The terrible mouth of a leatherback turtle. How to Open a Turtle's Mouth Steps to Open a Turtle's Mouth
Many owners, faced with such a problem, are perplexed what to do if they do not eat. There can be several reasons for refusing food, including both natural and harmless ones, and those associated with a violation of your pet's health.
Why doesn't the red-eared turtle eat anything?
Natural and fairly safe reasons may include the following: the desire of the turtle to hibernate and puberty. The turtle is a cold-blooded animal and with some changes in the conditions of detention (lighting, water temperature), it can hibernate. This is a completely normal state. Another reason for refusing food is the puberty of the individual. In general, turtles can go without food for up to two months without compromising their own health.
More serious reasons why he does not eat and opens his mouth may be constipation or an improper diet. Finally, to the most dangerous diseases that deprive turtles of appetite include a variety of infections and the growth of a “beak”, which prevents the animal from eating normally.
How to feed a turtle if it does not eat?
If you are sure that your turtle is not going to fall asleep, then you should carefully analyze the conditions of detention. The water in the aquarium should be warm enough, and the presence of a UV lamp is mandatory. Perhaps the turtle does not have enough light, this can happen in autumn or winter. Then you need to add another llama to illuminate the aquarium. Review your pet's diet. Turtles are predators, therefore, in addition to dry food, it should include fish and seafood. Cucumber, seaweed or lettuce leaves are suitable as a herbal supplement. If you suspect your turtle is constipated, give her a warm bath. It will also solve the thirst problem. The "beak" is removed only after consulting a veterinarian, and to prevent its formation in the future, a little chalk is added to the turtles' food. But most importantly, if you have any suspicions that the turtle is sick, urgently show it to the veterinarian and then proceed according to his instructions.
The leatherback turtle looks like a charming and harmless creature, but hiding in its mouth are several rows of razor-sharp teeth that any predator would envy. Hundreds of teeth similar to stalactites (they are also called spikes) are hidden in the mouth of a leatherback turtle - they cover the mouth and esophagus of the turtle in even rows right up to the intestines.
Leatherback turtles are the third largest reptile in the world, and among turtles they are the absolute champions in terms of size. In fact, they are quite peaceful, feeding mainly on jellyfish. They can grow to this size only because they eat too much - sometimes a leatherback turtle can eat jellyfish in a day, weighing about 73% of its own body weight in total. Therefore, in a day, a turtle consumes about 16,000 calories, which is three to seven times more than is necessary for survival.
Teeth give these tortoises an evolutionary advantage: sharp spikes tilted toward the esophagus to keep slippery jellyfish from slipping out of their mouths. This means that leatherback turtles are capable of feeding on all kinds of jellyfish, from the smallest to the largest, like the hairy cyanide.
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The tortoise is an animal of the chordate type, reptile class, order of the turtle (Testudines). These animals have existed on planet Earth for over 220 million years.
The turtle received its Latin name from the word "testa", meaning "brick", "tile" or "clay vessel". The Russian analogue comes from the Proto-Slavic word čerpaxa, which in turn comes from the modified Old Slavic word "čerpъ", "shard".
The laying of the turtle is covered with soil from above and compacted by blows of the plastron.
Depending on the species, the number of eggs laid can be from 1 to 200. Duration incubation period ranges from 2 to 3 months, but certain types this period can reach six months or more.
During the mating season, the female turtle is able to make several clutches.
By way of life, turtles are solitary animals and find a mate only for the mating period, although some species tend to gather in small groups for wintering.
How to care for a turtle at home?
Keeping turtles at home, both land and water, is very popular today. These animals are unpretentious, and caring for turtles is very simple, so even children can follow the pets. However, should not be chosen as pets large species turtles that can reach over half a meter in length. For a comfortable stay of reptiles in an apartment, specially equipped aquariums, terrariums or enclosures for turtles are designed, in which conditions are created that are as close as possible to their natural habitat.
The hygiene of aquatic inhabitants consists in the removal of algae that has grown on the shell. Land reptiles should be bathed daily in warm water with the addition of baking soda, washing off the remains of food and adhering soil. Overgrown turtle claws must be shortened with a small nail file. In winter, pets need to be periodically irradiated with the rays of a quartz lamp, making a kind of sunbathing. It is necessary to ensure that the light does not fall directly into the eyes of the animal.
About feeding turtles at home is described in detail a little higher.
If the rules for caring for animals at home are observed, turtles can live up to 170 years.
- Sex of offspring is determined by temperature environment during the incubation period. At low temperatures males appear, and at higher ones, females.
- Turtles became the first creatures to fly around the moon aboard a research probe launched by Soviet Union in 1968, and returned safely. This happened a few months before the Apollo 8 mission.
