American Wood Turtle

Daniel_the_Scot

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Hey guys!
So I've got an amazing Wood Turtle. But...she's gone on an extended hunger strike. She doesn't often explore her surroundings, and these last few days she doesn't even look around much until i put her in water.
I expected some no feeding for awhile when I first brought her home, as she acclimated. But it's going on a month now. She MAY have had a few pieces of lettuce and spinach, but she may have just walked across that and drug it somewhere too. I have tried a fairly good sized variety of foods, including everything they were feeding her at Petco, but no luck. Red and Green leaf lettuce, spinach, red and green peppers, wet turtle food from a can, avacado (the absolute favorite of one of the others), banana, apple, pear, cat food, and the list goes on and on. Other than some worms, I haven't tried any live food, but she's still smallish and so inactive I'm not sure she'd win any fights.
Should I take her to a vet? I'm concerned handling her more and moving her around might not be best, but it's at the point where I'm worrying every day. Thanks for any help!
 

dmmj

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temperatures and humidity levels please. A picture of the enclosure. Do you know whether this turtle was Wild caught or captive-born?
 

Daniel_the_Scot

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She's mostly been in an outdoor 8x8 encolsure. I live in WA, so it's a little warmer than her natural habitat, but she's got lots of shade and plenty of water.
She was captive bred. According to the clerk, in whom I have no real faith, she is approximately 8 months old.
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mark1

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do you have a picture of your turtle ? i can't see it real well , but i think the turtle in your profile pic is a central american wood turtle ? if it is a ca wood turtle , instead of shade it needs sun , and warm until you get him going ...... they can take 50's as long as they can get hot in the day ........
 
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Daniel_the_Scot

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do you have a picture of your turtle ? i can't see it real well , but i think the turtle in your profile pic is a central american wood turtle ? if it is a ca wood turtle , instead of shade it needs sun , and warm until you get him going ...... they can take 50's as long as they can get hot in the day ........
The tag said North American Wood turtle. The plan is to build her a little stream with some deep pockets. The enclosure gets sunlight, but she just hides. She's made a cool little tunnel, and man is she hard to find. I'd be ok if she wanted to hide all the time if I thought she was eating, but I'm almost certain she hasn't since I picked her up. She was so cool at the store, too...waddled over to the glass and stared out at me, was splashing around and interacting. It sucks and is worrisome that now she only really moves as far as it takes to find somewhere she's camoflauged.
Monday, she basked some, and paced the perimeter of the enclosure a few times. Of course, I'm at work all day so who knows what she gets into, but the food I leave her is all there every day and it doesn't seem like most days she moves at all
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mark1

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your turtle is a central american wood turtle , they can be pretty shy , they come from like costa rica , the weather right now in washinton state is probably to cold for him ..... warm him up , keep him warm and humid .... they're called ornate wood turtles , last i knew the scientific name was rhinoclemmys pulcherrima manni
 

Yvonne G

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Hi, Daniel, and welcome to the Forum!

North American wood turtles are protected and pretty hard to come by. Your Central American wood turtle looks like she's had a pretty hard life. They're usually way more colorful than that. Here's a link to a good care sheet for you:

http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/rhinoclemmys.html

Since you live in Washington, and have the turtle set up outside, I'm going out on a limb and saying your turtle isn't warm enough.
 

Gillian M

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A cute turtle. :)

Please keep in mind that torts dislike change, so it takes them time to adapt to it. So do not worry about her not moving much. ;)

And a very warm welcome to the forum to both of you! :tort:
 

Daniel_the_Scot

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Thank you guys so much. I brought her inside and put her in some damp spaghnum (sp?) under some warmth. It's a short term fix while I figure out where to go but at least I know now what the issue is, and she's already seeming a little better, and it's only been a couple hours. No food yet, but there's no rushing with these little shelled dragons.
Thanks again! :D
 
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