Today was to be my first day, creating this blog for our two little buddies, Spike and Mikey.
It was all spur of the moment.
We had received a coupon for 4 free goldfish, had we already had a tank, we could've gotten them and just walked out the store. But we knew we'd have to buy a tank and lo, they had some aquarium kits on special!
There near the cashier, sat a little rectangular tank, with four tiny little turtles. Chinese Stripe-necked turtles (which are also known as Golden Thread Turtles as well as Ocadia sinensis), is what we were told they were. Monchichi and I asked to see one, picking up the most active of the four, we decided we must take him home. This would be our first turtle, we let them know and so, they instructed us, a bigger tank would be better, a 10gallon, for 4 goldfish and 1 turtle. We would also need a heater, a floating dock and turtle food. Then off we went, to bring our little buddy and fishies home.
We named our turtle Mikey Angelo; and out goldfish as follows: our grey as Splinter; our red&white as Raph; the orange one all the others followed as Leo and the other orange one with a stripe in its scales as Don.
Goldfish, huh? They act more as piranhas! Little Mikey could barely go for a swim, they'd be gobbling at him little toesies.
When we first got little Mikey Angelo (Saturday Nov. 1st 2014), he had been the most active of the 4 at the pet store. We picked him up to take a look and decided spur of the moment to bring him home. We've calling him "he" his whole little life, being less than 2 inches, he could have very well been a "she", as it's too early to tell at that stage. We were a bit worried when he wouldn't eat, but were told it was normal when you bring a turtle into a new habitat. Two days after being home, he finally ate. We were overjoyed, our little buddy was eating. But then he stopped eating and became lethargic.
We thought that maybe our little piranhas (yea, that's what we now call our goldfish) were the cause of his constant basking, so we decided that maybe a separate tank was in order. We walked past the pet store that had sold him to us, in three days, not a single turtle was left.
We did some searching online, to see why he might not be eating, what we could to to help him eat, we also went to a different pet store (Nature's animal centre), where we found someone who was more knowledgeable in aquatic life, including turtles. They also had Golden Threads, only theirs were constantly swimming about. They were so lively! The tank they were in was set up with a dry area as well as a swimming area, the turtles could swim with their food, live guppies! We were informed that a turtle needs a UVB lamp, so we purchased him one. That pet store, more specifically, that guy (Nicholas), has become our "go-to guy" whenever we have any questions.
Both he and the internet (many many turtle forums and care sheets) have helped us increase our knowledge on how to take care of turtles. We're extremely thankful to him as well as others who share their knowledge.
When we went back to buy another tank, the weekend of November 8th, we also decided to get another turtle. Remember that lively one that was swimming everywhere? Yea, him. We named him Spike (he reminds me of Spike from The Land Before Time, Monchichi wanted to name him Spike after Raph's pet turtle).
Putting Spike in the tank with little Mikey was the only time in a whole week that Mikey went back into the water willingly. The swam around a bit together. The piranhas gobbled Spike as well, knocking him off the floating dock and into the water, but that didn't deter him from going swimming. Spike however is almost 4inches, so considerably bigger than Mikey. Still, Mikey would not eat. We had set them in the tank with the piranhas while we cleaned the new aquarium pebbles and set up the new tank. We had also gotten some feeder guppies that we would be putting directly into the new tank.
Unfortunately, Monchichi noticed a little growth on Mikey's eye. I had briefly read about this in one of the care sheets, fearing it might be a parasite, we quarantined him so that Spike wouldn't be contaminated as well.
More searching online ensued. I found many people talking about using bleue de methylene drops into the water to treat it, then also dry docking, until his shell would be completely dry, then putting him back in his quarantine. So, for the whole week, I'd travel to Monchichi's to take care of little Mikey. I had also read that putting your turtle in lukewarm water would help increase its metabolism, so that maybe it would get hungry and eat. We tried different foods, to see if he would take them. Nothing seemed to work to get him to eat. I'd give him a 20mins soak in lukewarm water with bleue de méthylène, then a 20mins soak in lukewarm water, then dab a Qtip with more bleue de méthylène onto his growths. The one on his eye diminished, then one on his mouth dropped off. He seemed to be getting better, no more new growths for a few days. I went out to get him a self-ballasted mercury vapor bulb, as it combines UVB, UVA as well as heating, which seems to be the best type of bulb our there. More expensive, but from reviews, seem to be worth it in the long run. The pet store had none, so I ordered one (will receive it either today or tomorrow) and got an infrared heat bulb for him, this way we could keep it on all day & night, to keep his area warm at least until we'd get the mercury bulb. We'd been using a plastic container as a quarantine and it doesn't have a heater, so the water at the bottom of the container would be almost ice cold the next day. I was cleaning out his bac everyday as well, so at least he had clean water changes.
