Urgent help required for turtle

[AR1]

Asking this for a friend. This is what he wrote.

My 6mo. old Yellow belly sliders just stopped eating this Friday. I'll put food in the water, and he'll swim the opposite direction. He hasn't eaten in 4 days... todays number 5. His water is perfectly fine, I cleaned it last Monday. Everything is just how it usually is, he just has decided to refuse to eat.

 

[danotaylor]

I’m clueless with turtles mate, sorry. Hope your friend gets answers and a solution!

 

[FrancisFloe]

If its a new turtle, best way to get their appetite is live food like bloodworms/earthworms. Also give them someplace to bask.
But if he had them for 6 months and they just suddenly stopped eating, he might've changed something in his care routine. or theyve been declining in health and the symptoms just appeared now.

 

[jjohnwm]

He got it 6 months ago...at the onset of the warm weather season. Now we're going into winter, and temperatures are dropping. Here in Canuckistan, I'd bet folding money that this factor alone would be the simple answer.

Yeah, yeah, I know, you live on the surface of the sun and it's always hot...or is it? What kind of temperatures has the animal been kept at, and what are the temperatures now in its enclosure?

 

[ken31cay]

How many of the turtles do you have and where do you keep them? Pictures would be helpful. If you can carefully inspect them all around, do you find any discoloration anywhere or any injuries?

I used to keep turtles in two plastic yard pools (we called them 'baby pools') from local ponds and lakes in the US north east; mostly eastern painted turtles, snapping turtles, spotted turtles, musk turtles, even had a diamond back terrapin I collected at Sandy Hook beach in NJ and added to my collection. Wood logs or other soft structures they can climb onto and bask in the sun or bright, strong lights are important for most species.

 

[AR1]

First of all, he is in Vidalia, Georgia/ Brooklet, Georgia.

Second I have asked him to provide the details asked here. Might take a while.

 

[ken31cay]

First of all, he is in Vidalia, Georgia/ Brooklet, Georgia.

Second I have asked him to provide the details asked here. Might take a while.

Ok, understood. You should ask him to register on MFK and post here in this thread. He can of course create his own separate thread but I for one would most likely not see it and/or unintentionally pass over the post.

 

[AR1]

He is a member here on MFK, but couldn't post due to his probation status. As you are aware, every post/thread made by a member on probation requires mod approval and since he posted a thread on the reptile one (which I guess doesn't have any active mod) he needed to ask me to do it, since he has been waiting since Saturday.

 

[AR1]

This is what he wrote


I have 2 yellow bellies''. both under 5in. I've had them both since they were born, and cared for them for 6 months. Both have been great up until Friday. The one is refusing to eat. Both are in a 150 gal. aquarium. The air temp. stays between 78-85°F all throughout my house, all year. Never gets under 78 as I have an intense amount of sunlight in my house, and i run the heat. Water temp=78F Three large basking area's. Got the Uvb's and heat lamps. They have a 100gal. pool I put them in outside, when the weather permits, for natural sunlight exposure. Water is cleaned once/week. No injuries or odd discoloration. There is nothing else living, in the tank except for some live plants ( Anarchis Elodea), that they both eat occasionally.No symptoms of sickness, just refusal to eat. The other turtle he shares the tank with is eating perfectly fine. There's no aggressive behavior between the two. Therefore making Stress, Sickness, Inadequate Temperature, or an improper habitat, not logical for causing this.

 

[ken31cay]

From what he wrote it seems like nothing is wrong and so the cause is a mystery at this point. But if the turtle continues to not eat then of course something must be wrong.

Ask him to post a few nice pictures of turtles in their tank. This may provide a clue that will help find the cause.

What does he feed them? I've never had any of the turtles I kept refuse any meat-based food, ex/ raw or cooked fish, chicken, even sliced turkey or chicken lunch meat. But they loved live foods the best; tadpoles, earth worms, small frogs, small crayfish, big water bugs, etc.