Why is my turtle not eating??

Question

My red earred slider has recently stopped eating, I have had him for over 14 yrs. and nothing about his habitat has changed. Is he hibernating?? Or is he passing away??

Answer 1

Could be either.

Hibernation is triggered by dropping temps and shortening days. Reverse these by offering summery temps and day cycles and that should bring him around again.

(Note that the temps and days could be affected by household temps and lighting as well!)

However, for a captive turtle, it is pretty old. Turtles can live longer, of course (30 years in many cases), but the daily cares have to be rock solid and most of these are from large outdoor pens.

Answer 2

There could be several possible causes to this.
The weather is getting colder, are you sure the heater is on? The water is not too cold? If they have proper heating and basking light lamp, they shouldn't go into hibernation.

14yrs is quite old, I would recommend you take him to a vet. I hope he's just catching a cold and does not have any other serious disease.

Go search for this in yahoo answers too, I've seen many people asked this question because they had the same situation as you do.

Hope it helps.

Answer 3

IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM AS OPPOSED TO THE HUMAN KINGDOM, WHEN ANIMALS ARE ILL, THEY INSTINCTIVELY GO
ON A "FAST", A PERIOD OF TIME WHERE THEY WILL NOT
EAT ANYTHING UNTIL THEY COMPLETELY RECOVER. I'VE
SEEN THIS OCCUR WITH DOGS, CATS, HORSES, ETC.
IF THIS PERSIST FOR A LENGTH OF THE TIME, THAN MAYBE
THERE'S ANOTHER PROBLEM AND YOU SHOULD TAKE IT
TO AN ANIMAL VET. ANIMALS BY NATURE KNOW WHEN TO
STOP A FAST AND RETURN TO EATING NORMALLY.

Answer 4

he could be hibernating but just to make sure, i would take him to the vets.

Answer 5

I would take him to the Vet...i don't know much about turtles but you never know what is going on under that shell.