After speaking to our go-to guy this weekend, we were discussing how I've been doing the bleue de méthylène baths for 20mins a day, he said it was good. When they treat their turtles, they do the bath for 1hr a day, then dry dock but leave a little dish with water, so the turtle can go in the water to hydrate when it wants. And so, we got him a little dish which could contain enough water to submerge him, always left some food with him, on dry land but also a little in the water, so he'd have the option to eat (even if he wasn't eating when we were there).
We also noticed his softened under-shell, then some time later, how his carapace seemed curled around the edges. We suspected MBD, which is caused by lack of vitamins - very easy to occur if the turtle won't eat.
But then, he pooped on Sunday, the first we'd ever seen! He ate on Monday, got him to eat with an eyedropper, he'd swallow the food, then open his little mouth for more.
When Monchichi left for work this morning, I popped in on Mikey, he was awake, looking at me. I told him he could sleep some more, that I'd be up later to give him his usual bleue de méthylène bath. But when I got up later this morning, around 10am (Tuesday November 18th 2014), I went to see him and he had moved into the furthest corner, no longer moving. He does that sometimes, when sleeping, but once I put him in his bath he wakes up and swims around... it was not to be, he just floated there, his little eyes sunken in. I placed him on his basking rock, maybe, just maybe he'll start moving again... but there's a foul odor coming from him. Our poor lil' Mikey. He gave a good fight, but didn't make it. =(
Spike is swimming around happily, he'll be getting Mikey's self-ballasting mercury bulb soon, he'll be taken care of to the best of our abilities.
My thoughts: A turtle should never be a "spur of the moment" purchase, but unfortunately, very often, it is. I really wish there would be more people working at pet stores, who would be as knowledgeable as our go-to guy. It'd have been nice to know, from the get-go, that a turtle needs both UVB as well as heat lamps. If you want to use only one lamp, you can go with a self-ballasted mercury vapor bulb (it's only hard to find a fixture to hold up the lamp, you need something sturdy and something that won't melt). Also you need a lamp made out of ceramic to hold the bulb, anything else might melt. Do your research!
Most of our products are made by Exo-Terra, they're carried by Nature's centre d'animaux, where our go-to guy works (he's just really interested by all forms of reptiles and aquatic life, not all employees there are as knowledgeable, as I've found out).
This is a self-ballasted mercury bulb: http://exo-terra.com/en/products/solar_glo.php
I'm getting it for roughly $61 cdn, remember I said they were expensive, but if used properly, they'll last a lot longer. Must be placed in a vertical manner, if tilted the life of the bulb will be greatly diminished. Also, if you read the description, it says it can be used with the Exo Terra Light Dome, now, maybe they have 2 of these here Light Domes, but I'd suggest to read the box it comes it before purchase! I had read many reviews that said this lamp could NOT handle the self-ballasted mercury bulbs, the girl at Nature's told me it could, she learned something new that day. The box containing the Exo Terra Light Dome clearly states that it can handle all bulbs except for the self-ballasted mercury bulb and the ceramic heater.
Save yourself the trouble of having to bring it back, or worse yet!
If getting a self-ballasted mercury bulb, get this: http://exo-terra.com/en/products/wire_light.php it's a porcelain wire lamp, costs the same amount as the Light Dome, but can handle any type of bulb.
The only thing we haven't been able to find yet is something to use as a fixture/mount to the tank. The lamp comes with a clamp, but we don't have anything to clamp it to, so that it would remain in an upright position. What we've been using so far, for the other bulbs, are regular office desk lamps which are fine and can go up to 60watts. We modified one desk lamp to accomodate the porcelain lamp, but we're not sure if this modification will still be good when we receive the mercury bulb... exo-terra also sells a light bracket (http://exo-terra.com/en/products/light_bracket.php), but we got it, $16 later, we realized it was a waste of money. It's a tad too flimsy, made of plastic and can only be attached to your tank, there's no foot or clamp on it, just an attachment you clip onto it with plastic clips, that you they stick to your tank (those sticky foamy tape things). Not very practical.
If you find anything you wish to purchase on the exo-terra website, you'll have to ask for it via your pet store, they seem to only sell via pet stores.
