Same, But Different DBT Troubles????

My Concentric DBT just does not want to do well for some reason! I have tried a few tricks that people have told to me to get him to start eating and he does respond to live food and he will eat whenever I put him with my hatchling box turtles and live cricket feeding or worms, or even little guppies that I put in a butter container with him. But he still seems sick or something! He spends 90% of his time basking with his head down and eyes closed. My other hatchlings, Cagle's Map, Florida Softshell, Spiny Softshell, Eastern Painted, common Musk, & finally a Razorback Musk, they all spend at least 70% of their time in the water, some a little more and some a little less but all close to being the same except for my DBT. Someone told me that a turtle spending a lot of time basking with his head not up and eyes closed was a sign of sickness? What should I do, I mean if he is sick, what can I do to help him get better? Thanks to some good suggestions, he is now eating, so I am feeding him live food of a different nature every other day, ie. small crickets, meal worms, reg. worms, & Guppies. Is there anything else I can do to help him out, help him get better, anything at all? I wish I could get him better as easy as I can get people better, !

hi i was looking for someone else who owns these beautiful species of turtle...

i am new to them.... i rescued them from a family who wild caught them a few years ago and droped them at me buddies pet store in new jersey... it is illegal there to possess a diamond terrapin you must have special lpermits so he gave them to me as i have the space and large setup available....

there are in a 75 gal tank with 2 filters and a basking area ...
the water is around 75 degrees and the air is around 80 degrees...

they will not eat ?????

no turtle pellets or live goldfish????

can you help me?????

i am looking for any one who can help me out with these turtles......

thanks

rocco

i think those turts are not for beginners.
if i were you i would visit turtleforum.com
they have alot of helpful info for the new fellers that get turtle fever.

i think the dbt are brackish water turts...i would look into adding a bit of salt to your tank.
if not then you m ay have to think about building them an outdoor pond enclosure.

not sure, i have boxies and three RES, so i dont know much about dbt.

hope this helps a bit.

Dr. SD,

That sounds like the onset of an RI (respitory infection). If you can get your hands on some Baytril (an antibiotic), in pill form. Here's what I did.
First off the pills were 50mg. I used an exacto knife to break the pill in half, then sliced off a thin sliver. I then took a guppy and enlarged it's anus with the knife just enough to force the sliver into it's gut. I needed really fine pin-point tweezers to accomplish this. I used guppies that were big enough to handle the sliver but small enough that my DBT would gulp them down in a single motion. If the fish is to large and the DBT has to tear it apart, the sliver always fell to the wayside.
I hand fed the med-loaded guppy to my DBT. I gave him one dose a day for 10 days.
Second. Dry dock him.
I set up a 10G tank with a few layers of paper towels and a small hiding spot. I also ran cardboard around the outside. This blocks his view outside the tank and helps keep stress levels down. I used a desk lamp with a 60Watt to keep the air temps in the low 80'sF. and a thin piece of plywood on top with a few holes (1" size). The holes allow built up heat to dissipate.
The dry dock was done three times a day for two hours at a session for two weeks.

After about three days he started swimming more and by the end of the week he could swim to the bottom of his normal habitat. He is now a year old and over 4"s long SCL.

Good Luck,
BobMc

phillyroc,
The biggest drawback to wildcaught DBT's is that they're saltwater bound. They need CLEAN brackish water to stay healthy. This is not always an easy task.
I don't know the proper salt levels off the top of my head. But a visit to "diamondbackterrapinworld.com" will give you the answers to that.
DBT's are usually very aggressive eaters. They will eat everything that comes their way. Try a few different things on them and see what you get. Mealworms, earthworms, crayfish, shrimp., other fish than goldfish. Large guppies are cheap, along with rosy reds.

Good Luck,
BobMc.