtle keeper as a result: you'd do well to lose the attitude.

Haven't you ever heard of having an emergency fund? How about a plain old savings account? If you are not financially able to provide basic care for your pets, or any other dependants, then you should take a long hard look at yourself and grow up.

By the way, I have 4 dogs, and 4 cats, in addition to box turtles, and I am fully prepared to spend whatever is necessary and/or appropriate for their care, simply because I am not a hypocrite when I say I'm an animal lover.
Regards
Stephanie

Put it this way, reverse the situation, If you purchase 10 Healthy Easterns & put them in with boxies that are sick, what do you think will probably happen? Your 10 healthy ones may get sick.
All New additions should be watched carefully so that you can observe them to make sure they are not sick. The reason for that is because you do not know how they were kept previously or where they were obtained. For all you know, your new boxies could have been kept in a small enclosure with sick ones & have not developed any signs of illness. It may have just gotten into their system which may take several weeks to show. That's why I say - don't mix them immediately. Can you imagine having a really healthy group, buying a group of boxies that were put into the same enclosure with sick boxies? You wouldn't know until they developed signs of illness. By then, your healthy group is now infected. Isn't that causing more damage to the situation? I never attacked your logic. I was telling you what could happen. Which you can see, is beginning to happen. It is spreading. The only thing to do now is stop the spreading by separation & treat the sick ones.
By the way, in regards to the 10 boxies. If you ordered them and they are on the way, do you have a place to keep them? - Now that I explained my reasoning, I hope you don't mix them. If you did order them & have ABSOLUTELY no place to put them & the guy won't give refunds, drop me an e-mail. I "may" be your last resort. BUT I still have to think this one over. Anyway, good luck with your situation. Hope things improve.

your logic all around was incorrect. that is why it was attacked. I want all turtles to do well. but now we see why what you were advocating is not in the best interests of turtles. a vet visit isn't that damn expensive....maybe $35 plus any prescriptions. the turtle could be given something at the vet and you sent home with a prescription to treat this on your own for maybe $60 bucks tops...if you don't procrastinate and screw off about it. if you can't handle that you shouldn't have ONE turtle. WE AIN'T TALKING ABOUT NO HIP DISPLYASIA SURGERY HERE!

Mick
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"When tyranny and oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign foe."

James Madison

Hi,

Take the one to the vet & the vet will have you pay for a prescription medication to give the turtle.
If they've both got the respiratory problem w/ all the same symptoms, simply give the second box turtle the same meds.
Save 'em both in one go!

Total, including the check-up medication will probably be around $80.

Hope this helps a bit!

Look I may have an sounded like I had and attitude I don't know it doesn't really matter. the vet said $50 just to look at the turtle and with the meds it will be $125. About 10 years ago my brothers trutle ( 3-toed) had the same problem, it cost $110 then. maybe it cost more where I live but it is not $80 like someone said. I have alot more than 2 turtles. I want to get them all looked at. Only two have symptoms and they are seperated. If i took all my turtles to the vet it would be at least $1000. nevermind I am getting off track. Of course I have money saved. Not alot My car cost 4,000 to fix the trans and bottom end of the engine. Now the car has no reverse again. I don't know what you do for a living but 4,000 is alot of money to me. even more so when I am still paying on the car. I don't mean to tell my life story but it seems like you think I have turtles and am not responsible. If all this other stuff was not going on then I would have never had to post the original message. It would have been taking care of. My dogs have had parvo and broken legs, surgery and everything else. I took them top the vet and had it taken crare of. I will take both sick turtles on tuesday. that is the first chance they could give me to get in the vets office. It will cost $250. I have pics of me having pet box turtles when I was 8 I am 25 and this is the first time one of mine has been sick. My brothers got sick once but not mine. If you have 4000 in the bank for an emergency than you are not a hipocrite. Whemy dogs got sick and had IV' and whatnot they where 700- each. if you don't have that much I hope your dogs never get sick. I almost lost all my dogs at once. That is not something I would wish on anyone. Maybe my logic was wrong with buying the turtles. Which I did not. I gave up trying to change things a long time ago. this guy is gonna clean out his area. If he gets busted another guy will do the same.