Why does the red-eared turtle open its mouth on land? How to open a turtle's mouth. Strip of paper or match

Many owners, faced with such a problem, are perplexed what to do if they don’t eat. There may be several reasons for refusing food, including both natural and harmless ones and those that are associated with poor health of your pet.

Why doesn't the red-eared slider eat anything?

Natural and fairly safe reasons may include the following: the turtle’s desire to hibernate and puberty. The turtle is a cold-blooded animal and with some changes in housing conditions (lighting, water temperature), it can hibernate. This is a completely normal condition. Another reason for refusing food is the individual’s puberty. In general, turtles can go without food for up to two months without harming their own health.

More serious reasons for not eating and opening your mouth could be constipation or poor diet. Finally, the most dangerous diseases that deprive turtles of their appetite include various infections and the growth of the “beak”, which prevents the animal from eating normally.

How to feed a turtle if it doesn't 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 must be warm enough, and a UV lamp is required. 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. Analyze your pet's diet. Turtles are predators, so 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 it a warm bath. This will also solve your thirst problem. The “beak” is removed only after consultation with a veterinarian, and to prevent its formation in the future, a little chalk is added to the turtles’ food. But most importantly, if you suspect that the turtle is sick, urgently show it to the veterinarian and then act according to his instructions.

For their slowness and sluggishness, as well as an interested turn of the head and an inspiring look, cute animal turtles can be called royal. They are unpretentious and require a little free space to place an aquarium/terrarium.

At the same time, rest assured that you will spend more than one evening looking at the rich drawings with various shades of green. How do children love turtles?! Watching the behavior and grace of these little creatures is a pleasure. Naturally, in a pet store you examine the pet you are purchasing and fix your gaze on a healthier individual. It often happens that in a store with an animal, everything seems to be fine at first glance, but when you move a new friend to an unusual habitat, the question arises about the behavior of the reptile - why does the turtle squeak? The root cause may be the move itself and the stress of the animal, which is reflected in this reaction. This does not mean that you should rush back to the store with a live purchase. It also does not indicate illness or debilitating illness in your new pet.

The reasons why a turtle (most often the problem concerns the red-eared slider) makes a squeak can be the following:

The most common reason for a turtle squeaking is sexual maturity. When a reptile reaches sexual maturity and is preparing to reproduce, it squeaks to attract the attention of individuals of the opposite sex. If you only have one turtle in your apartment, it is unlikely that this is the reason for the squeaking.
By squeaking, a turtle may be trying to convey its displeasure. Carefully study the conditions in which your pet is kept - perhaps some external factor is simply causing him discomfort.
If your turtle squeaks, inspect it carefully. A pet can express pain by squeaking. Often it is with a squeak that the reptile notifies of injury. Examine its skin and shell.
The most unpleasant reason why a turtle may squeak is because of illness. Many diseases of the lungs and respiratory system in general have exactly this symptom. It is not recommended to prescribe treatment on your own without special knowledge - this can only cause harm.

In any case, if your pet squeaks for more than 7 days, a visit to the veterinarian is recommended. If your animal has lived with you for a large amount of time (several months or more) and you begin to notice some sound reaction to certain of your actions, such as being pulled out of the aquarium, the pet’s lack of desire to get out onto a dry island, some changes in the skin, then you should immediately contact qualified specialists.

Signs of illness in a turtle?

First of all, examine the appearance of your pets for possible symptoms of disease. Danger signs may include swollen eyes, mucous discharge from the nose, drool in the mouth, yellow plaque or ulcers. In this case, you may be concerned that your turtle may have contracted pneumonia, and qualified intervention is required. However, in any case, first watch your pet. Perhaps the “squeak” occurs when the turtle eats juicy food. In addition, red-eared turtles make a similar sound during the breeding season.

In combination with other symptoms (refusal to go to land, to eat, hibernation), the squeak can be a stress reaction as a result of improper living conditions.

What problems can a veterinarian identify?

To make a diagnosis (and this could be hypovitaminosis, rickets, for example), you should bring the animal to the doctor, and also write down in detail the conditions under which the pet is kept. This will help eliminate irritating factors (this could be an ordinary lamp or a household water filter, as well as the wrong temperature for keeping) from the animal’s life and prevent the development of the disease and deterioration of the condition.

