Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Here is my setup: 150 Gallon tank holding 2 medium Res's, an Eastern Red bellie, a juvi eastern painted, and what used to be my map.

5 Turtles, all got along great in the past. About 2 months ago my maps tail was accidentally bit halfway off by one of the res's during feeding time. The map went nuts because the tail look liked it hurt. It was a bloody lump. I fixed the tail by soaking the map in Turtle Sulfa Dip for a week in its own enclosure. All was fine.

Well last week, it looked like the tails wound was reopened, and i started to notice little white blotches (kind of like lumps of shed skin only it wasn't)on my maps tail (wound) hand, and back foot.

Now today, my map was dead. When i picked him up it looked like he was rotted to death. His hand was half gone (looked rotted), and open blister-like wound on his neck, hands, feet, and tail. Then i turned him over and along each line of his plastron, it looked like there were lines of blistery fat. Also his eyes looks blistered shut.

I have never seen another one of my turtles attack or go after him. Do you think he died of cancer, an infection, being attacked? I wish i had a picture but i couldn't get one.

Any expert advice would be apprecitated. Also, I did a complete water change. Will my other turtles catch this?

Thanks.

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0.0.2 RES's (The Boondock Saints)
0.0.1 Common Snapping Turtle (Aggro)
0.0.1 Eastern Red Bellie (Jake)
0.0.1 Map Turtle (Mappy)
0.2.0 Bearded Dragon (Yeungling,Killian)

>>Here is my setup: 150 Gallon tank holding 2 medium Res's, an >>Eastern Red bellie, a juvi eastern painted, and what used to >>be my map.
Mixing species is never a good idea. These turtles have different requirements

>>5 Turtles, all got along great in the past.
Or so you thought

>About 2 months ago my maps tail was accidentally bit halfway >>off by one of the res's during feeding time. The map went nuts >>because the tail look liked it hurt. It was a bloody lump. I >>fixed the tail by soaking the map in Turtle Sulfa Dip for a >>week in its own enclosure. All was fine.
I'm sure it did hurt! Why didn't you take him to a vet? If this had been your dog I'm sure your would have

>Well last week, it looked like the tails wound was reopened, >>and i started to notice little white blotches (kind of like >>lumps of shed skin only it wasn't)on my maps tail (wound) >>hand, and back foot. >
And you left him in that tank with no medical treatment?!?!?!?!

>>Now today, my map was dead. When i picked him up it looked >>like he was rotted to death. His hand was half gone (looked >>rotted), and open blister-like wound on his neck, hands, feet, >>and tail. Then i turned him over and along each line of his >>plastron, it looked like there were lines of blistery fat. >>Also his eyes looks blistered shut.<
Gee, what a surprise. I can't imagine all that happened overnight

>>I have never seen another one of my turtles attack or go after >>him. Do you think he died of cancer, an infection, being >>attacked? I wish i had a picture but i couldn't get one.>
Hmnm... funny that you seemed to know he'd been bitten before. NO! He did not die of cancer! Thank God you don't have pictures posted. I think they would make many people physically ill

>>Any expert advice would be apprecitated. Also, I did a >>complete water change. Will my other turtles catch this?>
Sure they will if they're bitten and don't get proper medical attention.

First off, I asked for help, not a response from someone who thinks they are the turtle guru of jerk island.

Mixing species is never a good idea. These turtles have different requirements

actually these turtles all have VERY simular, if not identical housing requirements. Its not like im mixing a snapping turtle and slider

Or so you thought

believe me, any sign of aggression, and they would have been seperated. They have all lived peacefully together since hatchlings, and i have NEVER, not even once seen any of them attack each other

I'm sure it did hurt! Why didn't you take him to a vet? If this had been your dog I'm sure your would have

Actually, I brought it to the vet (he gave me the sulfa dip) and he advised me on how to apply it to the water, and how long it would take to heal. He said it wasn't a bad bite. I kept him housed seperatly until the wound was FULLY healed.

And you left him in that tank with no medical treatment?!?!?!?!

wrong again. I kept him seperate and gave him the same medication, called the vet, and was informed that the wound was reopening from rubbing against the back of his shell.

Gee, what a surprise. I can't imagine all that happened overnight

actually it was overnight. When i last left him, he was sunning on his basking spot with the smaller turtle relaxing on his shell. NO sign of injury, except for a couple small white blotches (which the vet informed me was shed spotting)

Hmnm... funny that you seemed to know he'd been bitten before. NO! He did not die of cancer! Thank God you don't have pictures posted. I think they would make many people physically ill

again, he was bitten on accident while another turtle was chasing some fish. None of my turtles ever purposly attacked him.

Sure they will if they're bitten and don't get proper medical attention.

wasn't a bite. just asking for some help.

You know its people like you who make this website stand for everything its NOT meant to be. I can't believe you accused me of not taking proper care of my herps. I have kept herps for a long time, this was my first "problem". I seeked an answer, not criticism on how You think i take care of my herps. I take better care of them then your own mother takes care of you.

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0.0.2 RES's (The Boondock Saints)
0.0.1 Common Snapping Turtle (Aggro)
0.0.1 Eastern Red Bellie (Jake)
0.0.1 Map Turtle (Mappy)
0.2.0 Bearded Dragon (Yeungling,Killian)

Well now that someone has "spanked" you let me try to answer your question.

I can't say for sure if this is what did your turtle in but it does sound like the wound had gone septic and that is what did your poor little guy in. A system infection will have the effects that you described on the animals body.

Sorry for you loss and frankly IMHO find a different vet. Sulfa dip was not the best way to treat this animal.

Good luck with the rest of you guys. You have some of my favorites.

Steve

I agree that all these species, even though are similar in care, should not be housed together. I don't know much on red bellies or maps, but RES can be mean.

It doesn't matter if they were all raised together as babies on up, they will turn on each other eventually. I have 4 RES, I'm expecting someone to cause problems, so far so good though. They're 1 yrs old. Two are males who annoy each other occasionally but they're ok together so far.

Sulfa Dip is a worthless product. I believe like another poster said, the turtle went septic and got infected and died.
Was this vet a reptile vet or a common animal vet?

Map turtles are very sensitive to water quality. Arguably, more sensitive than chrysemys or Trachemys. I have always kept my map turtles seperate. I know there are many successful mixed turtle set-ups, but I always kept them seperate for added protection.

I agree with what has been said so far.

Often tail wounds will heal on their own if the turtle is kept isloated and in clean water. The best treatment I have found is the topical application of triple antibiotic (generic of Neosporin - don't waste your money on the brand name) which stays on well in the water. If it looks bad, injectable antibiotics such as amikacin or Baytril will help prevent infection. If the cloacal area is involved, things are much more complicated. Unfortunately, even after a good healing, other turtles will often continue to attack the pink stub. Also, there are some individual turtles that are chronic tail-biters and must be isolated. Your turtle most likely died of overwhelming bacterial sepsis, however, and the limb damage was probably due to post-mortem feeding on the corpse by its tank-mates. This is a regular occurence after a death from any cause in a community tank, even if the tank-mates are normally well-behaved.

Just reread your list of tankmates. RES are very aggressive turtles and are often the culprit in attacks. One specialist, who keeps dozens of species and hundreds of individuals refuses to keep any Trachemys for this reason.