Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My box turtle is acting very sick...his skin looks like it is dryer than normal...he is kinda running around almost hopping I would say around his cage...he keeps ending up upside down and can not flip back over....a couple times I have seen him opening and closing his mouth for nothing...
I have put him in his water and he trys to get out real fast...I have thourghly misted his cage....he has food but doesn't seem to be eating it today.....
Any ideas...please

adding to my post...it is strange how he usually stays buried all day and now he will dig down and relax...come on guys I am really freaking out.

Tell us more about the turtle's enclosure please....size, temperature, lighting and heating setup, cover,
diet, water availability.

I agree, describe the environment more, also the time spent buried and the time spent "running around." Is it time for a thorough cage cleaning? I usually think of burying as a need for more humidity, but the odd running around makes me wonder if there is some kind of stressor in the cage.

How long have you had the turtle? You really haven't given us enough ideas to even guess what might be wrong. Hopping around, opening anmd closing his mouth, not wanting to soak or eat are all symptoms that could mean LOTS of things wrong. Tell us what you are doing for housing, diet, heat and lighting and maybe we can see what might be wrong to cause these symptoms.

Naturally, the best and wisest thing is to take the turtle to a vet with turtle experience. This forum is not a vet forum, so all we can really do is give you ideas and guess what might be wrong. That may not be good enoug or timely enough for a turtle who is really, deathly ill. To see what a healhty turtle looks like, read my online book. I also talk about sick turtles, too.
www.boxturtlesite.info/bxbook.html

Tell us what city you live in and maybe one of us can refer you to a vet.
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Tess Cook
www.boxturtlesite.info