The health and safety of your turtle is of the utmost importance if you’re a turtle owner, so if you notice something wrong with your pet, if it starts foaming at the mouth, then you may start to worry.
This article is a look into why your turtle’s mouth may be foaming
Table of Contents
Why is my turtle’s mouth foaming?
A change in your turtle’s behavior doesn’t happen for no reason.
If you notice a change in your turtle’s appearance or behavior, if the animal does something that is out of the ordinary, then you’d understandably be worried. The animal foaming at the mouth is definitely something to worry about.
Here is why your turtle may be foaming at the mouth:
Respiratory infection:
One reason why there may be foaming in your turtle’s mouth may be that the animal is suffering from a respiratory infection.
Respiratory infections can cause a number of odd symptoms, including, the animal blowing bubbles or foaming at the mouth.
Other signs of respiratory infection in turtles include a loss of appetite, nasal discharge, wheezing, open mouth breaking, or gasping.
Respiratory infections in turtles, just as in humans, can become quite dangerous. If the infection is not treated it can quickly spread to the animal’s lungs and turn into pneumonia, pneumonia can kill the reptile
What to do:
Taking your pet to the vet is the recommended route to take in this situation. This condition needs to be treated using antibiotics because it is caused by bacteria.
The vet would need to run blood tests and blood cultures to determine if the animal has a respiratory infection. The antibiotics would need to be administered by a vet.
If your pet is severely infected then the turtle would need intensive care. The animal may also need to be force-fed food and may need fluid therapy as well, your vet can safely do this.
If you can’t immediately get your pet to the vet then you’d need to isolate the turtle, isolation prevents it from infecting other turtles in your home or enclosure.
Put your sick turtle in another tank while it waits to be seen by a vet.
Overheating/dehydrated:
Another reason why our turtle may be foaming at the mouth may be that the animal is overheating or dehydrated.
Turle enclosures need to be kept at specific temperatures to maintain the animal’s health, if you don’t maintain the correct in your pet’s enclosure then your pet can become ill or overheat
Check to see if there are any signs of illness along with the foaming at the mouth, if not then your turtle is likely just overheating and/or dehydrated.
What to do:
If you think that your turtle is overheating then cool it off. Cool your turtle off the right way, getting the turtle to cool too soon is not recommended.
Slowly decrease the temperature in your pet’s encore, do this until you can get it down to the temperature that your type of turtle can live in. What you can also do is immediately shade your pet.
If the enclosure is not humid enough then you need to use a substrate that can hold water, this will help with humidity. Moss is a good option to use in your pet’s tank.
Giving your pet a big water dish, that he can climb in and soak in, is also recommended
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 Tortoise’s Mouth Black?, Why Is My Tortoise Frothing At The Mouth?, Why Is My Turtle’s Mouth Green?, Why Is My Tortoise’s Mouth Green?, Why Do Tortoises Like Corners?, Why Do Tortoises Like Shoes?, Why Do Tortoises Like Feet?, Why Are My Turtle’s Feet White?, Why Are My Turtle’s Eyes Red?