Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok, I returned home from a two and a half week vacation to find one of our painted turtles (which was wild-caught about 6 months ago) with his neck twisted and stuck to the left , and can now only swim in a sharp downward spiral to the right, or walk in a circle going towards the right. We called a pet store in Detroit, and the employee told us the turtle probably got too hot and now has brain damage, but that he 'might come out of it'. That didn't quite sound right to me, so I found a website (wetwebmedia.com), and the man who runs it told me it sounds like the turtle may have parasitic worms. He also referred me to this site. I live in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and am unable to locate a vet that has any knowledge of exotics. Has anyone here ever heard of this happening to a turtle before? If so, is there a remedy? If it is worms, are they contagious? We also have 3 other Painted Turtles, 3 Map Turtles, and 2 Yellow bellied Cooters in the same tank. Any information would be appreciated. Thank you.

Brie

JamilaBrie@aim.com

>>with his neck twisted and stuck to the left , and can now only swim in a sharp downward spiral to the right, or walk in a circle going towards the right.

All I can do is throw in another possibility.. it may be a respiratory infection. Tilted head technically called torticollis sometimes called "wry neck" can be caused by bacterial infection.
The only way to know what is causing this would be to find a vet who can run some tests.
You might try http://www.arav.org/
or look around through this link.
Good luck!

Reptile Vets

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PHRatz

btw if it's worms then yes it would be contagious.. ditto with bacterial/viral/fungal infection.
I would separate this one from the others.
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PHRatz

I also forgot to mention that his left eye is swollen about twice the size of his right eye. Could that just be from his head having been twisted for (at least) the last week, or could it be from the worms/virus/fungus?

Thank you for your help.

Brie

>>I also forgot to mention that his left eye is swollen about twice the size of his right eye. Could that just be from his head having been twisted for (at least) the last week, or could it be from the worms/virus/fungus?
>>
>>Thank you for your help.
>>
>>Brie

Oh gosh I don't know.. it just sounds bad.
Too hard to say on a message board he really needs a vet.
Sorry this happened.
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PHRatz