Pneumonia and other respiratory diseases

When talking about serious illnesses during which turtles squeak, one cannot fail to mention pneumonia. If your turtle has pneumonia, it must be urgently treated with medication. Ulcers, saliva coming from the mouth, mucous discharge, swollen eyes and yellow plaque can help identify pneumonia in a turtle. If any of these signs are present in your turtle, take it to the vet immediately.

A squeak when a turtle breathes only means that there is an obstacle in the larynx area that causes sound vibration. This may be pulmonary sputum, but most often it is saliva, food fragments or mucus from the stomach that accidentally enters the trachea. If these episodes recur, a drop of 24% aminophylline can be injected into the trachea during inhalation.

Progress of the procedure:

Open your mouth, press on the throat from below so that the root of the tongue rises.
There is the entrance to the laryngeal fissure.
During inhalation, it opens (two petals diverge to the sides).
At this moment, drop aminophylline there through a thick syringe needle, cutting off its sharp tip.

Other turtle sounds

It is believed that turtles are the most silent animals in the world and cannot make sounds. The most common “screams” heard from male land turtles are when they mount a female or what they think is a female during mating. It is believed that each species has its own voice, by which this species can be recognized. Females usually do not make any sounds when mating.

Some turtles, once in captivity, make different sounds, but then, having gotten used to them, they go numb. But in addition to screams, turtles can occasionally make various sounds that can frighten the owner or mistress.

Sometimes when closing the mouth of aquatic turtles, the tips of the horny jaws “click” against each other can be heard. If a large turtle sharply draws its head into its shell, then the air forced out of the lungs may emit a “hissing” sound, and the turtle itself may hiss if it is very frightened (and again sharply draws its head in).

Red-eared turtles may whistle when they stick their nose or muzzle out of the water. This often happens when they are unhappy with something, or just because. If there are no alarming symptoms, then such whistling is normal, and nothing can be done about it. For example, red-eared turtles make a sound similar to “croaking” for no particular reason.

But if your turtle regularly opens its mouth, stretches its neck and squeaks, start sounding the alarm and is lethargic and refuses to eat. This is likely a sign of pneumonia, which turtles do not live long with. So start looking for veterinarian herpetologists in your city.

Scientists' opinion

According to researchers, adult turtles communicate with each other and with their hatchlings using at least six different types of sounds. The findings, published in the journal Herpetologica, suggest that turtles live more complex social lives than previously thought.

The study was carried out from 2009 to 2011 on the Trombetas River, located in the Brazilian state of Pará in the north of the country. Using microphones and hydrophones, scientists were able to record over 250 sounds made by river turtles. They then analyzed them into six types that correlated with specific turtle behaviors.

“The exact meaning of these sounds is unclear. However, we believe that turtles exchange information,” Dr. Camila Ferrara, who took part in the study, told the BBC. “We believe that sounds help animals coordinate their actions during egg-laying season,” Ferrara added. The sounds produced by the turtles varied slightly depending on what the animals were doing at the moment.

For example, a turtle made a specific sound when adults swam across a river. When the rest of the turtles gathered on the shore where the clutches were made, she made a different sound. According to Dr. Ferrara, female turtles use sounds to direct their newly hatched offspring into the water and back to the shore. Since many turtles live for decades, scientists suggest that during their lives, young turtles learn to communicate using sounds from more experienced relatives.

conclusions

If your turtle has reached the age of 7-10 years and begins to squeak, then most likely its squeak is associated with reaching sexual maturity. If your turtle suddenly starts squeaking, inspect its body. Often such sounds can be accompanied by pain - make sure that there are no injuries on the turtle’s body. If there are no injuries and the age of sexual maturity has not been reached, but the turtle squeaks and refuses to eat or go onto land, make sure that this is not a reaction to improper keeping of the pet, since turtles are demanding of living conditions.

