Reptile & Amphibian Forums

A few months back someone brought in a roughly hatchling sized western river cooter to the museum of natural history I work at. Being a protected species in NM and the person wanting to get rid of it I opted to take it in. I have not had much luck with it eating at all. I can get it to take chopped up earth worms and some fruits and veggies, but as of the last couple of weeks it hasn't wanted anything. I've tried small mealworms, freeze dried tubifex worms, crickets, anachris and beef liver. Its shell has become fairly softened over the months as well. I'm completely baffled with this turtle. Size wise its approximately the size of a 50 cent piece, or roughly 1.25-1.75 inches. It's still active, but is beginning to get a little sluggish. Everything else is squared away, water, filtration, lighting, etc. I just can't get the booger to eat and I'm concerned with attempting any type of injections through vet care because of how small it is. ANY suggestions at this juncture would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Chris Newsom
Naturalist
Las Cruces Museum of Natural History

My cooter seemed to love thinly sliced carrots. Also have you tried actual turtle food like Reptomin? Dont add much, just a couple sticks so you can see if any goes missing. Also had luck with dark leaf lettuce, he preferred the red leaf.
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iturnrocks.com

I've had luck with collard, mustard, and turnip greens. The little guy will not touch food sticks though. I've tried both Wardley's and Reptomin. The day it takes foodsticks is the day I can stop worrying, or so I'd like to think.

I know this is the RES and other sliders forum, but anyone else out there with gorzugi? I posted here figuring it would be more traffiked by the all-knowledgeable turtle people than the "All Other Turtles" forum. I know you guys have got to be lurking somewhere!

Thanks,
Chris Newsom
Naturalist
Las Cruces Museum of Natural History

My cooter is Eastern River Cooter, Pseudemys concinna.

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iturnrocks.com

I have to ask the basic questions first. What temperature is the water that the turtle is in?
Has the turtle seen a vet for parasite testing?
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PHRatz

we're working on the parasite testing. I haven't been able to obtain a fecal for such a purpose. This is especially so given it hasn't really been eating much.

Temps wise, water temps are in the high 70s to low 80s. Basking is at mid 80s to low 90s. These are similar temps I've observed gorzugi in while I've been field herping out in southeastern NM.

I'm using a 60 watt ge reveal bulb for basking. they emitt some UV. I also have a Reptisun 10.0 bulb on the tank. The 10.0 bulb has a 21 inch penetration range, versus the 12 inch range for the 5.0. The reasoning for this is the turtle is housed in a 55 gallon tank with about 3-4 inches of water. Filtration, at this time, is a duetto DJ 100 which is cleaned by myself or my intern on a daily to bi-daily basis depending on how dirty the pre-filter is. Carbon cartridge is changed monthly. Photoperiod is set to 10 hours, on at 10am, off at 8pm (when we close on Fridays, though this turtle is in quarantine room).

Chris

the turtle is housed in a 55 gallon tank with about 3-4 inches of water. >>

Give the poor little guy some room to swim. Perhaps even some current with a powerhead. Hes probably too lethargic to eat. These are river turtles, they arent going to drown. I actually had one idiot in these forums tell me that 120 gallons was too much water for a hatchling turtle. I keep my tanks full, prevent escape with a canopy hood, and create basking areas inside the hood, so I dont waste room in the tank by stacking stuff.
The water in my tank is circulated with a 1250 gph pump, and my turtle could swim right up the current to the output nozzle when he was only 4 inches long.
Keeping a turtle in a 55 gallon with only inches of water is the same as keeping them crammed in a 10 gallon in my opinion.

Watch your turtle when you finally fill up the tank. For about an hour it will seem like hes having trouble swimming. Thats because hes never done it before. Within a couple hours he will be expertly maneuvering the powerhead. I had a friend who kept an RES in inches of water in a 55 gal. Turtle wasnt eating. They brought it over put in my 120- looked inept in the water for a little while, next day was eating everything in sight.

This simple drawing explains various ways to make a canopy hood. The first one I made was for a 55 gal. I used 1x4s and corner braces. Very simple yet very effective. Also having a canopy hood will save electricity on heating the water, because the heat wont escape all day. Should cut down on humidity in the room, and create humidity around the basking area.

The hood on my 120 gallon is a little more complex, because I wanted a slanted window on the front so I could see them while theyre basking.

Basking spot in full to the top 120 gallon tank.

Turtles actually enjoying a swim in the tank.

If you would like more info on any of these projects, feel free to contact me via email thru my website- just click the swimming turtle at the bottom.

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iturnrocks.com

On your basking area is that craft canvas over a piece of plexiglass in the water then more of it covering a piece of wood?
That's a very interesting basking area you built.

Less than a week ago we moved our western painted into a new 55g tank & so now the old stack of rocks isn't working out very well. He is 11 years old nearing 12 & let me tell you he loves to swim.
He really needs deeper water so I've mail ordered a hang over the side of the tank basking device so that I can fill his tank with more water..but I kind of like what you built.
It is very interesting.
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PHRatz

>>On your basking area is that craft canvas over a piece of plexiglass in the water then more of it covering a piece of wood?
>>PHRatz

Originally, it was just the craft canvas attached to plywood which sits in the lip of the tank. As the turtle got heavier, it looked like he was really struggling to climb up, and I didnt want him to get a claw stuck, so I attached a piece of acrylic to the plywood and siliconed the canvas to it. For best results, its a good idea to polyeurethane any wood you put over the water if you want it to look nice. My hood is sealed, but the basking spot wasnt and it warped pretty bad, but it was still functional.
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iturnrocks.com

Your temps & lighting sounds good. If he doesn't eat soon he's going to have some jaundice happening. I would think a vet could do a swab of the cloaca to test for parasites if need be.
Not eating can be such a frustrating problem because it's the symptom for too many problems, hard to narrow down exactly what it is from here.
If this were my pet, my vet would be running tests & forcing the turtle to eat until she got to the bottom of this. I realize this isn't exactly a pet so...
hmmmmmmmmm
Ya know maybe giving it more room to swim would have an effect, it's worth a shot. Ok gotta go ruminate over this for a while.
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PHRatz