Turtles, as any other being, do unfortunately have health problems. If your turtle gets sick, don’t panic. Keep in mind that u can treat your pet following a few basic rules.
If your turtle is not feeling well (it is not active or it gets fat, or it is not feeling better although u have created the perfect living conditions for it), the first thing you should do is to call the veterinarian. But be careful to choose a veterinarian that is experienced when it comes to turtle care. If you don’t know where to find such a doctor with good knowledge on turtle health problems, you can call an animal hospital in the neighbourhood or even look into the Yellow Pages.
If your turtle’s health is not very good, try creating the best living conditions for your pet. Refresh the water, buy a different kind of turtle food and keep the water temperature at a level preferred by turtles. These measures should help your pet feel better, because turtle health problems always start from this point: bad food, bad water, wrong temperature. You may try very expensive medication and your turtle would still be sick, if you don’t create these basic healthy living conditions.
Turtle health problems always start with lack of appetite. If your turtle has suddenly stopped eating, you should check the next part of this article.
Swollen eyes are another common turtle health problem. This problem is usually caused by the low level of vitamin A in the turtle’s body. You should immediately keep an eye on its diet to make sure she is getting enough vitamin A. Don’t give your turtle vitamin A injections. Deciding on a proper dosage of vitamin A is not easy, so may be wrong and an overdose most probably will kill your turtle. So give the turtle more vitamin A-rich food! Never panic and use eye drops with any good reason. It is better to treat the cause of the problem, than to treat the symptom. Putting eye drops into the turtle’s eyes will only make your pet fell better without solving the health problem. Be careful when your pet has swollen eyes because this symptom can also be the sign of other turtle health problems. Therefore, take the turtle to the veterinarian to make sure it is not suffering of something more serious than vitamin A deficiency.
Turtles may also suffer from wounds in the skin and small rashes. These wounds are usually easy to be treated by the owner without going to the veterinarian. Use a disinfecting solution with Betadine or Nolvosan to clean the wounded areas and put the turtle in a warm, dry environment. You may put in warm water for only half an hour, twice every day, not longer. Always soak her in a tank separately from other turtles (if you own any) and make sure you disinfect both the turtle and the tank after each bath. Be patient while treating this turtle health problem because it will take few weeks for your animal to get better. If the skin problems are getting worse during this treatment, go immediately to a veterinarian.
Other turtle health problems include: shell sores, hole in the shell or even bloody sores on the shell. You can treat these wounds, but the best thing is to take the animal to a veterinarian that will prescribe an accurate treatment. If you want to treat the turtle yourself, keep in mind that shell disease heal very slow, it may take months or years of loving care to clean it up. Make sure your turtle gets enough love during this unpleasant period of its life.
Whenever your turtle has shell problems, take it out of the water at once and put it in a dry, warm tank. Put it in water only for half an hour twice every day. Clean the shell with Betadine or Nolvosan several times a day, preferably after every bath the turtle has. You can also apply a very thin layer of Silvadene cream when putting the turtle back into its dry tank. You may use oil based antibiotic creams but only when the animal is in the water, but make sure you wipe them off thoroughly after taking the turtle out of the water. These creams are preventing the wounded area from drying out, which is an important step in the healing process. And always provide a warm, nice temperature for your turtle friend.
If your little friend is occasionally sneezing or gaping, don’t panic immediately. It is normal for a turtle to sneeze or yawn from time to time. Water can get inside turtle’s nose and they sneeze to take it out. Don’t worry if the sneezing is happening from time to time and if there is no mucus being spat out.
But if your pet is sneezing, coughing or gaping frequently, this means that your pet has some turtle health problems. These symptoms are most often a sign of respiratory infection, even pneumonia. Take the turtle to the veterinarian immediately if these symptoms are very frequent. Respiratory problems must be treated very seriously, as the turtle will need antibiotics, R-rays and, of course, a lot of love and attention. If you are wondering about the causes of these respiratory problems, you should know that low temperature is a most common cause. Therefore, if your turtle is sniffling a bit, put warmer water in the tank and keep an eye on the pet’s condition for several days. If the turtle is still not feeling better, take it to the doctor.
Constipation is a turtle health problem, but it doesn’t occur very often to water turtles. If you don’t know for sure whether your pet is pooping or not, remove the water filter and see if the water gets dirty. If the water is not getting dirty, your turtle may have an obstructed intestine or some other similar problem. Consequently take the turtle to the doctor at once, as it will need serious examination and X-rays to determine the cause of this affection.
If your turtle is experiencing shell shedding, don’t worry immediately. A bit of occasional peeling is good for your turtle’s beauty! Turtles are reptiles, so they shed their skin continuously. You have no reasons to worry if the shed skin is thin and clear, if there are no unusual signs on the skin or if the shedding is not excessive. But, if the skin looks red or sore, or the amount of shedding skin is big, your turtle may be suffering from skin fungus. Take it to the doctor to get it checked. Or you can treat it yourself, by putting it in an iodine solution for 15 minutes twice every day then letting it dry in a warm tank