To the question: who knows about red-eared turtles? seems to be sick (((+ given by the author Yoonya Marmeladkina the best answer is contact the forum with a detailed description of the contents of the turtle and adding photographs of the turtle
Here’s something else I found, similar to your description, from a reliable source (according to Vasiliev)
Stage I pneumonia - “wet” or “exudative” pneumonia - occurs suddenly and is acute. It is usually caused by short-term keeping of turtles at low temperatures, without food and in crowded conditions - that is, during transportation, overexposure, trading in a cold room, on the street or market, etc. The disease can manifest itself after 3 - 4 days and in some cases leads to death within a few days, or even hours. In a subclinical form, the disease may go unnoticed, stabilize and go into stage II or into a chronic course.
In the initial stages of exudative pneumonia, symptoms vary. The turtle may refuse food, become lethargic and apathetic. Aquatic turtles spend more time on land, while land turtles stop returning to a stationary shelter (if there is one) or do not go out to heat at all. If such a turtle is gently “clicked” on the nose, then when the head is sharply removed, a vibrating, gurgling sound can be heard, reminiscent of a wet wheeze. In this case, the air vibrates when exhaling, passing over the liquid serous exudate in the upper part of the trachea and in the laryngeal slit. Transparent, slightly stretchy exudate can be found in the oral cavity and in the choanae (see color inclusion V-7). When auscultating the lungs, no wheezing is heard. Subsequent accumulation of exudate in the lungs and upper respiratory tract can cause suffocation. Excess exudate can sometimes come out of the mouth or nostrils and dry out as whitish crusts. The mucous membranes of the mouth and tongue become pale and sometimes cyanotic. In land turtles, activity may sharply increase: they begin to “run” around the terrarium, make forced movements, sometimes as if not seeing anything around them. Bouts of activity are followed by periods of depression. In aquatic turtles, flotation qualities are impaired: with a one-sided process, turtles “fall” when swimming on the side of the affected lung (where the density of spongy tissue increases). In many cases, turtles resort to their own mechanism for removing mucus from the trachea, similar to “coughing” or sneezing. At the same time, the turtle makes an exhalation movement, leaving the laryngeal slit closed and the head half pulled inward. This allows you to increase positive pressure in the body cavity. The turtle then suddenly pulls its head forward, opens its mouth and makes a coughing or “clicking” sound. In this case, the exudate accumulated in the larynx is released into the oral cavity. “Sneezing” is carried out according to the same mechanism, but at the same time the mouth does not open and the nostrils are cleared. Another characteristic symptom of shortness of breath is throwing back the head. In this case, this position allows the turtle to partially remove the exudate accumulated in the choanae and facilitate nasal breathing for a while. Turtles may rub their heads with their front paws - this is a rather hopeless attempt to “cope” with the obstruction of the nostrils.
Treatment
In the case of stage I pneumonia, timely treatment has a lightning-fast effect. Symptoms may disappear after the first antibiotic injection (usually within a few hours). Our drug of choice is ampiox sodium in doses of 200 mg/kg intramuscularly. The reserve group drugs are oxytetracycline, baytril and chloramphenicol-succinate. If therapy does not cause obvious improvement within 3 to 4 days, it is better to prescribe aminoglycosides. During treatment, the turtle must be kept at daytime temperatures not lower than 30 -32°C.
If you have any questions, write, I have experience in treating turtles, I even had the opportunity to operate

In good conditions, turtles can live for decades, but it also happens that pets get sick. Diseases can result from injuries, poor nutrition, colds, or contact with sick animals. The most common diseases of turtles will be discussed in our article.

Rickets in turtles. It is found not only among people, but also among our smaller brothers. The turtle's shell and bones soften. The reason is a lack of vitamin D and calcium; it can develop due to poor nutrition and insufficient lighting. First, soft areas appear on the shell, then the disease progresses: the shell becomes deformed, the bones soften, and spontaneous fractures are possible. A curved shell is an incorrigible pathology. As soon as possible, you need to adjust your diet, increase daylight hours under an ultraviolet lamp or walk in the sun, and inject calcium borogluconate under the skin (4-10 injections).

Fungus, saprolegniosis.The turtle begins to have spots on its shell and it peels off. The affected plates must be taken for analysis, and after confirmation they must be cleaned to prevent pathogenic bacteria from penetrating deeper. The affected areas are lubricated with antifungal and antibacterial ointments (these will be prescribed by a veterinarian). Saprolegniosis is more common in aquatic turtles: translucent threads seem to stretch behind the animal’s paws. It is necessary to disinfect the water, take baths with special preparations, and take a course of antibiotics.

Pneumonia in turtles. Often found in turtles: a small draft or walk on a cold floor is enough. Animals often catch colds during transportation or temperature changes. Breathing is hoarse, mucus appears in the mouth, and bubbly fluid comes out of the nose. The turtle opens its mouth more and more often and breathes intermittently. A course of antibiotics is required for 5-7 days (amikacin 5 mg, Baytril 5 mg per kilogram of weight and other drugs), ReptoCal and ReptoLife, vitamin complexes are also given. The turtle needs to be provided with warmth and peace.

