Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Question for some of you guys with bigger turtles ( And I'll call John later today , and Steve, I'll e-mail you later also)

My big guy quit eating about 2 months ago. I know thats not a real long time, and he does that sometimes if the temp drops a little.
But I've raised the temp over the last 7 days. Hes at about 80 degrees right, now which almost always does the trick.
Put in some cheicken last night, and covered the tank to make it nice and dark.....
Its all still in there this morning.Damn.
This is the first time he's ever gone this long.
Anyone have this happen?

( Hes about 95 pounds )

hi mike, i'd call john. the turtle is probably use to cold winters this time of year and is just off-feed. i wouldn't worry unless he doesn't eat this spring. he has probably lived through 80+ winters so he is programed to not eat much this time of year. good luck, steve

also if he aint going to eat it might be better to drop the temperture down.

I presume we are talking about an alligator snapper.

If it weighs that much, think about the physics of the situation. The bigger something is, the longer it is going to take for it to warm up. If the water has been warming up to 80 degrees for 7 days, it's possible that it is taking the turtle longer to warm up internally. Water is one of the quickest liquids to change temperature, so something like a turtle isn't going to warm up nearly as quickly.

I'd keep it that warm for another day or so and see if it doesn't eat. But to be safe, call Richards and see what he has to say.

Good luck.
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Good point....
I think I'll leave it up for another week or so...see what happens.

My basement is a problem sometimes....If I unplug the heaters, it doesn't really get that cold. Water goes down to about 68.
Sometimes they can eat at that temp , then sometimes they don't.
So you can end up throwing in some meat that fouls the water out if they don't feel like eating.

Last year I almost rigged up a make-shift chiller.I was going to just a regular aquarium pump and run a long hose outside and then back into the tank. We usually have pretty cold winters.
I wanted to get the temp down enough so I know for sure they're dormant.