My turtle sleeps most of the time...When i first got him he was never like that?

Question

ITS A BOX TURTLE...HE DONT WANNA EAT AND WAKES UP FOR A FEW SEC. THEN GOES BACK 2 SLEEP..DO TURTLES HIBERNATE??? THATS THEM IN THE LINK.....TURDY 2 AND TURDY 3 http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i299/young_turo/1547089554_l.jpg

Answer 1

Perhaps he's dead.

Answer 2

Yes they do as adults. Although its probably to late now there are several things you should do to prepare for hibernation (health exam, vitamin A injection, GI tract emptying, soaking every 48 hours for the period it take to hydrate them properly). It is important to keep them in proper conditions during hibernation, so you should research this further. The two most important conditons are hydration and monitoring. Ideally they should be kept at temp of 65 degrees for 2 days, then 60 for another 2 days than maintained between 45-50 for the length of hibernation. Every 2-3 weejs they should be warmed up to room temp for 2 hours so they can be evaluated for health concerns, weighed and hydrated (soaked in luke warm water) for 20-30 mins. After soaking they are returned to their hibernation enviroment (a good one is a plastic sweater box filled 2/3 with shredded paper and moistened peat moss, drill holes in lid). Depending on where they originated from, hibernation can last from 6-12 weeks, after which they are slowly warmed back up by reversing the earlier procedure.

Answer 3

They are Three-toed box turtle, Terrepena triungus.

From what I can see, they are overweight and eating the wrong food in the photo. iceberg lettuce (all light colored head lettuce) is nutritionally empty, so it has no energy for them.

You don't show their pen or cage, so I have no idea of their temp, lighting, and humidity needs are being met.

They may just be running out of energy. Sometimes, we get healthy animals, and because we don't keep them as healthy, they just slowly burn off their body's reserves and fade out on us. being overweight is not the same as having healthy reserves.

Try something like this:

HOUSING:
Make a big pen, aim for at least 4'x4' if possible. A 'turtle table' is a nice option- baslically a big open-top box on legs.

Put about 2-3" of a mix of sand, loam/leaf mulch, and shredded bark (cyprus or coconut) in the pen. On one end, use more bark and wet it well for humidity. It should be nice and wet- almost drippy. Keep the other end sandier and drier.

Put some hiding boxes (a lot of us use upside down plastic shoeboxes with a hole in an end or side) around the tank- maknig sure to have one in the wet end.

OR, you can make a 'humidity box' by taking the same shoebox, keeping it right side up, and putting several inches of clean, wet sphagnum moss or Bed-A-Beast type bark in it, then putting the lid on to trap as much humidity as possible.

Overhead, put up a heat lamp or heatuing element on one end, and get a good UV-B light bulb for general lighting. Make sure there are plenty of shady hiding places.

Use thermometers and humidity gauges to track the environment on both ends down near the substrate.

Make a big, shallow bowl for drinking and soaking. Rig it up so it is easy to get into and out of. (A plastic 'sandwich' box sunk into the substrate, or even sunk in a hole cut in the floor will work in many cases. A flat rock or margarine lid can be a good food dish.

FEEDING
Try a varied diet of about 1/3rd bugs, worms, snails, slugs, crickets, etc. (only use mealworms once in a while). 1/3rd meats like soaked weight-management cat food, cooked chicken, beef heart or other organ meats, pinkies, sardines with bones, etc. The last 1/3rd would be a mix of vegies and fruits. Mostly dark, leafy greens mixed with other chopped veggies, fruits, berries, mushrooms, etc.

Note- each meal does not need to have all of these. You can rotate between a meat meal, fruit and leaf meal, or however you want. TRY to offer 2-3 differnet things each day, and try to not repeat a meal too often.

Feed each one an amount about the size of their head every other day. You may need to seperate them during meals to avoid bullying.

Try http://www.boxturtlesite.org for other ideas.

Answer 4

Yes they hibernate. No worries. Just the season. I have one too. He is in hiding/hibernation now.

Answer 5

When you first got it, it was nervous because it's really stressful for the animals when they find the habitat changed, now that it's used to its new habitat it relaxes most the time and sleeps.

Answer 6

They hibernate in the winter that is normal