I just bought a turtle, and its breathing really hard, with its mouth open when its on the land part of the tank...Is it panting because its hot????

magprob

Well probably, we are experiancing a heat wave you know. The only other thing I can think of is that he has a fly stuck in his throat. Call the place you bought him and see if they know.

magicANN

hes cool now, hes chillin on a the beach, but are there anymore turtle care tips i need to know about, i have the whole set up with a lamp and water conditioner....how do change the humidity and how do i know what level is right???

t_rod95

it is prably doing that because it really is to hot ,so maybe try to make the light a little dimer.

Panamaa

wow, my turtle has never done that as far as I know. I have a red eared slider and have had her now for 4 years. I dont know if they pant or not but I don think so. It might have been too hot for your turtie. If its doing better now, great. I leave my turtle light on during the day and turn it off at nite. Mine hibernates in the winter and dosent eat AT ALL. It should now start eating. watching her everyday to see if she is coming to the side of the tank. What cool pets.

robynhgl

Pan--your turtle is spoiled.

Panamaa

You are SO right about that. My turtie gets flys swatted for it while they are still kicking (it stimulates their predatory instinct) by a vietnam vet who knows the "quick and silent" procedure for fly combat. This causes less stress on the fly. His ideal manuveur is to snatch them from the air with his eyes closed as this lends the fly a fighting chance.

Its important to let your turtie still think its a turtle. This encourages proper mental status. That in turn is helpful when we enter the "turtle olympics" Her mind is focused and she can concentrate on her "18 inch crawl" event, and her swamp mud long jump. She excells at underwater ambush.(hence the semi live fly method) Its our opinion that as a hatchling she was used as a "skipping stone". We think this is the reason she is so competitive. WE belive she is consider a new venue this year as we see her doing yoga on her dock. She has been able to do this for hours at a time as if in a trance. What event could she be contemplating conquering now?

robynhgl

How to escape from your dysfunctional house???

LMAO!

Nah--she's probably just praying for shrimp....

Panamaa

Is that the BEST you could come up with?????????OMG I was expecting something to make me laugh.and for your info ms smartypants...........she gets SHRIMP

robynhgl

ms smartypants???? ouch!