- In 2013, the employees of the museum of the Dnepropetrovsk Agrarian University were shocked by an unprecedented incident. From several exhibited turtle eggs that had been lying on the shelves for many years, full-fledged offspring hatched.
- The image of a turtle is present in the heraldry of some states.
- Unlike other reptiles, turtles are practically incapable of causing significant harm to humans. However, during the mating season, male caiman tortoises may mistake a person for a rival and attack him. And male leatherback turtles can confuse a swimmer with a female, clasp him with flippers and carry him into the depths.
- Turtle meat is a delicacy product that can be consumed both without heat treatment and fried or boiled.
- Expensive accessories are cut out of the shell of turtles, which are used to decorate women's hair.
On our website, we once paid enough attention to the topic of turtle diseases - look for this publication. However, as experience shows, and as it becomes clear from the comments that you leave, our readers, not always and not everyone has the opportunity to treat a pet in a veterinary clinic. Someone cannot go there for procedures every day, but for someone treatment in the clinic is too expensive. However, this should not mean that you have to watch your pet suffer and die. Not at all. We suggest you learn how to self-administer medications prescribed by a veterinarian. The last one is very important point, as the appointment of a course of treatment should still be dealt with by a specialist.
So, today in our publication we will talk with you about different ways the introduction of drugs into the body of a sick turtle, and consider how to learn how to do it correctly, on your own at home…
Methods of administering drugs to turtles
So, your pet is sick, the veterinarian made an accurate diagnosis and prescribed an appropriate course of treatment for you (very often turtle diseases occur due to non-compliance with the recommendations for their content, read more about the conditions under which red-eared turtles should live). As a rule, most often it is taking pills or injections. But, each time to take a turtle for an injection in veterinary clinic, or visiting a specialist 3 times a day so that he can give the pet medicine is not very convenient. Yes, and disturbing a sick creature that needs peace and quiet is not very correct. Therefore, you and I, as conscious and loving owners of our pets, will have to learn how to independently carry out these simple medical manipulations. And, now we will tell you how to do it right ...
How to give a turtle a pill
Oral administration of a drug into the body of a turtle is a fairly common way to treat many diseases. The drug itself and its dosage, as well as the frequency of administration, should be determined by a specialist, based on the diagnosis of your pet, its condition, size and body weight. A large turtle may need to be given a whole tablet, and a small one ¼ of it. In any case, you will have to try very hard so that the turtle does not spit out the medicine and bite your finger.
Gently fix the pet's head with your fingers and open its mouth. If the turtle is not large, then you can open its mouth with a strip of thick paper, which you will introduce into its mouth from the front. If you have a large turtle, its mouth can be opened with a small spatula, which you will insert into its mouth with the narrow end forward from the bottom up. Act very carefully and carefully so as not to inadvertently damage the animal's oral cavity. Once the spatula is in the turtle's mouth, carefully turn it perpendicular so that the turtle cannot close its mouth while the medicine is being administered.
In order for the tablet not to injure the mucous surfaces oral cavity turtles, if there are no contraindications in the instructions, it will be more convenient to first dissolve it in a small amount of boiled warm water, draw the resulting solution into a syringe without a needle and carefully, trying not to injure the pet, gradually inject the medicine. Make sure that the turtle does not choke, to do this, inject the medicine slowly.
If it is impossible to dissolve the tablet (this is written in the instructions and this was confirmed by the veterinarian), try to grind it into a powder, and using another spatula (the powder can be placed on its tip), inject the medicine into the turtle's mouth, then turn the first spatula and gently squeeze the jaws turtle so that she can swallow the powder instead of spitting it out.
During all your manipulations, try not to be nervous - your nervousness is transmitted to a sick pet and he also begins to worry, act slowly, but confidently. As practice shows, after several procedures, if the turtle does not get used to your manipulations, it will treat them more calmly, and it will be easier for you to orally inject medicine into its body.
How to inject a turtle
In order for the medicine to work faster, the veterinarian may prescribe it not by oral administration, but by injection. In principle, there is nothing wrong with this, and giving turtles an injection is as easy as giving it, say, to cats (find out). The main thing is to follow certain instructions and follow the rules, which we will tell you about below.
It is preferable to use disposable syringes with a capacity of 2 and 5 milliliters for drug administration, they have a thin needle that easily pierces the animal's skin. If the turtle is injected with a larger volume of medication, then the needle can be moved to a larger syringe.
It is very important to follow the recommendations regarding the storage of the medicine and observe the temperature regime. Since, its non-compliance leads the medicine to disrepair and it becomes useless. The same can be said about those situations when you are not drawing a whole syringe, and there is still medicine in the ampoule. If it can be stored, you can reuse the ampoule. But, if the medicine is not intended for storage, it is not recommended to use it for introducing a sick turtle into the body. Instead of benefit and recovery, it can aggravate the condition of a sick pet.
