Need Help!! short neck murray river turtles!

[Nickelodeon]

Hey guys,
i'm pretty new to looking after turtles
my parents brought me 2 short neck murray river turtles for christmas 2010 (approx 95 and 100 mm in length) i do not know their sex..
so i have had my turtles for about 8 months now... and im very worried about one of them as i think it is sick (but the other one is fine).. it isn't eating properly is always sitting on the dock barely goes in the water..it is very light and is very slow and not active.
it hasn't grown in length like the other one has .. its shell is flaking and it is like shedding it's skin.. the only way i can get it to eat is by putting it in a separate container and it will only eat blood worms.. i have tired nutrafin max and fish dinner aswell but it won't even touch it.... the other one will eat anything and is growing perfectly .. is active and healthy...
any suggestions on what is wrong with it??
also the healthy turtle has the yellow strip behind its eyes... but the sick one doesnt? what does this mean?
as i say im very new to this and any suggestions or tips would help so much thanks
kind regards
Nicole

 

[Matt74]

G'day Nicole,I'm relatively new to turtle ownership myself, google the "Australian Freshwater turtles forum" is probably the best advise I can give you. Come to this site for the best snake, python and lizard info and go there for the best turtle info.There you will find an amazing care sheet, heaps of advise from experienced turtle keepers and tons of info.FeedingThe first thing you will find though is that turtle diners and bloodworms are very BAD for your turtles. Fresh live feeder fish, shrimp and crays are the best you can give them. They also love earthworms, crickets, woodies and flies. There is also a fish food pellet called "hikari gold chilid" you can buy from most pet stores that is also excellent for turtles. Freshwater aquatic plants are also part of a healthy turtle diet.TankHeat lamp for baskingUV lamp for light, replaced every six monthsWater conditions are discussed at the site I mentioned Turtle conditioning block for calcium and water 'hardness'And if you have small aquarium gravel, GET RID OF IT, your turtles may eat it and the result of this is disturbing, check the photos of this on the site I've mentioned for proof!. If you can get hold of calcium carbonate gravel, get that, saves you getting the turtle block because it does the same thing and passes/breaks down through the intestine instead of blocking it.Anyway, this is only a sample of what I've learnt from that forum, the people on it are great, helpful and experienced much the same as this forum. Go check it out!Matt

Sorry for the jumbled sentences in my reply, don't know what happened there, the post I wrote had paragraphs, full stops etc.

 

[Nickelodeon]

Thank you heaps matt i will check this site out

 

[Murtle]

Hi NicoleI would suggest that you take your turtle straight to a reptile vet. The sheading skin is normal, but not if it is continuous. It can be a sign of the turtle being low in vitamins or not being kept in warm enough water. Turtles can have all sorts of problems if they are not kept at the right temperature such as infections on their shells etc. It is also recommended that turtles are kept by themselves in tanks. Their nature isn't to have a mate, like in the wild where the mum has the eggs and then eventually leaves them to hatch and go into the wild by themselves. They are fairly dominant reptiles I would say that the one which you are worried is probably being dominated by the other.Your turtle should be fairly active and not sluggish and slow. Again I would recommend taking your turtle to a reptile vet for a check up.You will probably find that it will probably need vitamin injections to get it back to health and treatment baths to help it's skinn. Turtles don't recover quickly if they are sick like dogs etc do.It is best for you to seek alternative food for your turtles. The things which they sell in the pets shops don't give them the nutrients and vitamins which they need and your turtles should also only be feed about 2 times a week. I feed mine a piece of kangaroo meat (or very lean meat) the size of her head two times a week and also pellets which I purchased from the vet in a powder form which you add water to to make your own pelets. These ones actually have vitamins in them. I found out the hard way that taking advice from pet stores or various websites is not the right way to go about making sure you are feeding and caring for your turtle correctly. (it also depends what sort of turtle you have)

 

[Twitch_80]

As the other guys have said it could be a number of things.

Join the Australian freshwater turtles site, read the care sheet, and do some looking around and maybe post a thread and you should be able to quickly figure out whats wrong.

Im guessing if its only one then the size difference may be a problem but generally if they are a similar size you can keep quite a few together so its really worth checking out the site and having a look around. If it has eaten the gravel already you may have a problem. ave a look at the turtle grit and river sand on the site, as well as keeping ph stable it adds calcium and can be digested or passed by the turtles causing no problems. When you take it to a vet make sure its someone who knows what they are talking about, again, you will find this on the AFT site.

PS bloodworms are useless and contain nothing good so are only good for a treat. Red meat is also not so good for them. Cichlid (hikari) pellets, fresh fish (live), yabbies, nori (seaweed sheets) soaked in water for a min then put in etc etc are a lot better. Murrays will eat a lot more plants and vegies than other turtles and if you cant get them to catch the feeders just hold them for the turtles to take.

Where are you located? Check out the site and feel free to message me if you have anymore questions?

Chris