Getting a turtle to take medicine

[CaseyTurtle]

Hi. I recently adopted a box turtle, and I'm supposed to give her vitamins and calcium by mouth. The vet told me the way to get her to open her mouth is to make her mad. He tried to show me by poking at her and pulling on her legs, but she never opened her mouth for him. Any suggestions on how I can coax her to cooperate? Thank you.

 

[wellington]

Hello and Welcome As far as I know, the vets way is not a way anyone should do. That's just being mean. I might even look into a vet that doesn't believe in being mean to animals. I have never had to give Medicine, but someone will be along that can help.

 

[mctlong]

Don't stress the tort out just to give it vitamins - The easiest way to give a tort medicine is to mix it into their favorite food, something you know they'll eat. This strategy works very well for calcium and vitamins.

 

[Yvonne G]

The only box turtles that I've ever gotten to open their mouths that way is Ornate box turtles. They're so ornery they'll try to bite you with the least provocation.

Its pretty easy to get the vitamins and calcium into your tortoise. Just sprinkle it over their food. Or, you can punch out a hole through a bite of fruit by pushing a sipping straw through it, then insert the medicine in the hole.

If your box turtle eats worms, put some vitamins and calcium in a small bowl and roll the worm around in it.

 

[lisa127]

When mine had to take antibiotics orally, I put it over canned organic dog food. Worked great!

 

[pinkspore]

My grumpy turtle wouldn't eat anything with wormer on/in it. On the advice of a friend I ended up using a tiny screwdriver to gently pry her beak open and squirt the wormer in. It works pretty well unless she boxes up ahead of time.

 

[Angi]

I agree don't go through that stress for vitamins. The should eat them in their food. It is bad enough when you have to force meds on them. When they has a respitory infection they wont eat and meds have to be forced. It is awful!

 

[CaseyTurtle]

Thanks, everyone, for the advice. I thought I'd started a second thread about my turtle, but I don't see it. I've only had her for 3-4 weeks, and she's eaten about 1/3 cup of food in that time, which is why I can't give her much of her vitamins by putting it on food. The vet is saying we may have to give her a feeding tube so she will get the nourishment she needs. She's 10 years old and can fit in my hand. She hasn't had sun so her shell is soft. I have a lot of work ahead of me to get her where she needs to be. She had her previous owner for 10 years, and I think she's still missing him. I'm hoping she'll warm up to me soon.The vet I'm using is the only one that will see turtles in a 100 mile radius of my home. This is my first turtle, so any help is appreciated. Thanks again!

 

[lkwagner]

When my turtle was on antibiotics, I injected it into a worm and fed it to the turtle

 

[Mrsforman217]

That's a very inhumane thing for a vet to tell you to do! We simply buy the vitamin spray and calcium powder and put it on her food before she eats it. My vet also gave us this stuff called 911 I think it was full of hay and vitamins you mix it with water and put it on their food.

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My husband and I adopted a baby box turtle that had sever MBD and her body was starting to eat her tail for the calcium. She didn't eat when we fîrst got her so I did tons of research and spent tons of money trying to get her to eat. Our box turtle loves pansies, strawberries, beef hearts, bloodworms, freeze dried crickets, yellow squash and apples she also loves fish. We buy the boneless skinless frozen fish microwave it for about 1 minute and give it to her. Never ever under any circumstances give your turtle dog or cat food it's very bad for them. We also had to mist our baby with a little sprayer before she would eat and she liked her lighting directly above her food. Sometimes she will circle around it for a few moments before eating it but she finally settles in and eats. We used chopped fresh cilantro/parsley for the smell to entice her to eat also. The smellier the better. We've also discovered that she enjoys boiled eggs and we give her egg shells for calcium and to help with trimming her beak. Your turtle may just be a finicky eater with trial and error you'll get it right. We had to used the canned apricots for box turtles for awhile because the odor enticed her to eat.