Insert the syringe needle into the ampoule and make sure that it does not touch its walls, carefully draw up the medicine. Even if it seems to you that there is only it in the syringe, and there is not a drop of air - raise the needle up and release a little medicine until it flows in a trickle - this way you will be sure that you are injecting the turtle with medicine and only medicine. If you have gained more medicinal product what the veterinarian prescribed for you - release it from the syringe. In case of a shortage of medicine, it must be taken, since the success of treatment depends on compliance with the accuracy of the dosage. If you notice air bubbles stuck to the sides of your syringe, tapping the syringe with your finger will be enough to remove them.
I would like to draw attention to the fact that some medicines for injections are produced not in liquid form, but in the form of a powder, and they must be dissolved. Carefully read in the instructions for the drug how it is necessary to dissolve such a medicine - novocaine, sodium chloride solution. It is strictly forbidden to use ordinary boiled water for these purposes.
If you need to dissolve the medicine, then first shake the ampoule with it and tap it with your finger so that the powder is at the bottom. Then, carefully open the ampoule in the place of its narrowing and break off the tip (it is better to cover it with cotton wool or a cloth so as not to injure your fingers). Draw the indicated amount of solvent into the syringe and release it into the medicine ampoule, mix them thoroughly and re-draw the mixture you received into the syringe. Since you have already carried out certain manipulations with the needle, and it could become dull, it is recommended to change the needle before the injection (for diluted drugs, it is better to take a needle with a large hole).
The turtle should be in a horizontal position at the time of the injection, and it would be better if one of your loved ones picks it up. Unlike dogs and cats, which do not need to wipe the skin with alcohol before the injection (in any case, many veterinarians do not do this), the skin of the turtle will need to be wiped with iodine or alcohol at the site of the future injection. For the injection site, you need to choose a place where you will not get into the blood vessels, and to make sure that you do not get into them, after inserting the needle under the skin, you can slightly pull the piston from the syringe towards you. If after that blood appears in the syringe, it means that the needle is in blood vessel. In this case, the needle does not have to be removed and re-inserted, it will be enough to move it a little deeper.
The medicine should be administered slowly and gradually, and before removing the needle, it is necessary to press on the skin near the injection site with a piece of cotton wool, which will also be dipped in alcohol - this will reduce the pain from the injection and prevent infection from entering the open injection site.
After you take out the needle, swelling may occur in the place where you injected the medicine - you should not be afraid, the medicine has collected under the skin and you just need to massage it for several minutes in order to quickly distribute it over the tissues of the turtle.
It is quite obvious that the turtle can be restless during the injection, but you must be patient and treat the animal with understanding. It's not easy for him either.
Video on how to inject a turtle
Today we have reviewed practical topic how to treat a turtle, how to give it pills and injections. We hope that you will not have to use these recommendations in practice, however, if such a need arises, you can help your pet.
Have you ever given your turtle medication? Make injections? Share with us your experiences, stories, and, of course, photos of your pets.
Then you need to regularly pay attention to her behavior. In the event of a change in the nature of the behavior, it is necessary to immediately find out the reason for such behavior, as this may affect the health of your pet.
Suspicious behavior includes moments when the turtle begins to open its mouth quite often and make characteristic sounds. Such behavior can be regarded as such, which indicates the presence of red-eared turtle some disease.
Possible reasons
- ORZ or. In other words, disease respiratory tract both viral and infectious origin.
- Violations at work gastrointestinal tract.
- The processes of decay in the oral cavity.
It is very important to pay attention to such a factor as the discharge from the oral cavity of secretions of a different nature with the presence a large number air bubbles.
This is necessary in order to indicate the exact characteristics of the animal's abnormal behavior in the course of consultation with a specialist in order to establish a preliminary diagnosis. In the case of an exact description clinical manifestations, a veterinarian, even by phone, can determine the exact diagnosis and give recommendations on the method of treatment.
In no case should you self-medicate, as this can lead to disastrous results. The best option is to take the animal and take it to a veterinarian who has some knowledge and experience. The doctor will quickly and accurately determine the diagnosis of the existing ailment and prescribe a qualified treatment.
Such diseases, especially pneumonia, are quite difficult to cure without the use of antibiotics, which are injected into the turtle's body.
In any case, you should pay attention to the conditions of detention pet. As a rule, most diseases, such as pneumonia or acute respiratory infections, develop under conditions when the temperature conditions are low and unsanitary conditions are observed within the habitat of the reptile.
Disorders in the work of the gastrointestinal tract are treated with the help of normalization of nutrition.