The skin color of turtles is usually black, brown, or something of the sort, so if you start to see that your pet’s skin has changed colour, and is now red, then you’ll likely worry
This article is a look into why your turtle’s neck may be red
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Why is my turtle’s neck red?
Redness on your turtle is not normal, that is, unless you raising a red slider, nonetheless, redness on your pet’s neck is not normal, regardless of what type of turtle you’re raising.
Here is why you may be seeding redness on your pet’s neck:
Food coloring:
One simple reason why you may start to see redness on your pet’s neck may be food. Your pet’s neck could have been stained by the red-colored food that the animal was eating.
What to do:
If you think that your pet’s neck was stained by food then use a cotton round dampened with warm water and gently try to rub the red off.
Your pet may fuss while you do this, if the red does not come off and the animal is fussing let the animal be.
Injury:
Another reason why you may see red on your pet’s neck may be because the animal was injured by another turtle or by something else.
If you’re keeping more than one turtle in the tank then the smaller turtle may have been injured by the bigger turtle on its neck
These animals aren’t actually very friendly towards each other, they are territorial and will attack each other for resources especially when they get older.
What to do:
One of the reasons why your pets may be fighting may be because of a lack of space in the tank. If this is the case then you need to get a bigger tank or separate them into two smaller tanks.
If you do want to keep them in one tank then you should know that these animals need to be kept in a tank that is at least 60 gallons large.
You’d also need to make sure that there is enough food in the tank for the other them
Blood poisoning:
Another of the reasons why you may see redness on your pet’s neck may be because of blood poisoning.
This can develop if your pet is injured and bacteria from dirty water in the tank enters the animal’s bloodstream.
The tank may have accumulated dirt if its filter was not working correctly, the filter was too small for the tank, or if the tank was not cleaned often enough.
All of the above could have caused the tank water to develop bacteria. A small injury could have allowed the bacteria in the injury causing septicemia (blood poisoning).
What to do:
You can immediately bleach out the entire tank while cleaning and fill the tank with clean and fresh water. bleaching out your filter parts is also recommended.
If your pet has a slight case of blood poisoning then the animal should be better after about a week of bleaching the tank.
If your pet’s condition is more than a slight infection then taking your pet to the vet is recommended. Your vet will examine the animal, run blood tests on your pet, and give it antibiotics if it’s found that your pet has septicemia
Also, make sure that you have the appropriate filter for your pet’s tank and make sure that it is working as it should.
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other turtle/tortoise related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: Why Is My Turtle Orange?, Why Is My Turtle Extending Its Neck?, Why Is My Turtle Sticking His Neck Out?, Why Is My Turtle Lazy?, Why Is My Turtle Leaning To One Side?, Why Is My Turtle Scratching His Neck?, Why Is My Turtle’s Neck Peeling, Why Is My Turtle On Its Back?, Why Is My Turtle Neck Swollen?