Please! Can Anybody Help Me?!

novicekeeper · #1 (**permalink**) 04-05-2008, 11:09 PM

I have 2 baby yellow bellied turtles, about 2 inches long and they are very ill. Their eyes have bubbled over an they are not able to open them, as a result they are not feeding, hardly at all active in the water and their shells are really soft, not at all as firm as when I bought them 2 weeks ago. I'm so afraid my tiny angels are going to die. The silly fool at the exotic pet shop who sold my babies too me said that i needn't worry about buying anything 'fancy' for them as they are such hardy little mites that they could live in a bucket of water with a brick in the middle. Of course I didn't take the advice literally, but it makes me wonder how many turtles have died because of his negligent advice to new keepers? Anyway, I researched what environment the turtles would thrive in and promptly kitted the little ones out. They have an 18in long tank by 10 in width and 12in depth with approx 4-5 litres of water in (Is this not a big enough tank? Too much water?) The water has been treated with King British Turtle and Terrapin Water Freshener. They have dried shrimp and reptomin offered to them and a small piece of cuttlefish lives in the tank for their vitamin uptake. I have also bought a plant to keep in the water for them to have a nibble on. Not sure what type, but its apparently quite a common plant. I have made them a basking area with some rocks from the garden centre (I boiled them first to kill any possible parasites or infections). They have a 50 watt exo terra heat glo bulb positioned to shine on the rocks 10 inch away from the rock surface for 12 hours a day for them to dry and bask(Too hot? Too close? For too long?) They also have a 10in UV light positioned in the lid approx 12in above them. I am wondering if it is the UV light that's harming my babies so badly? It was sold to me from an aquatic and reptile shop with the assurance that it was perfect for my baby binky and baby littlefoot to get the right amount of UV. It came with no packaging but a flimsy casing of grey corrugated cardboard. On close inspection (just now) it says: Tropical Marine G825 Ultra Violet 6B. But it says UV-C. What on earth is that? I've heard of UV-A and UV-B, but not C? Oh my goodness, it says it's dangerous to the skin and eyes. Oh my goodness! Have I been accidentally killing them? Is this lightbulb legal? It could have harmed my small children as well! If this really is dangerous to all and sundry does anyone know where I can get a real UV bulb for my tiny turtles?....... But apart from the bulb, do I seem to be doing everything else ok?

Hardwicki · #2 (**permalink**) 05-05-2008, 04:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by novicekeeper

I have 2 baby yellow bellied turtles, about 2 inches long and they are very ill. Their eyes have bubbled over an they are not able to open them, as a result they are not feeding, hardly at all active in the water and their shells are really soft, not at all as firm as when I bought them 2 weeks ago. I'm so afraid my tiny angels are going to die. The silly fool at the exotic pet shop who sold my babies too me said that i needn't worry about buying anything 'fancy' for them as they are such hardy little mites that they could live in a bucket of water with a brick in the middle. Of course I didn't take the advice literally, but it makes me wonder how many turtles have died because of his negligent advice to new keepers? Anyway, I researched what environment the turtles would thrive in and promptly kitted the little ones out. They have an 18in long tank by 10 in width and 12in depth with approx 4-5 litres of water in (Is this not a big enough tank? Too much water?) The water has been treated with King British Turtle and Terrapin Water Freshener. They have dried shrimp and reptomin offered to them and a small piece of cuttlefish lives in the tank for their vitamin uptake. I have also bought a plant to keep in the water for them to have a nibble on. Not sure what type, but its apparently quite a common plant. I have made them a basking area with some rocks from the garden centre (I boiled them first to kill any possible parasites or infections). They have a 50 watt exo terra heat glo bulb positioned to shine on the rocks 10 inch away from the rock surface for 12 hours a day for them to dry and bask(Too hot? Too close? For too long?) They also have a 10in UV light positioned in the lid approx 12in above them. I am wondering if it is the UV light that's harming my babies so badly? It was sold to me from an aquatic and reptile shop with the assurance that it was perfect for my baby binky and baby littlefoot to get the right amount of UV. It came with no packaging but a flimsy casing of grey corrugated cardboard. On close inspection (just now) it says: Tropical Marine G825 Ultra Violet 6B. But it says UV-C. What on earth is that? I've heard of UV-A and UV-B, but not C? Oh my goodness, it says it's dangerous to the skin and eyes. Oh my goodness! Have I been accidentally killing them? Is this lightbulb legal? It could have harmed my small children as well! If this really is dangerous to all and sundry does anyone know where I can get a real UV bulb for my tiny turtles?....... But apart from the bulb, do I seem to be doing everything else ok?

