Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have three res's, I keep them in a 10 gallon tank with the temperature between 70 - 75. I'm not sure if it because of the season change but they don't eat, they sleep in the same place all day. One I thought was dead until I picked it up and it moved. Does any one else have this problem?

Well the situation is perhaps more complicated than you may think.

If you do indeed have three turtles in a ten gallon tank (and you are not an expert keeper crank testing the reactions of forum users) this may be part of your problem.

If the turtles are very small (one inch range) this may be acceptable for a short whil but eventually they will need a larger space. (many suggest ten gallons per inch of turtle if you use a standard aquarium others recommend 1 square foot or more per inch)

Close quarters can casue stress to turtles and stress can mnaifest itself in a reluctance to feed .

But there may e other factors involved.

Do you have a "basking spot"? By this, I mean an area inside the tank that is dry and easily accessible by the turtles that is heated (usually by a light ) to a temperature near 85 - 95 degrees F. This is an essential component of a good turtle cage and without it, turtles will slowly fade away. Many folks use rocks, logs or plastic box tops. there are even commercially made "turtle docks" for this purpose.

The heated area is needed so that the turtle may warm its body temperature enough to digest its food efficiently an dso that it may be able to move with ease. When too cool,reptiles become sluggish and instictively go off feed. Fod that remains in theor digestive system may actually rot if they are not able to digest it and this can lead to fatal consequnces.

You may also find that if the water is very dirty, the turtles may becoem ill easily and not eating is often an advanced indication that the turtle is ill. A tank as small as ten gallons would surely nedto be cleaned every day to maintain even semi decent water quality.

Soemtimes though if your husbandry (set up and diet) are good, feeding may slow because of reduced daylight. As winter encroached turtles sense it by the shorter day light hours. though this is not as often a problem with sliders as it is with other turtles species, i would not rule it out. the remedy is to leave lights o for 12 - 15 hours per day. this includes the basking spot.

Another issue may be the food choices the turtle have. If you are using only pellets you may consider trying pieces of fish, live worms, crickets and water plants.

As soon as you can you should try to upgrade the size of the tank. If money is a hinderance to buying a large glass tank, keep in mind that many keepers have used large plastic storage boxes which are available and pretty inexpensive as temporary homes (up to a year or more) while they save money to buy larger housing for their turtles.

Make sure you have some heat-emitting light over a basking area.

How is the water being warmed? Do you have an water heater. These heaters are handy for keeping the water in the 73 - 77 F range (some suggest 77- 80 for small hatchlings which i assume you have)

Good luck.