DonnaM

Check out the 'K9 Natural' raw food. Its a small soft meaty pellet that can be added to water. You could ask about his condition on their web site and see if they have any ideas. My dog had a triple-pelvic-osteotomy at 14mths old and limped and had anti-inflammatories at times for 4 years after the op. When I started her on K9 natural she started jumping fences!!!! Unbelievable change in her health. She's now 10 and still great K9 Natural does all the work by putting the raw food together.

mmm power bills...well mine seldom gets below $350 and over winter it gets to $700 + I work shift work and spend alot of evenings out or at work...including getting a meal at work, so the power is pretty much all the tanks etc. My hot water is on night rates. That bill is between $18 and $20 per month...all the rest is tanks etc. I've had the house insulated over summer, but hasn't really changed the power bills yet. My friend living down the street works similar shifts/lifestyle etc. Her power bills sit at about $68 at the moment...mines creeping up to $400. :tears:

EXCELLENT idea Caryl!!!! It definately would! (I loved the last magazine by the way :happy2: )

WOW...that is simply amazing! :thup: mmmm maybe I shouldnt put that viv of mine on TM after all...... :lol:

I'm so sorry to hear about that Ali. I look forward to hearing from you and having the class visit when she is back with you again. :thup:

Hot house doesn't have them in outside ponds. They are in 'hothouses!' :thup: Sarah, they will be fine. Just set it up properly and leave them to it. You should have stopped feeding etc last month. Auckland will be fine I've just taken 4 more small ones into the new turtle area in the conservatory.... -2 deg at night down here...brrrr not nice!

The shell can look quite brown, especially if there are unshed scutes. Do any of these photos look a bit like it? They always look a bit different out of water...and these are not hatchlings, but may give you an idea?? Brown scutes and new scutes as she sheds.

Often they are brown when younger until they have a good shed of the shell. Then the black shell is evident and they all look the same!

The snakenecks are an Australian species and people in some parts of Australia with snakenecks in ponds had some die when the weather got very cold last winter. In Auckland I believe snakenecks are OK. Check out the Turtle Town FB pg or Australian Freshwater Turtles forum to get accurate info on the ELNs and what they need to hibernate. If you heat the water too much the turtles will be in a semi-hibernating state...too active to hibernate, but not active enough to eat etc as normal...and that's much worse. The turtles use up too much energy and can die. Also you don't want them in a warm pond with cold air temps.....again they are too active and can get pneumonia from the cold air temps. Auckland is very different to CHCH. Given the right environment the RES should be fine. Last year we hibernated about 30 RES in Cheries pond (my overflow turtle pond just outside of CHCH) and all survived. I have used heaters in one pond here, but that was to keep the water temp at about 6 deg. They were still in full hibernation with water temps between 6-10deg. The turtles were rescue ones where I had no idea of history and they hadn't been here all summer, so one heater set at 34deg...all winter....kept pond at about 6deg. But it was a deep, medium sized pond at the time. And we just ignore the $700 power bills.... :facepalm: :facepalm: :facepalm: I believe healthy medium and large sized RES will be fine in Auckland with no heating.

:thup: You could add the photo to the Turtle Care sheet sticky thread! ...gee that was a mouthful...but you know what I mean :lol:

Excellent! Pleased to help

T.Rex is making steady progress. He's energetic and eating heaps! Having a mix of dry and water time and a special treat yesterday of some time on the lawn. He really enjoyed wandering about. His foot had a good covering of scab over the raw flesh and afterwards I washed it with sterile saline. He was NOT impressed with that! Dry time in the sun/shade. Foot is clean and showing no sign of infection. Exploring the lawn Rinsing the foot with saline Always on the lookout for some food!

