Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, I have a 4 year old female ornate box turtle, who's behaviour has recently changed dramatically. About a month ago, she stopped eating, but now she eats small amounts of food. What's really weird is she usually just sits under her moss but, when she stopped eating, she became really restless and active. She started wandering around her tank constantly, trying to escape, and now she just sits in her water almost 24/7. We take her out to run around very frequently, yet she is still very restless. We tried putting a box of sand in her tank in case she's been looking for a place to lay eggs, but she's so far ignored it. If anyone has any ideas on what could be going on, any help would be appreciated.

Have you raised her from a hatchling, that you know her age, or have you had her for four years? Four would be a little on the young side to be reproductively mature...
You say you keep her in a tank: how big is the turtle and how big is the tank?
Turtles typically will try to get out of anything that they can see out of, which is why tanks are not good choices for habitat (unless you cover the sides). Another reason why tanks aren't a good choise is because even baby turtles soon outgrow the largest tanks.
If she's an adult, she may well be looking for a nest site, and a box of sand in her tank is not ideal, because any nest would continually collapse as she dug. She would need soil thats fairly firmly packed and at least 6 inches deep.
Have you determined whether or not she's gravid?
So, if she's truly only four, and can see out, she may well be tiring herself with repeated attempts to get out.
Please consider creating an outdoor habitat for her to live in at least part of the year.
Stephanie

Yes, yes, yes to everything Stephanie said!!!!!