I have a 10 year old female RES in an indoor enclosure. About a month ago, I noticed that her eating had slowed down. Last week, she burried herself in the land portion of her tank and hasn't came out since. I was assuming she was hibernating, but I don't know why, because our home temp stays at 72 and with her basking light and heater for the water her tank is plenty warm. Should I try to dig her up and check on her or just let her do her thing? The girl I adopted her from kept her in a 12 inch by 18 inch plastic bin on top of a refrigerator, so she never was able to dig or hibernate before. I got her last spring, and she is now in a 150 gallon, that is 2/3 water and the rest land.
is my turtle hibernating?
- Thread starter sixpack_ey
- Start date
Sounds weird. RES normally hibernate underwater after digging down into the mud. What's your water and basking temperature?
Water temp is 80, I don't know what basking temp is. The basking light is 90watt zoomed turtle light and is about 10 inches above the basking area.
Well the water temp sounds good. It could actually be a bit lower for a RES like in the mid 70's. Hmmm....I don't know what to tell you. I wonder if she's egg bound. Also what kind of diet do you have her on?
Well I feed her turtle pellets mainly. I have tried to give many fresh veggies such as lettuce, spinach leaves, cucumbers, tomatos, carrots, apples, bananas. But, she has never accepted any of these. I guess because she was fed stricly pellets for 9 years she just won't take any veggies. I do feed her live foods ever now and then, maybe once every two weeks or so. I give earthworms or crickets. And she really likes these. I also give freeze dried krill every now and then, and frozen bloodworms, and she really likes these too.
sixpack_ey;2842096; said:
I don't know. I think it might be a good idea to see what's wrong with her. Maybe take her and soak her in a tub of warm water. Then check her out and see if anything is out of the ordinary. You might even want to talk to a herp vet.
You should defenetly dig her up, something very wrong maybe going on with her. If i had to put my money on it I would say she´s got a respiratory infection wich would be conincident with the simptons you descrive. Egg bound is also very likely like V said. She isnt hibernating for starters because sliders always hibernate under water. Also she shouldnt behave like that considering the temps you have her in wich are a bit to high for a adult slider. When you keep sliders indoor by the winter whatever reason they frequently act weird, some of mine sleeped out of the water, refused food sometimes,etc, but they are always active and they swim, bask,etc. You should dig her up, put her in a conteiner with warm water and then we will see
In case you simply have a weird slider and she´s doing some sort of hibernacion, that state doesant worth the risk of her being very hill wich probably she is. You also should take her to the vet asap. Ask the vet to take X-rays of her alongside blood work, that will cover most of the hillness she could have so we can figure a diagnosis for her
In case you simply have a weird slider and she´s doing some sort of hibernacion, that state doesant worth the risk of her being very hill wich probably she is. You also should take her to the vet asap. Ask the vet to take X-rays of her alongside blood work, that will cover most of the hillness she could have so we can figure a diagnosis for herI tried to dig her up, and can't find her anywhere! The tank is escape proof. I do not understand where she could be. I guess I will have to take out all the dirt.
That´s oddsixpack_ey;2843193; said:
I assume you though she was on the back side? She must be hidding in there somewere Do you have like small kids or something? That tank really seems escape proff but i dont know nothing anymore
By the way that is a very nice tank
All that is missing is that the water should be deeper but otherwise its fine.