There are some general symptoms
that should alarm a turtle owner, if they occur:
First simple instructions for
taking care of minor wounds:
Make daily a warm bath for the turtle and let it soak for a while (so that it drinks, if it is thirsty). In a ten minute add Betadine to the bathing water so that the water looks like thin tea. Let the animal soak in the dilute for 15 minutes, then take her/him out and treat the wound area with pure Betadine (be careful in head area with the mouth and the eyes, you might want to use a cotton wad). If you see necessary, you can treat the wound also with local antiseptic. Do this atleast for a week and you should continue until the wound has healed.
Here are some diseases, symptoms
and treatments
Eye
infections (ophthalmia)
If your turtle keeps its eyes closed (all the time or most of the time) and seems languid (sleeps alot and doesn't move much around) and maybe refuses to eat, s/he may suffer of eye infection. Eye infection isn't a laughing matter either, because it seems to be the most common cause of death for young turtles! I know of experience. It is a very sneaky disease, it may at first leave unnoticed. It may progress very quickly, and if you suspect eye infection, you must start treating at once (either first yourself or go straight to the vet). If you don't treat it, the animal will probably die or atleast this may cause total blindness! It may also cause severe kidney damage. The most common reason for eye infection is lack of vitamin A in diet (the next most common is dirty environment). So the first thing to do is to give additional doze of vitamin A-supplement. If the condition isn't severe, I wouldn't recommend injection at first (especially if the turtle is small), because the amount of the vitamin is hard to estimate or count, when given to a small animal. So it may do more harm than help. Also the injection itself may be too much stress to a smaller turtle. There is also a very interesting article by Valerie Haecky that you might want to read: "Warning about vitamin A injections for swollen eyes." You should also treat the eyes with either medicine you get from your vet, or with a solution, you can make yourself. Firts you must clean the eyes of any secretion you see. Then you can make a solution of distiled water and 3% boric acid or a solution of distiled water and salt. Drop a drop of the solution on the eye lid (you may use a cotton tip). Try to open the eye lid a little bit, so that the solution would at least partially go inside the lid. Do this twice a day for five days and remember to take care of the vitamin A in the diet. If there is a very visible turn to worse overnight or if you see no improvments in five days, take the animal to a vet immediately. |
Soft
Shell
If your turtles shell gets soft (it should be firm and hard when pressured and you shouldn't be able to make a dent on it with the tip of your nail) and it bleaches from the edges, your turtle most probably has a soft shell. The reason for soft shell is lack of calsium. Either the diet doesn't include it enough or the animal cannot benefit from it. To benefit from the calsium in diet turtle needs to get D3-vitamin supplement or have a full spectrum light and vitamin A (better if both). The full UV light converts vitamin A into vitamin D3. The vitamin D3 makes possible the absorption of calsium in turtle's intestines. To treat your turtle give calsium and vitamin supplements and get a UV light (preferably the kind you can keep on 10-12 hours a day). If the condition has already got serious or there is no progress to be seen after a while, you better go see a vet immediately. It takes quite a long time to recover from this disease, and the marks of this condition are clearly visible on the shell for a long time or it may effect on the form of the shell. |
There are also many several conditions poor nourishment may cause.
In the same way as the human body the turtle body also storages residual lipsoluble vitamins (A, D, E, K) and if you constantly overdoze them, they poison the body.
A bit different thing is with water-soluble vitamins (B, C): they don't actually stay in body, but if you overfeed these vitamins, the turtles body gets used to it and demands higher dozage to function properly. So don't overfeed these either.
Lack
of vitamin A
The most common consequence from lack of vitamin A is eye infection. Vitamin A is very important to the eyes and vision also in turtles aswell as in humans. To privent this condition add vitamin supplement to the food twice of once a week (depending on the supplement) accordingly to the instructions of the package. Do remember though, that vitamin A is lipsoluble and is dangerous if overdozed. So keep to the instructions in the supplement package! There are also some vegetables rick of vitamin A that you can include in the diet (tomatoes, carrots, spinach etc.) |
Overdoze of vitamin A |
Lack of vitamins in group B |
Lack of vitamin E |
Lack of iron |
Copyright © 1999 Virpi & Henri Louhi