Turtle near drowning: entrapment, rescue and the 72 hours after

Quick answer

Turtles drown. It sounds unlikely to people who watch them swim every day, and it is one of the commonest preventable deaths in captive chelonians. The usual story is not a turtle that could not swim; it is a turtle that could not surface, because it wedged between an ornament and the glass, went under a basking dock and could not find the edge, got a limb caught in a filter guard, or tipped upside down in a bare-bottomed tank and could not right itself.

If you find a turtle underwater and unresponsive, get it out, hold it head-down so water drains, keep it warm, and go to a reptile vet. Do not put it back in water, do not press on the shell, and do not decide it is dead. Freshwater turtles tolerate a lack of oxygen far better than mammals do, and animals that looked lifeless have recovered.

Out of the water, head lower than the body, on a towel, and warm. That is the whole of the first response.

• Never do chest compressions on a turtle. The shell is rigid and cannot be compressed, and squeezing it damages internal organs.
• Hold the turtle head-down at a steep angle so water drains out of the airway.
• Do not return it to water for any reason, including to see if it revives.
• Every near-drowned turtle needs a vet, even one that seems fine an hour later. Pneumonia develops over the following days.
• An unresponsive turtle is not necessarily a dead one. Get it assessed before you assume the worst.

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Never compress a turtle's shell to expel water, and never swing or spin the animal.

A chelonian breathes by moving its limbs and the contents of its body cavity in and out of a fixed bony box, not by expanding a chest. There is no ribcage to compress and no diaphragm. Pressing on the plastron or the sides of the shell pushes the liver, gut and lungs against unyielding bone and causes internal injury. Swinging a turtle by the shell or spinning it to fling water out has the same effect with added risk to the neck and limbs. Gravity and gentle limb movement are the only safe tools.
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Decide in 60 seconds

Why turtles drown in tanks they have lived in for years

The failure is nearly always structural, and it is nearly always something that changed.

Wedging. A turtle that pushes its head into a gap between an ornament and the glass, or under a rock, can get the shell stuck at the widest point. Turtles grow. A gap that was safe last year is a trap this year, and the animal that used it happily a hundred times gets caught on the hundred and first.

Filter and heater equipment. Intake strainers with wide slots catch a limb or a head. Heater guards with an open end become a tube a small turtle enters and cannot reverse out of. Suction cups fail and equipment falls, pinning the animal.

Basking dock failures. A floating dock that shifts and covers the whole water surface, or a ramp that comes loose, leaves a turtle swimming under a lid. Turtles surface where they last surfaced; if that route is blocked they do not reliably find another.

Inversion. A turtle that flips onto its back in a tank with a smooth floor and nothing to push against may not right itself. Fighting between tank mates, a fall from a dock, and a slippery bare glass base all contribute. Deep-bodied species and heavily domed individuals have the most trouble.

Water too deep for the species or the individual. Musk and mud turtles walk on the bottom and swim poorly; they need to be able to reach the surface by stretching from the floor. Hatchlings of any species are weak swimmers. A turtle that is unwell, that has an injured limb, or that has metabolic bone disease may be swimming at the limit of its ability without anyone noticing.

Ponds and outdoor accidents. Steep-sided ponds with no shallow shelf, tortoises exploring a garden pond, netting laid over a pond that entangles limbs, and buckets used for soaking left unattended.

The soaking bowl. Tortoises and box turtles regularly drown in water bowls and soaking trays that are too deep or too smooth-sided to climb out of.

A towel, a ventilated carrier and a warm car. Nothing else is needed and nothing else helps.

The first ten minutes

Get the animal out and keep it out.

No exceptions. A turtle that has inhaled water and is then returned to water inhales more.

Drain the airway with gravity.

Support the turtle with both hands, one on the carapace and one on the plastron, and tilt it so the head is clearly below the tail, at a steep angle. Hold it there and let water run out of the mouth and nose. Change the angle slowly rather than jerking the animal.

Move the front limbs gently.

Because the front limbs and the body wall are what ventilate a chelonian, slow extension and retraction of the front legs moves a small amount of air. Pull each front limb out from the shell slowly, hold briefly, and let it return, in a steady rhythm. This is gentle and it is done at the pace of a slow breath, not fast.

Clear the mouth only if you can see something.

Debris, weed or gravel at the front of the mouth can be lifted out with fingers or blunt tweezers. Do not push anything into the throat or the nostrils.

