Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a male DBT that is a little over a year old, when he was a baby I fed him bloodworms and pellets. Now its about a year later and he never really eats anything. He used to be excited and always come to the surface but know he turns his head away when food is placed near him or in front of his mouth. He is to the point where he has not consumed any type of pellets in a few months they just sit there at the top. Ive tried numerous food items such as: goldfish, flounder fillets, cooked shrimp, bloodworms, mealworms, crickets, silverslides, baby krill, cichlid sticks, wardley sticks, exoteraa sticks, reptomin, reptotreat suprema, sun dried shrimp and krill, ghost shrimp, farm rasied snails and cuttlebone to munch on. He never seems interested in any food. He used to go crazy. I keep him in a 55 gallon tank with the water at 1.017 specific gravity. He does get taken out once a week for some freshwater for a few mins..I dont know whats wrong. He used to scratch his shell underneath all the rocks and scratch it all up so I took them all out and there are still little whitish spots/dots on his shell but he doesnt seem affected even tho he still rubs his shell on the filter but seems better. I keep the temp at about 80 and the basking spot, and it does seem like hes lost weight , the rolls of fat by the legs have gone in significantly. Everyday I try to fed him mealworms becuz those used to be his favorite thing and now he just sits there and watches them twirl around uninterested. So its come to the point where i just throw several different kinds of pellets in the water along with bloodworms, mealworms, and crickets and then i will come back later on and nothing has been eaten, everything is just floating. I really want him hooked back on a staple diet but it seems to not be happening. The last resort would be handing him over to the Virginia Living Museum, but Id really love to keep him. srry so long. not sure what to do?

You might have the water temperature too high.

Have you taken him to a vet? Blood work is well worth the price, to see if there's an infection somewhere.

Do you have hide spots (artificial plants) in the tank?

Katrina

If it has been this long without eating you do need to get him some medical attention.

Many times turtles become annorexic because they have not eaten anything for a long period of time and no longer have an appetite. A vet may be able to jump start his appetite by tube feeding him (and you should NEVER attempt to do this if you are unskilled at it you could easily cause serious damage to your turtle's internal organs. LET THE VET DO IT IF THEY DEEM IT TO BE THE COURSE OF TREATMENT). Also, as Katrina mention blood workup and even a parasite check might be in order.

Steve