i know very little about these try posting in the shelled section but apart from that take them to a vet ASAP. Hope theyre ok

ian aldred · #3 (**permalink**) 06-05-2008, 03:20 PM

please put this in the shelled section as soon as you can

Bernie · #4 (**permalink**) 07-05-2008, 02:20 AM

From your post, the symptoms are one of two things. They have an infection in their eyes from poor water condition (do you have a filter? You don't mention one) and need to see a vet asap for antibiotic treatment or the most likely, they have vitamin A deficiency which causes their eyes to swell and close and them to become sluggish. Likewise vet treatment is required. They may need a course of vitamin injections, usually 6-10 weeks worth and you will see a marked improvement. Do you have a water heater? For their first year, they require the water heated, this will stimulate their appetites, if they've not been eating, this could further indicate vitamin A deficiency and also the softening of their shells could be due to low calcium intake and they may be unable to synthesize vitamin D properly if the UV output is too low. They need a balanced, varied diet too, it can be made up of pre-packaged pellet food (75%) designed for terrapins, with additional greens, (25%) veg, fruit and its worth providing a cuttlefish, they often nibble at it. I give mine whole, bony fish as a treat too, and she loves worms! You can buy additional vitamin and mineral powders, which can be dusted on food to provide extra supplements, but do exercise caution when supplementing as the pre-packaged stuff is often supplemented already. Best to see the shelled section for lots of useful info.

Regarding the UV, for my terrapin I use UV rating of 10, I wouldn't worry about the UV c, its not dangerous, its a shortwave UV which includes germicidal ultraviolet, used for air surface and water disinfection. These UV lights can be turned off at night, they're just used to simulate natural daylight indoors, so that the terrapins can synthesize vitamin D. I would switch your UV light source to an alternative if you're unable to determine its UV output level. At such a young age, this is when they grow rapidly and UV is very important. Hope this helps!

Tina · #5 (**permalink**) 07-05-2008, 05:54 PM

For anyone in any doubt the dangers of UVC are explained on this thread:

Urgent! Lives in Danger! Please help!

Ssthisto · #6 (**permalink**) 07-05-2008, 06:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Bernie

Regarding the UV, for my terrapin I use UV rating of 10, I wouldn't worry about the UV c, its not dangerous, its a shortwave UV which includes germicidal ultraviolet, used for air surface and water disinfection. These UV lights can be turned off at night, they're just used to simulate natural daylight indoors, so that the terrapins can synthesize vitamin D. I would switch your UV light source to an alternative if you're unable to determine its UV output level. At such a young age, this is when they grow rapidly and UV is very important. Hope this helps!

It sounds like the original poster has been sold a UV "scrubber" sterilisation unit, not a UVB reptile bulb... and these are designed to kill algae, microbes and other living things that are exposed to them.

TMC UVC's - Garden Site - your online Garden Centre looks like it's linking to the Tropical Marine Centre type products - and the UVC bulbs they sell are designed to be used on top of OPAQUE boxes the water's filtered into, not as lighting for living animals. The G8T5 is listed - I'm pretty sure that's the eight-watt UVC pond scrubber light that these poor turtles have had to sit under.

You can buy UVB bulbs for reptiles from several online shops - I use Livefood UK Crickets Locusts Mealworms Reptile supplies mail order for a lot of my equipment.

I'd take the UVC bulb out, take it back to the shop you got it from and insist upon a refund as it is NOT fit for the purpose you bought it for. It's designed for sterilising pond water, not providing appropriate lighting for turtles, and it's done your turtles a fair amount of damage. Get the poor babies to a vet to see what can be done for them as well - two weeks of exposure might not be recoverable, but you can hope.

mask-of-sanity · #7 (**permalink**) 07-05-2008, 07:56 PM

as above remove the uvc straight away they can cause serious eye damage to people let alone your turtles ....i am sorry to say that after 2 weeks exsposed to the light then the chance of recovery is very slim .....please go back to the shop with the bulb and complain they should sort it out if they are a decent shop and demand that they call there own vet about the turtles

Graham · #8 (**permalink**) 07-05-2008, 09:59 PM

Actually it's unlikely that the UVC has caused permanent damage, luckily it's been mounted at quite a distance so they'll only have been exposed to fairly low levels, still not good but it could have been much worse.
The swelling and closing of the eyelids is a defence mechanism to prevent further exposure, with luck their eyes will have closed before they received a dose high enough to cause serious damage, and simply removing the UVC lamp may be enough for them to recover.

IMO the really scary thing is that this lamp was sold by a specialist shop for this purpose, makes you wonder how many other customers have been sold similarly unsuitable and possibly dangerous equipment!

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