Turtle 911!

[Pasogirlz]

Well, it was a turtle 911 last night. Room-mate got home to find Snappy at the bottom of the tank looking lifeless. She got Snappy out of the tank and onto the log. Noticed that he seemed swollen and couldn't pull his limbs in either. He seemed weak and kept his mouth open. She wasnt sure if he was having trouble breating or just threatenting to bite since he couldn't pull inside. At any rate, she knew he was sick and wouldn't make it if we didn't do SOMETHING.

She started calling for me but I was at La Fortuna practicing on La Martina for the Grand Prix. When I finally called her back she had already been online trying to find a vet, or anyone that could help her on the phone. She described the situation and it sounded pretty grime.

Finally, an exotic vet she had paged called back and said that would meet us at the Clinic for $150. Emergency fee. (he was way on the other side of Miami) The vet told us that if we didn't come, the turtle would worsen and most likely die. From the sounds of it over the phone, he gave 10-20% chance. OR that I should euthanize him before he suffered too much if I choose not to make the trip. My options for euthanization were to smack him in the head really hard w/somthing, put him in the freezer, or cut his head off w/sissors....I didn't care for those options...and one look into Snappy's eyes said "I'm a fighter! Take me to the vet". So we loaded up (around 10 pm) and drove the hour across town.

Snappy got shot of antibiotics in the foot, and a shot of vitamin A in another leg. We also have a weeks worth of antibiotics to give at home. He was a little better this morning. Swelling had gone down. My room-mate took him to work w/her today to watch him (plus she works not far from the vet in case he worsens). The vet made a few suggestions on uping the tank temp a few degrees and adding some salt to the water. He was really nice guy and gave us loads of info. So I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Snappy snaps out of it. I think my decision to take to the vet last night was wisest....I just don't think he would have made it thru the night w/o the antibiotics.

[appyday]

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[Cindy]

Keep him under light and do warm the tank. These will both help him. There is a turtle health conditioner made by reptoguard that seemed to help our turtle when he was sick. It is white and in the shape of a little turtle. You put it in the tank and it dissolves. Main ingredient is Calcium Sulfate. Having a sick turtle is a wierd experience isn't it? I sat up half the night with ours wrapped in a towel to keep warm perusing internet turtle sites. Found out the biggest problem that turtles have is respiratory infections leading to pneumonia. Good luck with him. The antibiotics should do the trick but do keep him warm.

[Terry Wallace]

You astound me! You know what most folks would have done.... !!

Kudos to you.... and may that turttle never see a "steam pot"!

[appyday]

You astound me! You know what most folks would have done.... !!

Kudos to you.... and may that turttle never see a "steam pot"!

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Good thing Lori...

How do they expect one to kill thier animal like that?!? Crap you come do that im not going to snap my turtles head off or break its head...

Hope he gets better! :smile:
Lets us know how he does!

PS I called you to tell you I saw Echo they rode him ALL OVER horse country! Hes looking pretty good for a beginner has high action! looks like he'll be a great performance horse.. my dogs even barked at him and others around the block when I saw him on my little farm hopping thing I did yesterday and he didn't pay any attention to them! :smile:

[Pasogirlz]

Keep him under light and do warm the tank. These will both help him. There is a turtle health conditioner made by reptoguard that seemed to help our turtle when he was sick. It is white and in the shape of a little turtle. You put it in the tank and it dissolves. Main ingredient is Calcium Sulfate. Having a sick turtle is a wierd experience isn't it? I sat up half the night with ours wrapped in a towel to keep warm perusing internet turtle sites. Found out the biggest problem that turtles have is respiratory infections leading to pneumonia. Good luck with him. The antibiotics should do the trick but do keep him warm.

Thanks Cindy. I do have one of those turtle health conditioners in the tank. And putting the light on him last night surely did help him perk up. We guessed he was on the road to pneumonia last night too. So I'm hoping the meds to the trick.

My poor room-mate said she had no idea how attached she was to the little guy until she found herself on the phone in tears w/her mom last night explaining the situation. I too was a little panicky when she called w/the news. I had a sneaking feeling when I saw how many time she called that something was wrong w/one of my animals. :(

[Pasogirlz]

You astound me! You know what most folks would have done.... !!

Kudos to you.... and may that turttle never see a "steam pot"!

At least you didn't call me crazy. :lol:*to my face. ;-)

[appyday]

You astound me! You know what most folks would have done.... !!

Kudos to you.... and may that turttle never see a "steam pot"!