He could just be slowing down a bit with the cooler weather. I've 3 males who are staying on basking areas when lights first go out. I don't force them into the water, they just go in when ready and they are all healthy :thup:

Agreed with others, what is the water and basking temperatures? If the water temp is very warm, the turtle tends to not bother basking which leads to shell problems. If you don't have your water heated it's time to turn on the heater and heat water up SLOWLY. Basking area should be about 6C hotter then the water. There's different opinions about water temps. For a hatchling 28deg is needed but this can be slowly lowered to around 26 at a few months old. By a year old 24-26 seems to suit fine. I tend to run my tanks at 24 over winter for smaller turts, but 22 for larger, healthier ones with no issues. (Inside in warm rooms. Conservatory tanks are 24 regardless of turtle size.) Things to consider are where the tank is placed. Is it near a cold draft or under a heatpump as this could have caused respiratory problems which are now beginning to show up. The main issue to consider is an illness which is why the turtle is not wanting to be in the water. It could be respiratory or he could have some hidden sepsis going on. Have a really close look at him. Check in his limb pockets, under his legs etc for any signs of sores, ulcers, redness that may be festering away. Check his swimming..is it completely normal or has it changed? Is he swimming near the surface, not moving much, not diving down to bottom of tank, swimming lopsided? This could indicate a respiratory problem. If you have any small stones in your tank he could have a blockage or perforation from eating them...they will eat stones, even if you don't see it and it's a big killer of turtles. A photo of the whole tank and close-ups of Squirt may be helpful :dunno: The main thing to remember is that if it is an illness you need to get him treated asap. Turtles don't show signs of illness until they are VERY sick and so getting treatment straight away is important to ensure his survival if that's the problem.

Interesting discussion! My point would be...what about when that reptile becomes unwell? How do we get it treated? Just the basic 'been around awhile' turtles are given inadequate vet care in many parts of the country. Bearded Dragons and now Water Dragons are being sold in increasing numbers and usually due to inadequate knowledge on their care are becoming unwell. But the follow-up veterinary support is pretty non-existent. Case in point of the burnt turtle I received a couple of weeks ago. The people who had been given the turtle rang MANY vets in CHCH, none who would see a turtle or could give them any advice on where to get it treated. I guess they could have turned up somewhere and had a vet read some books or search on line for answers, but if I've paid thousands of dollars for a reptile, I'd want a knowledgeable vet to turn to if something started to go wrong. :dunno:

Definately a burn

Jessica is slowly making progress. She is NOT happy at having ointment applied before she goes into dry docking. Last weeks photos. Todays photos.

Yes that will be great as I don't start work until 3.30pm that day. Please PM me for details (I love spring rolls!)

Yep. thats all covered in the UVB bulb explanation thread The UV can definately cause serious eye problems and having a heat light next to it helps prevent the turtle looking up at the UV light and burning their eyes. This turtle has full thicknes burns through skin and to the bone. Caused by heat as seen in the twisted scar tissue etc. I guess photos don't always show the extent of the damage. Right, off to give him antibiotics.

I wouldn't have thought a dodgy UV bulb would burn? Especially given the apparent splash areas and head and feet involvement as well? UVs don't produce heat. Whatever happened, he's horribly burnt and still suffering pain. Todays vet visit. Foot was sprayed with anaesthetic then debrided and areas of dead skin were cut away. Flamazine applied and he's on oral Baytril. He hasn't moved since the vet visit.

Yes, I completely agree, particularly given the burns to the feet as well. But I need to put out the story that I was told as well. (Although it was about 4th hand.)

Back left foot I will post these pics in the Stickied Turtle Rescue topic, but I wanted to give T.Rex his own thread, so people can see what the effects of a fallen light can be. (Or whatever else it may have been that burnt him.)

He must have had his head turned into his shell and the exposed side was burnt. Front feet Right back foot has a small open area where a toenail must have been.

This young male ELN arrived an Saturday after being abandoned by his original owner. There is a vague story about him being burnt with a light. Although I'm not totally convinced about the light he does have horrific burn injuries. 3 feet are deformed stumps. The fourth is an open wound which the RES sharing his tank has no doubt been biting at He has an area of new skin which is smooth and soft along the back of his head/neck area instead of the normal lumpy skin. The bone of the carapace at back of head is slightly exposed and the scutes are a mass of white and pink scar tissue. It's unclear if he will be able to shed his scutes, although the Australians I've been chatting to think it may all shed as a mass if it does shed. Otherwise he may end up being deformed? I'm treating his back foot with Flamazine burn cream and even in a couple of days it's looking less raw and angry. He must have suffered terribly and will still be in pain. Surprisingly he is bright and active...a little fighter :thup: