Worried about African sideneck

[turtlegirl]

Two weeks ago rescued a poor mistreated African turtle that had been kept in a dirty tank indoors with no UV lamp or access to daylight. I think she is a pelomedusa subrufa according to her head, neck and plastron but her black shell has a light grey patch on top of each scute.

My two main concerns are
1. She doesn't appear to be eating at all (no poo!). Tried pellets, dried fish, dried prawns, ham (which all other turtles find irrestible) and even a thin piece of cooked beef but she isn't interested in food. All food just sinks and fouls her tank so I have to change water every 2 days. Itried feeding her KingBritish which is what she was exclusively fed on but she refuses to eat it. Don't know how long she has been on hunger strike, may not have been eating before I got her as she was badly neglected

2. Her shell shows signs of pyramiding which seems particularly bad in scutes all round the edge of her shell. Perhaps the grey patches (not shell rot) are signs of disease or shell damage not just a pretty pattern.

3. She is not very active and spends a lot of time in her shell. Even when I take her outside in the garden in a plastic crate with a little warm water she hardly moves

I love this turtle and don't want to lose her -please help.

[wayne020668]

please as per phone call, apply changes and let me know what is happening but give this a fews day's if no change please contact me...

regards wayne...

[turtlegirl]

Thanks for your help Wayne. I've replaced the faulty water heater with a new one and the temp in her tank is now 28-30degrees. Covering it with a blanket at night to keep her warm. Hope she will start eating soon. I'll keeep you updatd.
On the plus side her former map turtle tankmate is now eating and socialising well with his own species in my map tank. His shell has improved a lot too in 2 weeks

[jacquisunderland]

HIya Turtlegirl.. hows your african sideneck.. I've just acquired a african helmeted, she is absoulutely adorable. She is so placid she even lets you stroke her head but I'm beginning to worry this is not a good sign, she is very lethargic, she has no fight in her what so ever, when I was tryning to give her some vitamins she didnt want to bite the syringe she just withdrew her head and shut her eyes making it impossible for me to squirt the mixture in her mouth. I phoned Wayne because I thought I was goin to lose her at one point until I wrapped her up in towels on a hot water bottle. She eating fine, infact shes only about 3"-4" long and she had 3 pinkys the other night, she probably would have had four if I'd let her but I dont know how she fit them in they were quite big ones. I've bought a new heater and now increased it to 30 degrees. She seems completely different to the red ears and razor backs, she doesnt swim she walks on the bottom every where, could this be due to being kept for so long in her previous 'home' in a 2ft tank and not being able to swim or is this like yours. x

[turtlegirl]

Hi Jackie
My African girl is doing well and has a hearty appetite now! Wayne diagnosed the problem immediately -the heater was faulty and she was too cold. That's why she was inactive and not eating. Once she warmed up with a new heater she ate 3 large complete prawns and hasn't stopped eating since!She can devour trout heads whole including jaws and gills.(I use a separate feeding tank for all my turtles to keep home tanks clean AND rinse them before putting back in home tank after they have eaten smelly raw fish)

Regarding behaviour, this species is totally different to sliders. They are not great swimmers like sliders and maps, more "bottom crawlers" like musks so yours i s acting perfectly normal for its species. If you look closely, you will see that their legs are only slightly webbed and they don't have big flat hind flippers like sliders.

African helmets have a reputation as ferocius predators but I must admit mine is a real softie too, though I won't risk a tankmate just in case. When she first joined the sliders in their garden exercise pen she was afraid of them but now just ignores them and does her own thing. Interestingly, both the African and the sliders seem to know that they are different species and they don't socalise ie all my sliders climb on top of each other and bask together but ignore the African.