need help! heathy diet for sick turtles!

[Shelled TT Lover]

Is it alright to feed turtles excessively chopped trout meat? Not frozen, but kept in 4 C in fridge.

As you known that my turtles are being sick, so the nutrition is very important at the moment. Probably because of the antibiotics presenting in their body they lost their appetite. None of them eats Turtle pellets, and only eat some time (rarely) chopped trout meat. I tried the Sea food mix bought from Sainsbury which includes mussels, prawn and other stuff I don’t recognize; my turtle didn’t eat any of them. I have nutrobal now, but the only way to let them have it is to dust trout meat with it.

They have not eaten since yesterday afternoon, possibly due to too much stress recently. Hope they can start to eat tomorrow.

Just checked trout’s nutrition information online, 71 g (1 fillet) contains 61mg Calcium and 188mg Phosphorus. Thus the C:P is 1:3. Like poison to them.

What do you suggest me to buy? Tomorrow I will go a reptile shop which is recommended by my vet.

[Shelled TT Lover]

They have been very active by now, or being anxious. Cant tell the difference sometime. They are moving around a lot when they are not sleeping.

[Graham]

I know lots of people who feed their turts trout, I really don't think it's like poison to them otherwise our turts wouldn't be so healthy!

The "other stuff" in the seafood mix that you bought is probably squid.

[Shelled TT Lover]

yes! squid!

just want to get your oppinion about trout.

make me relaxe a lot!

and also want to know how much to take a vet to force feed my turts?

[annsimpson1]

They can go quite a few days without food as long as they are kept rehydrated, I'd suggest putting the turtle out of the water under the heat lamps especially after any treatment to give it a chance to work, also warm baths I'm sure keeping her/him warm and rehydrated can help, he/she might drink in a warm bath maybe add some of the calcium supplement to the water, just a tiny amount its worth a try. You can get treatment for skin diseases in fish maybe someone else will know if that might be worth adding to the bath water again the tiniest amount.

[Shelled TT Lover]

Originally Posted by annsimpson1

They can go quite a few days without food as long as they are kept rehydrated, I'd suggest putting the turtle out of the water under the heat lamps especially after any treatment to give it a chance to work, also warm baths I'm sure keeping her/him warm and rehydrated can help, he/she might drink in a warm bath maybe add some of the calcium supplement to the water, just a tiny amount its worth a try. You can get treatment for skin diseases in fish maybe someone else will know if that might be worth adding to the bath water again the tiniest amount.

Thank you a lot! I will do what you said! It makes sense and I have read the same thing from other source on internet.
Don’t you think that my vet should tell me these?

[annsimpson1]

I don't know about that but it just seems common sense that if you wash something or put a substance on a wound then it needs a chance to dry and work and putting the animal back in the tank will just wash the substance off, I personally would try to keep the wound dry for a while and by giving a bath in a small container with enough water to submerge the turtle you are allowing it to drink, maybe feed it in the small tub if it will take anything. Remove the turtle and thorughly dry before using the treatment (the medicine given for the wound), I'd bath in warm water at least twice a day, maybe you can put the turtle somwhere else under a heat lamp so it can't go back in the tank for a while, I maybe wrong but its worth a try and to me anything which is called "rot" will only heal if allowed to dry out,

[Tortoise Trust]

Keeping turtles 'dry' during treatment can cause other problems, including dehydration, stress, and swollen eyes. Preparations such as Hibiscrub or Betadine work very quickly (in a matter of minutes) and therefore extended dry periods are not required. Very CLEAN WATER is required, though. We keep sick turtles wet, but in an isolation tank with a high powered UV-C steriliser in the filter circuit. This kills any circulating pathogens and helps stop any secondary infections.

Basking facilities should be provided, allowing the turtle to self-select a dry position if it wants to (rather than forcing it).

I would also not feed any fresh meat/fish. I would use something guaranteed free of other organisms, for example, Reptomin. Meat and fish are low in calcium and not my first choice for a sick turtle. Rehydrated dried cat food (+ calcium) is a safe option, too.

Andy Highfield
www.tortoisetrust.org