Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I woke up this morning to find the glass thermometer in my turtles tank broken and floating on the top of the water.
I quickly took the turtles out and put them in their tub with fresh water that I use for them when I do a full tank change. But I was wondering how dangerous is it for them. I'm not exactly sure how long it was in there broken I'm assuming less then 8 hours. One of them seems do be doing good and eating but the other one wont eat yet!! I called the only vet in town and he told me not to even bother bringing it into them because there is a law here in Oregon that people are not allowed to own Red Eared Sliders. They would have to report to the authorities that I own them and they would take them away and fine me $2000 per turtle.
So any kind of help you guys have to offer me on what to do or how dangerous mercury is for them (I do know that it is very toxic) would be greatly appreciated.
Has this happened to anyone else???
Thanks... worried mama of 2 RES's

I'm no authority, but I can theorize a bit here. Mercury is only dangerous if it get in the body, commonly through a cut in the skin, and it gets in the blood stream. If they don't have any open sores, that wouldn't be a problem.

I don't know if it can be breathed in, but then turtles don't breathe water, so that wouldn't be a problem. They of course drink the water, so that would be the most likely way for mercury to enter their bodies.

Mercury forms little balls when in contact with air or water. Hopefully, they would see the little balls and not ingest them. Also, it seems to me that problems from mercury usually take quite a long time to show up (not sure though), so you wouldn't see any immediate problems.

Anyway, I don't think the danger to your turtles is likely to be immediate. However, there is another problem. How did you clean up the pond? Mercury is not supposed to be just swept up and thrown away with the trash. DH is a maintenace super for a colllege. A student broke a themometer in her dorm, and they had to have a whole haz-mat team come in to clean it up! (Course I grew up breaking thermometers and we would play with the little sliver balls before our mom finally threw them away!)

You are also lucky they didn't get electricuted! Please look into getting a thermometer that has a titanium casing, so you don't ever have this problem again!

Good luck. Let us know how things are going!
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0.1.0 ornate box turtle
1.0.0 eastern box turtle
1.0.0 Yellow belly slider
0.1.0 Red belly cooter
0.1.0 Australian shepard
1.11.0 chickens
1.0.0 Dutch(rabbit)
3.2.0 children (do I still count the married ones?)
1.0.0 husband

Mercury thermometers are a rarity outside of laboratories these days. If the fluid inside the thermometer was red or blue, it was alcohol. Such a small amount is totally harmless and has probably already evaporated out of your tank.