Reptile & Amphibian Forums

DOES ANY ONE KNOW WHY A TURTLE WOULD BE FLOATING UNEVEN? SHE IS JUST AS ACTIVE AS EVER, AND EATS LIKE THERE IS NO TOMORROW. SHE DOESNT GASP AND THERE ARE NO SIGNS OF A RESPITORY INFECTION. SO I AM CONFUSED AS WHAT TO DO. HAS ANYONE HAD ANYTHING LIKE THIS BEFORE? SHE IS IN A 150 GALLON TANK KEPT IN THE MID 70'S WITH 2 BASKING SPOTS AND FLORESENT LIGHTING. THE OTHER TURTLES IN THE TANK ARE FINE. IF ANY ONE HAS ANY INFO FOR ME I WOULD BE GREATFULL.
THANKS FOR YOUR TIME,
MIKE

Could be something as simple as gas (which could just be gas caused by a new food, or by intestinal parasites), or it could be pneumonia. If it lasts more than a couple of days, get her in for an x-ray.

Katrina
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0.1 Iguana - Tiffel
1.2 Eastern Mud Turtles - Fred, Ethel, Edith
0.0.1 Giant Mex. Musk Turtle
Foster turtles: More than I'd like the husband to know about.

well thats the thing she has been doing this for weeks maybe a month since i got her. with no change so could it just be the turtle.

mike

I'd recommend an x-ray just to be on the safe side.

I once took in a male RES that was almost vertical in the water from one side to the other. He was healthy in every other way, and had a fantastic appetite, but it made it hard for him to live a normal life. An x-ray showed fluid on one side of the lungs, and he never responded to antibiotics. I decided on euthanasia because it would have been too hard to place a potentially contagious, special needs turtle. A gross necropsy showed deep pockets of infection in one lung. It would have been impossible to find which antibiotic, if any, would have worked without a biopsy when the turtle was alive, and I couldn't have afforded that. Lesson? Find the problem early - get an x-ray to ease your mind.

Katrina

Katrina,
I don't mean to be rude, but I was just wondering how one would go about euthanizing a turtle. I have never heard of that.

Usually an overdose of sodium pentabarbital (same as used on dogs and cats) injected into the body cavity. Once the turtle is a little drowsy, a fatal dose can be injected into the main blood vessel that runs right under the edge of the shell along the neck. Of course, this is done by a qualified vet experienced with chelonians. It's often described, appropriately, as being "put to sleep". The animal literally goes to sleep and never wakes up (if the dosing is right).

AFTER the pentabarbital has taken affect, many vets recommend putting a reptile in a freezer over night, to ensure the animal doesn't recover in case the dosing was wrong. If you have an animal with inoperable cancer, for example, you don't want it waking up again if the dose was wrong. It sounds strange, but it's hard to tell in some reptiles when they've truly passed, so it's best to put the body in the freezer over night AFTER the euthanizing agent has taken affect.

Freezing alone IS NOT a humane method for reptiles, unless we're talking about a very small animal.

Katrina