DonnaM

Well I just squeezed out of October and into November...born on Nov 1st, half a century ago :thup:

Todays little boy The information I have is that he 'often goes missing for 3 or 4 mths and then is found again'. He also has an injury from being caught under a lawn mower in recent history...I can only hope it was accidental... His front toe-nails have been cut!!!!! ....and one toe-nail is missing completely. :an!gry He has many superficial sores over head and limbs. He has a couple of superficial wounds on plastron. He is 'floating' and lethargic (? pneumonia). He has puffy eyes and skin is pinkish in colour and shedding heaps....and he's really thin. He's come via the SPCA. He will have a vet visit tomorrow. Heres an example of what his toe-nails should look like!

:thup: So long as I don't have to clean out the pond..... :rotf:

They were reported as having bitten each others tails off. However the vet and I are both unsure of the origin of these extreme injuries Neither showed any form of aggression and were very relaxed girls. They have both been rehomed to a kind person through this forum! :thup:

Two more refugees who arrived with the typical build-up of unshed scutes from incorrect environment. Once they spent some time outside in the sun their beutiful yellow shell colouring and red skin markings started to show up.

This earthquake refugee was found upside down in a park, too weak to turn himself over. His shell was a mess, but hes doing well now with plenty of good food etc. He's been offered MANY new homes from numerous people who have seen him listed on the earthquake lost and found section of TM....but once the people realise whats involved with caring for a turtle, they change their mind. Still, I'd rather that, then have him dumped again later on.... but its a very time-consuming process.

Excuse poor photo :facepalm: but heres the progress on the fish! I left him in the tank with the others and the tail has healed really well. I just added a bit of stress coat to the area he was resting in for the first two days he was here... no scientific basis or accurate dosage...just random squirt! The dorsal fin has chunks missing from it and although its not as shredded, I'm not sure if those big gaps will regrow :dunno: But he's not bothered so all good! Not bad for having spent 45 min on a wet carpet jammed in rocks, stones and glass! Now if I can just convince my niece to get another tank and not give up on fish keeping altogether so she can take her fish back

Yes Interestingly, they dont seem to do any damage to the skin. This last infestation would be seen more on a turtle with an injury...obviously as nice fresh blood!..... They seem to stay on the shell...and dry out and die when turtle is basking. :thup: A few years ago when I first had them in a pond, they were so bad that some proffessor type person from Uni who came to identify them told me he'd never seen such a serious infestation in his life... oh, yay, I felt great.... So all ponds were completely ripped out and redone and no more leeches, till now. At least I knew what they were this time and have set traps...only problem is the dog discovered the traps and can break into them to get the meat! :sick: :sick: Will have to see if theres many there when the ponds get cleaned out ready for all the evacuated turtles to return from Napier. Drying the leeches out is a good way to get rid of them...though not easy to do in a pond.

Leeches! Arrrggghhhh, not again! These little creatures hitched a ride on some watercress and started invading the shallows of the girls pond. I made some traps with ox heart in a plastic container weighted down by a stone. Amazing how many they caught! They havent been eliminated, but they are greatly reduced in numbers.

The other boy was about 8 yrs old and had a strange, flattened front of carapace. His shell felt like thick paper...you could push it and cause an indentation. You can see the 'dent' I'm causing with a little pressure on the scute. The bridge was sort of collapsed. It felt like the carapace would seperate from the plastron as it moved so much. You could see how the plastron was curved and the whole turtle would sort of 'squish' together. (A meat pie turtle )

His joints were a little swollen as well....you may be able to see the swelling on far front leg. He began to eat properly, gain strength and could progress to the 6ft tank. He also had 2 trips to the vet for vitamin injections....including Vit A specifically for the swollen eyes.

"Metabolic bone disease." These two boys were sharing a tank and being fed bits of steak and mince. They were both very thin and weak. The little one was being starved by the larger one taking what food they had. He is nearly 2 yrs old...and tiny! He spent short periods of time in warm water and was dry docked to help his shell harden. He had swollen eyes from vit A deficiency.

I have 3 tanks with plecos in permanently. Need to watch tho as sometimes a new turtle may not be suited to be in with a plec as wants to bite the fins too much. Other fish are whatever someone may donate as a feeder fish...basically guppies and platties. I had 11 platties in my 6ft tank...then one day there were 7...a few weeks later 4, and theres been 3 for the past month or so....I dont really want them to be eaten lol! They provide a nice splash of colour and interest to the tank. I know that if I had "Minnie" in there the fish would have all gone in a few minutes! I cant provide a steady supply of fish as dont have enough breeding for all the turts. I try and keep the fish for the Snakenecks as its more important for their diet to have live fish. Would love to have a steady supply of feeder fish

Well should have had my glasses on! :slfg: Bigger is Better

Fish will get eaten when the turtle feels like it. Some turtles will eat fish from a very young age...others have fish living in their tank for years! Also as squirt said, go for 2 tanks...but at least 120l tanks....bigger if you can :thup:

Things knocked over a bit. All turtle tank basking areas are soaked....again! But no water over the floor for a change :happy2:

Not looking too bad. I think correct the few lighting issues and he'll come right!