At least you didn't call me crazy. :lol:

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[Moniece Dickerson]

OH WOW i'm glad Snappy made it!!Did the vet say what might have brought this on??Boy oh boy snappy is super lucky to have you for a mom and tell your room mate I said she did a GREAT job of turtle rescue too!!WHEW,that was a close one!!Tell Snappy NO more scares like that!Please make sure to keep us updated on him.Your friend,Moniece

[hast]

Knowing you I'm not surprised that you chose to pay the vet... Hugs my friend, and I hope he'll get better soon.

[Pasogirlz]

There was no way I could sleep thru the night w/snappy fighting for his life. And truthfully, if I had choosen not to go...I think my room-mate would have loaded him up anyway.

The vet said maybe it was brought on by the tank not being warm enough. Especially w/the colder weather we've had lately.

[CarolU]

Hmmm....Snappy would have been an ice cube here.

Kudos to you Lori!

There should be antibiotics you put in the water for them.

Good luck.

[Pasogirlz]

Hmmm....Snappy would have been an ice cube here.

Kudos to you Lori!

There should be antibiotics you put in the water for them.

Good luck.

Mom thinks I'm totally insane...but I know her...if she had actually been there...she'd have been at the vets at midnight too. ;-)

[Terry Wallace]

Oh heck Lori....your mom will probably send him a little sword, a mask and a cape! :D ;-)

[Pasogirlz]

Oh heck Lori....your mom will probably send him a little sword, a mask and a cape! :D ;-)
You're probably right Terry.

He does sorta resemble those famous movie star turtles. ;-)

[Terry Wallace]

P.S... not likely that I would call anybody crazy for saving any animal.... I'm sure some have though I was crazy bringing home starved horses, and paying to do so!!

AND...when it comes to my dogs.....LOOK OUT! I would do about anything for my beloved dogs....

[Terri]

Do I remember this wrong?? Isn't this the turtle you found in the wild? and now he needs a special heat adjusted tank? What do the wild turtles do? I know there are snappers around here (lots of them) and it gets pretty doggone cold. What do they do?
As someone who is putting the vet's children through college, I am in no position to talk. But I am curious how a turtle that lives naturally in various climates had a problem in a domestic tank.

[Pasogirlz]

Do I remember this wrong?? Isn't this the turtle you found in the wild? and now he needs a special heat adjusted tank? What do the wild turtles do? I know there are snappers around here (lots of them) and it gets pretty doggone cold. What do they do?
As someone who is putting the vet's children through college, I am in no position to talk. But I am curious how a turtle that lives naturally in various climates had a problem in a domestic tank.

Apparently adult turtles often hibernate in the winter. But if a hatchling (which Snappy is) doesn't take cover and hibernate before the winter sets in...it can kill them. Since I have him in fairly warm water all the time w/lots of light, he doesn't know its winter. So when the temp drops, it's too cold for him...and in nature he would have died. Up north, apparently many hatchlings die if they hatch out too late to hibernate (or just don't do it for some reason).

[Terri]

ooooooo, that is interesting.
Guess I'll just stick with the "stuffed" variety.

[Blameitonbrio]

Yeah Lori! It is nice to be in a cyber-community with people who don't make me feel nuts for spending money on little varmints!

When Nisharox was in kindergarten, we had the class gerbils home for the weekend. The first thing I wanted to do was clean their cage. I made a huge mistake that I can only call stupid, because I should have known better. I put the class gerbils in with our gerbils so I could clean the class gerbils' cage. (I had read that gerbils are social animals and just interrpreted that to mean that they like all other gerbils -- like I said, it was stupid.)

Immediately, our male gerbil, Napoleon, started beating the #*&^$ out of the class male gerbil named Chocolate. I can tell you that a gerbil fight is a pretty vicious thing to watch! They are nasty little buggers. When Tony walked in the door seconds later, he was greeted by an hysterical kindergartener and a wife who was using a paper towel holder to try and beat two gerbils apart who were fighting in a glass terrarium which was becoming more and more splattered in gerbil blood.

We finally got them separated and we determined that Napoleon (who looked more like a rat than a gerbil) had won. CHocolate was one hurting rodent, and the crime scene was red with his blood. Of course, it was after regular vet hours, and we finally got hold aof an exotic vet who said he had a soft spot for gerbils (yes, we laughed at that). We took Chocolate in and the vet repaired him with tissue glue and gave him antibiotics. he suggested that Chocolate stay with us for awhile, because he would need a nice quiet place to recuperate (not a classroom). this cost $85 6 years ago. The teacher told us that she would have unerstood completely if we had had the gerbil euthanized, but htere was no way I was going to do that to my kid who was crying because she was responsible for the gerbil. She kept crying, "Ms. Yarbro will never let me take them home again." Hmm....maybe I should have euthanized him.

The story doesn't end there. While we were keeping the class gerbils with us for Chocolate to recuperate, Vanilla, the female, had babies! So, we kept those at home for a few days unitl they had fur and could be moved to school. During that time, Nisharox fell in love with one of the babies (Brownie), and we ended up with Gerbil number 3. We never put Brownie in with Napoleon.

For the record, although I love all animals, I am not a big fan of rodents. I dread the day Bailey tells me, "Mom, Grayson had a gerbil when she was in kindergarten, why can't I?" I would much rather have a Snappy!

[DebbieS]

Lori, I'm glad Snappy is doing better. Once you get attached to any pet, it's hard to say no to helping them.

My son John has a veiled chameloen, Izzy. On day Izzy had something strange happening to his back-end. John was mortified. It was a Sunday afternoon, and the vet on-call at our local clinic was so helpful. He actually talked John through the entire procedure over the phone. Poor Izzy had a relapsed colon. Poor John! Imagine a 12 year-old having to do this. I felt since it was his pet (I'm a little squeamish around lizzards), he should handle it. He did great and Izzy hasn't had that problem again. But, now we know what to do if it happens again. Izzy had gotten a little dehydrated and this caused the problem. We got him a fountain for his cage (we didn't realize he wasn't drinking from his pond - needs MOVING water).

Oh, what we do for our pets!!

[Pasogirlz]

Back to my original Snappy thread...."Are my pets spoiled?" :lol:

[appyday]

Snappy is a lucky SOB thats for sure http://forums.somd.com/images/smilies/cool.gif

[Blameitonbrio]

Back to my original Snappy thread...."Are my pets spoiled?" :lol:

Sorry...I hijacked your thread with rodents! :roll I think Snappy is one lucky turtle!

[Pasogirlz]

Back to my original Snappy thread...."Are my pets spoiled?" :lol:

Sorry...I hijacked your thread with rodents! :roll I think Snappy is one lucky turtle!
Hardly noticed your hijacking. ;-) I was reffering to the first topic I ever made about Snappy. That was the title.

[CarolU]

Just in case the antibiotics don't work:

http://www.gumbopages.com/food/soups/turtle-soup.html

http://storetn.cafepress.com/9/23856959_F_store.jpg

Turtle soup is a great delicacy in Louisiana. The flavor of the turtle meat is both delicate and intense; there are supposedly seven distinct flavors of meat within the turtle

[appyday]

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[Carol Nelson]

Oh, Carol...you gonna get banned for sure now! :lol: :lol: :lol:

Turtle soup is in fact delicious... Tried it in the Florida Keys once.. MMM im not sure about Lori's turtle :D

[Terri]

Turtle soup? I always thought you Southerners had weird diets. And Carol you are only encouraging them, any other pets you think they could munch on?

[CarolU]

You DID ask...(the third one sounds pretty good!)

http://www.backwoodsbound.com/zsquir.html

http://www.globe-guardian.com/archives/twisted/tl0004.htm

http://user.pa.net/~nrwing/recipes.html

[moonrize]

Hope little snappy is doing better. Give us some pictures!

[Pasogirlz]

I'll be in Ocala this weekend. It'll be up to my roomie to take good care of my Snappy this weekend.

[Terri]

Squirrel, yum, yum. Tastes like chicken. Okay I'm ready to move south.

Snappy will be just fine as long as he stays out of Utah.

[Brigitte]

Wow. My turle 911 beats that though,My bigger turle bit the small one. Bye bye half a head and 4 toes :shock:

Oh yeah- He survived with no medical help

[appyday]

Wow. My turle 911 beats that though,My bigger turle bit the small one. Bye bye half a head and 4 toes :shock:

Oh yeah- He survived with no medical help

READ THAT..........................NO MEDICAL HELP http://forums.somd.com/images/smilies/cheers.gif

[SQUEAKS]

Lori Grace wants to know what are you feeding your turtle

Bob

[darcy]

My son has a little bitty garter snake who I was terrified to handle when his father first gave him to Casey. Now I've warmed to the little creature and will actually touch/hold him. When we first got him I wasn't quite sure what to feed him and nearly went ballistic at a pet store owner who told me that garter snakes were a dime a dozen so if I "messed up" with his diet and he died it would be no big deal. Can you believe that, "Oh, so what if he has a agonizingly painful death by starvation, there's tons of them out there"... Some people I tell ya!

[Moniece Dickerson]

:shocked NO Snappy turtle soup!NO NO NO!!!Moniece

[motorgypsy]

We hope Snappy is all better now!!