Rhinitis and sinusitis. Can be one-sided or two-sided. First, mucous discharge appears from the nose, and the turtle behaves sluggishly and apathetically. If the disease is not treated, rhinitis can affect the turtle's eyes and ears. The animal should be kept warm, away from drafts, the temperature should be maintained, the nasal passages should be washed with antiseptics using a syringe with a catheter (chlorhexidine, sea salt), and vitamin complexes should be given. If necessary, your veterinarian may prescribe a course of antibiotics.

Prolapse of the rectum or cloaca.The cause may be injury to the intestinal mucosa (for example, if the turtle has eaten soil or hard food). Males also experience prolapse of the genital organ; it will be better if it is set by a veterinarian. The cloaca can also fall out due to constipation and enteritis. After the cloaca is straightened, the tail is fixed with adhesive tape, and Vaseline oil is administered orally. You need to monitor your pet for several days to see if there is a relapse or if there are any problems with bowel movements.

Conjunctivitis in turtles. There is redness and inflammation of the eyelids and conjunctival sacs, the turtle behaves restlessly, rubbing its eyes with its paws. The disease can be caused by streptococcal or staphylococcal infection. The course of treatment includes antiseptic ointments (chloramphenicol, tetracycline), antibiotics, and immunomodulators.

Maladaptation syndrome.If the turtle was transported incorrectly or the conditions were changed, the functioning of the digestive system may be disrupted. The animal refuses food, dehydration, apathy, and drowsiness are observed. You need to give the turtle an anthelmintic, regularly bathe it in warm water, and organize feeding. If there is severe weight loss, your veterinarian may prescribe IVs. Antibiotics may also be prescribed.

Necrosis, osteomyelitis.Cracks often appear in the shell, through which infection can enter. If necrosis begins, the damaged scutes must be removed, then antifungal and antibacterial ointments must be applied daily. Osteomyelitis manifests itself in the form of reddish, rough spots; in an advanced stage, it leads to the death of the shell and damage to internal organs. The turtle is prescribed injections of chloramphenicol or aminoglycoside, baths with antiseptic drugs, and given vitamin complexes and calcium.

There are several ways to open a turtle's mouth. The following options are considered the most suitable: the lower jaw is lowered by pressing on special points; the mouth opens with the help of a special device called a “yawner”; force the turtle's mouth to open using an ordinary match inserted into the corner of its mouth. Naturally, there are other methods, but these are the simplest and easiest to implement.

Before embarking on such an action, you should plan everything well and remember that serious efforts should not be made. Everything needs to be done so that the turtle decides to open its mouth. It is necessary to remember one more point: if it was not possible to force-feed the turtle, then this is not at all scary, since it can go without food for a long time (up to 3 months). If you didn’t succeed today, you will succeed tomorrow and so on, but you can always try. Moreover, this leads to the development of skills that may be useful in the future.

To install a probe for a turtle, you will have to do the following steps:

The turtle is in an upright position, head up.
They try to open her mouth with the help of a wooden object.
The probe is inserted carefully and carefully, without changing the position of the animal.

If the turtle is large in size, then you should use an assistant.

To simply feed the animal, you can do the following steps:

Secure your pet's head.
Do not press too hard on the points behind the ears.
After this, the lower jaw is lowered down.

Then they begin to force-feed, armed with a syringe without a needle. A nutrient liquid (carrot juice with vitamin supplements) is drawn into the syringe. Food should not be introduced in large portions and mainly onto the turtle’s tongue.

Strip of paper or match

There is another, no less effective option that helps open the turtle’s mouth. Here he is:

The turtle's head is fixed.
A wooden stick or piece of thick paper is inserted between the jaws.
Light pressure on the lower jaw opens the turtle's mouth.

In this case, it all depends on the age of the pet. If it is a small turtle, then you need to take a piece of thick paper, and if it is an adult, then a wooden stick will not hurt.

It is possible to unclench the jaws of an animal with the help of an ordinary match. To do this, the tip of the match (without the wax head) is inserted into the corner of the mouth. After this, you should try to unclench her jaws. At the same time, you should press on the lower jaw, since it is mobile. The upper jaw is firmly connected to the skull and is motionless. Therefore, all operations should be performed only on the lower jaw.

How big does a land turtle grow?