How many litres of water in the tank? I only do once week water change....does it need 2? Dont worry about betadine and dry docking for now...get the lights sorted and give it a bit of time and wait and see. I've had a couple like that recently and it improves over a few weeks with environment corrected. Any loose stuff may well come off with the toothbrush. :thup:

Its a little hard to tell, but doesnt look like 'typical' unshed scutes to me. More like the thin, flakey scutes you get from some environmental issues. Does the UVB have a perspex cover on it? If so, remove it immediately and replace the bulb if older then 6mths. The heat lamp is a must as 'insect direct' said. It also needs to be next to the UVB so it stops the turtle looking directly up at the harmful UVB rays and getting longterm, permanent eye damage. DONT turn the water temp up, that will only make the scutes swell more and if not drying properly it will make the problem worse. The UVB needs to be 25cm-30cm distance from the turtle (No more then 30cm distance). It could also be a bit fungal. Whats your water temp, cleaning regime, size of tank like? Also do you have lids on the tank? Glass lids cause humidity and condensation which can lead to shell and respiratory issues for the turtle. They also block the UVB rays getting through. I would possibly give the whole carapace a good wipe with some betadine, leave him dry docked overnight, rinse the betadine off in the morning and pop him back in the tank. Then correct any environmental issues and leave him be. The next time he does a proper shed, that flakey stuff should peel off. If you are really concerned, you can use a soft toothbrush and some warm water and see if its loose enough to come off, but dont force it as you may do more harm then good. But I'm only going on what it looks like to me in the one photo, so its never that easy to tell completely whats going on. Heres some examples of how you can set up a basking area. Personally I went through too many cheap lamps and bought some exo-tera clamp lamps which house a 75 or 100 watt 'globe bulb' and keep the basking areas around 30 deg C.

They lost their turtle tank as well. Turtle is here now. They had only moved into new home a few days before this quake. No broken tanks in last flat, got a much better house...and lost all their tanks :tears: Lifes hard work at the moment in CHCH. I had to go out to a school in New Brighton to collect another turtle today.....its virtually unrecognisable over there

Thanks Adrienne, thats really helpful I will leave him free swimming for now. There is a huge amount of java moss in there and hes happily tucked away in the moss with no-one around him alot of the time, so I'll keep an eye on the situation. Good to know that the fins may heal. Thank-you people ....fish are stressful! Give me turtles anyday :sml2:

Well he may just have to wait until Sat and the TT mtg so I can figure out how to seperate him. Every time I check he appears fine and never seen any other fish having a go at him, but will keep an eye out. Do I put some stress coat in the water or anything? Sorry, but I dont know much about fish! :oops:

I've ended up with my nieces surviving fish being put in my guppy tank. This one was jammed between some rocks and shingle on the floor and all the fins are shredded. He's already been eating one of my dead guppies in the tank and swims OK...as far as I can tell, but is there anything I can do about his shredded fins? Will they repair?

Heart still pounding, water everywhere, collapsed basking areas and lights, internet comes and goes, dog terrified....but on the whole Ok

Yes, it was a very traumatic time with Yertle. I kept the text minimal, as its still so sad thinking about it all too long I cant give you an exact, scientific time that a turtle can be in a small tank, but from my observation, pretty much the turtle will slow its growth from day 1 in a small tank. Many turtles develop shell deformities, but the deformities also can vary. The most common deformity is where the scutes across 'shouder' area start to bulge. I've seen that countless times. Even Yertle had significant shell deformity from the years before I got her. I had her for about 15yrs. About 10 yrs ago she broke the heater in her pond area and burnt the side of her face, losing her eye. She was unconscious, possibly from a bit of an electric shock?? and her face was against the internal coil of the heater which was still heating at 34 deg C (It was just keeping a large pond at a temp of 22 deg in my conservatory). Her mouth was so swollen and burnt inside that she needed to be syringe fed liquid food. She became egg bound as well and passed a rotten egg after various injections some time after the accident. It took about 18months to get her to a point where she was able to eat and live independently again. I used to put a soft piece of shrimp in her mouth, half in, half out so she had to learn how to move her mouth up and down again. Turtle Physio! She lived through alot in her life and was a very special turtle. I learnt about using plastic guards on heaters after that. I didnt even know you could get such a thing back then and just a few dollars would have saved her eye.