By the way - pet stores sell antibiotics over the counter if you need something and can't get a vet.

[CarolU]

How is Snappy this morning?

The MGs have a good point. The pet store should have a whole host of treatments for the turtle..antibiotics for the water, etc. It also could be that when you introduced the tadpoles they brought in another organizm Snappy didn't have immunity to. Always a chance when you introduce new animals to a tank.

Good luck.

[Pasogirlz]

Snappy is doing pretty well. He looks pretty good, but when we put him back in the big tank, he still seemed a little weak compared to his normal self. So we've kept him in the buck for now.
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b385/pasogirlz/DSC01986.jpg

Bob, I feed him Zoomeds Hatchling Turtle Bites, Dried Shrimps, he ocassionally has his way w/the neons, and sometimes I'll cut up a few tiney pieces of frozen shrimp and feed it to everyone in the tank. They love that. ;-)

[Barbwire]

I might just be talking out my butt here, but I see you have sea shells and corals in your tank. Items from the sea have a way of raising the pH of fresh water. Could the pH be high enough to be stressing out the turtle???

[appyday]

WOW he only looks like a $20 turtle in that pic not a $150 turtle

[Pasogirlz]

I only have a couple shells in the 55 gallon tank for him to hide under. But the first tank I had him in was full of seashells, and he never was sick the whole time I had him there. :confused

[Moniece Dickerson]

Well I am SO GLAD Snappy is doing so much better!!!You're a GREAT mommy Lori!!Your friend,Moniece

[Edurne]

he may be little now.... but he has the potential to be Snappy Giganticus :D

[baileyholc]

Have you thought about feeding him live feeder guppies? I had a turtle once and we feed him beta pellets. I found out later that pellets were not good for them regardless if they are for fish or turtles pellets. I have two African Dwarf Frogs I feed bloodworms too. The pet shop had me buy some froggy pellets but the web page I went to suggested I didn't feed them that, to feed them blackworms or bloodworms. The frozen ones. The pellets and the freeze dried foods block their intestans witch could kill them.

I hope Snappy gets to feeling better.

[Pasogirlz]

I do also have feeder guppis in w/him Bailey, but he doesn't eat them regularly. He eats the neons better. :roll: He LOVES little tadpoles, but rainy season hasn't hit yet....

[hast]

WOW he only looks like a $20 turtle in that pic not a $150 turtle


ROFLMAO :lol: :lol: :lol:

[baileyholc]

I do also have feeder guppis in w/him Bailey, but he doesn't eat them regularly. He eats the neons better. :roll: He LOVES little tadpoles, but rainy season hasn't hit yet....

:jawdrop NO NO NO NOT MY FROGGYS!

[Cindy]

How is Snappy today?

[Pasogirlz]

Well, I have decided not to put him back in the big tank again until he's finished his round of antibiotics. Do you guys have any idea how hard it is for me to hold Snappy while my roomie gives him an injection? :shock: It's not so much that he squirms, but the fact that he sucks his limbs up so tight and I have to pull one of his little legs out and somehow hold it while he tries to pull it back in.

Anyway, these pix were taken just moments ago. I bought a new smaller turtle environment last night for his recovery. I also decided to start feeding Slider in there since I think he has a difficult time eating in the big tank.

Where's Snappy at Slider?
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b385/pasogirlz/DSC01997.jpg

Could he be hiding?
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b385/pasogirlz/DSC01998.jpg

There he is! Always giving me a heart attack. ;-)
http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b385/pasogirlz/DSC01999.jpg

cute story...

i had my slider in a tank but it was a pain cause it wouldnt eat there so i got him one like that lil tank with a palm tree and one day my dad took it out to get some sun.... MOFO bird took it ... im slider-less :(

but i got salt water now and its a bigger pain in the maximus ;-)

glad hes doing good!

[Brigitte]

cute story...

i had my slider in a tank but it was a pain cause it wouldnt eat there so i got him one like that lil tank with a palm tree and one day my dad took it out to get some sun.... MOFO bird took it ... im slider-less :(

but i got salt water now and its a bigger pain in the maximus ;-)

glad hes doing good!

A BIRD took it??? :rofl I'm sorry just had to laugh at that

[Cindy]

Lori, in this tank can you keep the water warm? If not, you may want to put him in a tank where you can use a heater for the water. It is very important to keep him warm while he recovers.

[Pasogirlz]

Lori, in this tank can you keep the water warm? If not, you may want to put him in a tank where you can use a heater for the water. It is very important to keep him warm while he recovers.
I have a heating pad under it and light above it. ;-)

[GregM]

Gee Lori, with him moving all the time will they know where to forward his mail?