Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Every so often he will eat a few pieces of dried shrimp, but nothing else. Won't catch the two fish left in his tank, won't eat a meal worm, no reptomin sticks, nothing. He still basks, sometimes he'll spend all day on the rock, other days, it is not so long, and he seems to sleep during the day alot more. He'll hook a foot on something and just hang there for hours sleeping.
I've done water changes, ammonia control, I don't know what else to try. He seems ok otherwise, but how long can he go without eating? It's been at least a month, maybe even longer. At first we didn't really think anything of it, but now I feel like something must be wrong.
Physically he looks ok. He is an adult, he's been in his current environment since last fall (before that he lived in our pond) and is about 4 inches.
Thanks!

Have you checked care sheets for illnesses? Maybe he is sick somehow? I don;t know how long they can go without eating, but when my turtle had his accident before he died, someone who I talked to about him with gave me some plastic eye droppers and said that if he doesnt eat in a week, make a little cricket soup with some water and vitamins and force feed him. Needless to say Koopa died that night, but he did say a weeks time without eatting wasnt a good sign.....Hope this kinda helps.

-----
--------------------------------
Keith

1 Pembroke Welsh Corgi (Kaiya)
1 RES (King Koopa aka Bowser) R.I.P. June 9th 2005
2 Betta's (Garcia and Bonham)
1 Fiance' (Lacy - Requires more work and attention then any animal. Not Recommended......j/k)

Unearthly Productions
http:www.unearthlyproductions.com
"Keeping the underground alive since....well since yesterday"

I think the problem started around the time we stopped running the heater and started using the air cond. more often. His tank is right next to the vent. So I'm thinking that the air temp in the room (it's a landry/mud room) has lowered the water/tank temp enough to make a diff. I tried getting an infra red basking bulb today so it could stay on 24 hrs, and I put a submersible heater in too. The bulb exploded a few hrs after it was on, don't know what happened. Anyways, I'll post at some point and let you know if the increase in temp helped.

You should have acurate digital thermometers or temp guns to measure temps in your tanks at all times. If you dont have one i would get one and check the temps to make sure they are correct, or to help raise you to the correct levels.

Other than that i wouldn't waste any time getting him to the vet. Many time reptiles show very few symptoms and byt he time they do its often too late. Not eating is a bad sign.

good luck!
-----
0.1 Bearded dragon
0.1 mexican Black kingsnake
1.1 Leopard Gecko's
0.0.1 Tokay Gecko
1.0 Blue Tongue Skink
0.0.1 Reverse Okeetee Corn
0.1 Anerythristic Corn
0.0.1 Red Tegu
0.1 Bullmastiff
4.1 Cats

You should get him away from the air conditioner vent or close
it and cover it with a towel. They can quickly get respiratory
infections when subjected to the cold air blowing on them.
Even if you have a light on at night, the ambient temp will
be too cool and this is what causes the problem. The air the
turtle is breathing should be warmer than the water temp by
at least a few degrees.

As far as the bulb exploding, did you have it in a ceramic
fixture or a plastic one. You should be using ceramic as
they can tolerate the high temps put out over a long period
of time. They are much safer than the plastic ones.

Linda

If you want to maintain heat in the tank, get a canopy hood. With a canopy hood you can use much lower wattage heat lamp because the heat wont be escaping into the room. Also it will raise humidity in the air inside the tank and you wont lose as much water heat either.

Here is my tank with the hood I built. You dont need a fancy slant top like mine, and if you are one of those people that doesnt fill the tank all the way up, you wouldnt need it to be a canopy hood, just a flat lid would work.

Here is my basking spot inside the hood. It sits on the top lip of the aquarium. You can also see that my hood sits on the aquarium with the 1x2s.
If you build a canopy hood with wood, make sure you polyeurethane it really well. I used about 4 coats. The humidity inside will be high and the wood will warp or mold if its not properly sealed.

-----
_____

iturnrocks.com

Well, it wasn't that cool, it was around 78, but it's at 82-84 now. He did eat a few pieces of krill in the past few days, and a couple of meal worms, but nothing since. He looks bloated/puffy (but his shell looks great, nothing wrong on the outside), and sleeps alot during the day. He hasn't basked all day like he used to since I raised the temp.

I hate to think of him needing vet care, and not taking him. What do you guys think, should I simply wait awhile more?

Personally, I would take him to the vet were it my turtle.