Keep it warm, but not hot.

Wrap in a dry towel and keep the turtle within the temperature range normal for its species. A cold turtle has almost no chance of mounting a response. A turtle put under a basking lamp to warm up quickly may overheat while unable to move away, so use ambient warmth such as a warmed car or a heated room rather than a spotlight on an unresponsive animal.

Do not offer food or water.

Go.

Call ahead so the practice knows a chelonian emergency is arriving, and tell them how long the animal was submerged and in what kind of water.

Do not give up early.

A freshwater turtle can survive periods without oxygen that would be fatal to a mammal, and the physical signs people use to decide an animal has died are unreliable in this group. Turtles have recovered after being found apparently lifeless. That decision belongs to a vet.

What happens over the next three days

The drowning event is not the whole illness. Water in the lungs carries bacteria, organic debris, and in a pool or a treated tank, chemicals. What follows is inflammation and infection of lung tissue that has no efficient way to clear itself.

Chelonian lungs are poorly suited to draining. They sit dorsally, attached to the carapace, and the animal cannot cough in the way a mammal can. Material that goes in tends to stay in, which is why aspiration pneumonia in turtles is both common after a near drowning and difficult to treat.

The signs to watch for, for at least several days afterwards:

Open-mouth breathing, or breathing with the neck stretched forward and upward.

Bubbles, froth or mucus at the nostrils or mouth.

Wheezing, clicking or squeaking with each breath. A turtle should be silent.

Swimming lopsided, with one side of the shell riding higher than the other, which suggests one lung is affected.

Refusing to dive, or floating at the surface and being unable to submerge.

Loss of appetite, lethargy, and refusing to bask.

Any of these means go back, or go now if you have not yet been.

Preventing it: the enclosure audit

Do this once properly, and repeat it whenever the turtle grows or you rearrange anything.

Close every gap. Look for spaces between decor and glass, between rocks, and under docks that are wide enough for a head and too narrow for the shell. Silicone or remove them.

Cover intakes. Filter intakes should have fine strainers or a sponge pre-filter. Heater guards should be closed at both ends or absent, with the heater positioned where a turtle cannot get behind it.

Make the dock unmissable and unmovable. A stable ramp with a gentle slope, secured so it cannot shift, and a dock that does not cover the whole water surface.

Match depth to the animal. A turtle should be able to reach the surface easily by stretching its neck while standing on the bottom, particularly for musk and mud turtles, hatchlings, and any turtle that is unwell or injured. Deeper water is fine for strong swimmers with easy exits.

Give the floor texture. Something a turtle can push against to right itself. Large smooth river stones too big to swallow, or a textured base, rather than bare glass.

Watch mixed groups. Basking-site competition ends with turtles knocked off docks and occasionally flipped. Aggressive tank mates are a drowning risk as well as a bite risk.

Outdoor ponds need a shallow shelf and a gently sloping exit at more than one point, and no loose netting.

Soaking bowls for tortoises and box turtles should be shallow enough for the animal to stand with its head clear, with a rough surface it can grip, and never left unattended.

What never to do

Do not perform chest compressions or press on the shell.

Do not swing, shake or spin the turtle.

Do not put it back in the water.

Do not attempt mouth-to-nose or mouth-to-mouth ventilation. Anything you exhale carries mouth flora into an already compromised lung.

Do not put an unresponsive turtle under a basking lamp and leave it.

Do not give food or water.

Do not conclude it is dead because it is not moving.

Do not skip the vet because the animal recovered. The delayed pneumonia is what kills these cases.

When to get help

Immediately for any turtle found submerged and unresponsive, for open-mouth breathing, for froth or bubbles at the nose or mouth, and for a turtle that cannot right itself or cannot submerge.

Within a day for any turtle that was trapped, that was under water longer than usual, or that seemed to swallow water, even if it now looks well.

Return promptly at any point in the following week for wheezing or clicking breaths, lopsided floating, refusal to bask, refusal to eat, or new lethargy.

A good outcome is a turtle basking properly, diving without hesitation, and breathing silently a week later.

Bring how long the animal was submerged, what kind of water it was, exactly how it became trapped, a photograph of the setup where it happened, the water and basking temperatures, and the animal's weight. Knowing whether the water was a clean freshwater tank, a chlorinated pool or a garden pond changes what the vet expects to find in the lungs.