Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have recently aquired a wood turtle this summer and it was eating very well shortly after I brought it home.It loved the night crawlers and strawberrys that I was feeding it.But now that it is time for them to normally hybernate, the turtle does not want to eat. I was not planning to hybernate the turtle but I am worried that it is not getting enough nurishment. Would like some advise on what to do to get the turtle to feed.

margret

     You don't say where you are located, but, wherever it is, the only way to make a turtle eat at hibernating time is to make it think that it is not hibernating time, and that can be tough. Their bodies automatically note the length of daylight and the change in the daytime and nighttime temperatures, and they get ready to hibernate, which means that they stop eating so they will have time to defecate the remnants of their last meals before they go to sleep.
     The three turtles that I keep in an outside pool have, like yours, also already stopped eating (I live in New York state). I always hibernate mine and they do well, but, if you don't want to, you'll have to add light to the enclosure to keep the day long enough to seem like summer, and you'll have to make sure that there is plenty of warmth (like summer). Some turtles stop eating as it starts to cool down in the autumn, even when it's consistently as warm as 53 degrees F. The problem arises because, even if they don't seem to be moving at all, you can't merely let them stay at that temperature and not eat (in a cool basement, for example). At that temperature their bodies have not slowed down enough yet so, since they are not eating and not truly hibernating, they starve.
 

I love that pic, if you don't mind what county are you in? and do you field herp at all
wayne

I live in Genesee County in western New York State. And, yes, I field herp a lot... sometimes even when I don't plan to. (See my post in the Snapping Turtle Forum about a large injured female that I found.)

Thank you for your advise odyssey. I also live in N.Y and was not planning on hibernating the turtle. I was reading another message from the forums That discribed my turtles actions quite well. The turtle is female and she was being very active even late at night, along with not eating. The other article mentioned that she might be wanting to lay eggs. So I built a small box{about 3' square} that she can get into and filled it with sand. I just finished it today and she has investigated a little. She was eating night crawlers very well up til about a week ago. We have her lighting system on an automatic timer set for 14 hours of light per day.She also has a turtle heating pad which she seems to enjoy. If you can give me anymore advise on woody it would be greatly appreciated. I also have a box turtle that I have had for over 15 yrs.

I have a few questions for you in order to help. First of all was it wild caught, or a captive born that was hibernated by its previous owner. What kind of set up does it have? How big is it? It sounds like it could be ready to lay eggs, it seems a little late in the year, but this could be a possibility. Females are normally voracious in their appetite and then stop eating a week before laying, at least this is how it works for boxies. They will also be active towards dusk. I personally have never seen a wood turtle that doesn't want to eat. It also usually needs to get really cold for them to slow down, and really it is still pretty early for hibernating. I was just out last saturday and temps were in the low 40's and the woodies(ones in the wild) were still out, eating mushrooms at that.