Is he dying

[ekj040510]

I've had this boxie for a week now and he seemed to be doing fine for the first few days and all of a sudden he is always 'sleeping' and i dont see him eating. I've attached a picture of what he looks like and what he is doing. Can someone please help me figure out whats wrong with him...he was on a worm, romaine and strawberry diet. I have soil as a substrate base and i added a couple grass plants. he gets clean water every day and has a heat source to keep them warm.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Stephanie:

We're not going to be able to answer that question just be seeing your picture. You have to give us more information.

It seems to be a young, maybe juvenile box turtle. Have you seen it eat? Have you actually measured the temperature in the habitat? Is it outside or indoors? Have you soaked him in water? How long have you had it and where did you get it? Did you ask the previous owners what it is used to eating?

 

[Kristina]

The eyes look very swollen.

My suggestion for now, until we can get some more information and better pinpoint what is wrong, is to do some baby food soaks. How that works is that you get a shallow container and put just enough water in it so the turtle can submerge his head, but hold it out of the water easily at the same time. Take a jar of babyfood carrots or squash, and mix with warm, not hot, water. Put the turtle in the soak for 20 minutes at least once a day, twice is better when they aren't eating. You can keep the water warm longer by setting it in the sun or under a heat lamp, just make sure it doesn't get too hot.

How warm is his "heat source," and what is the humidity like in the enclosure?

 

[Neal]

In addition to the above I would recommend getting him outside as much as possible. I don't know if you are doing that already, but from the picture above it looks like an indoor enclosure. The power of natural sunlight is really a magical thing with turtles and tortoises.

When I first started out with box turtles, I would keep them inside all the time. I always had problems with them not eating and appearing sluggish. I started getting them outside, and shortly after, I could get them to eat anything.

 

[Laura]

the diet needs improving too..
what kind of worms and what calcium does it get?

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and try tinypic.com to load pics.. when i try to view yours it takes over a minute to load...

 

[ekj040510]

The humidity and the heat are at a great degree for the turtles. The only worms I can get my hands on were only Nightcrawlers and trout worms...I was told that those would do just fine from this forum...They get veggies and the older one absolutely loves strawberries, they get fed once a day in the morning when they are warmed up and active. Romaine lettuce, strawberry, shredded carrot, with a cut up nightcrawler. They are indoors and I have them in a temp tank right now. I will have them a bigger tank this weekend. I have taken them outside and he seemed like all he wanted was to hide in the shade. I had water in there as well. I will definitely try the baby food soak and see how he likes it...How long do they need to spend outside each day??? I was also told to put a piece of cuttlebone in the tank for added calcium. I am working on getting some Cod Liver Oil to sprinkle on their food for calcium as well. Also, I did get to see him eat yesterday and today.

 

[dmmj]

I didn't see an answer to this question, but was it eating and then stopped? or has it not eaten at all. And the eyes def. look swollen, not bad but still, looks like it could be a vitamin A deficiency, baby food soaks should help. You also failed to mention what the temps are at, colder temps don't work for turtles and could lead to serious health problems down the road.

 

[John]

hello

 

[Kristina]

The humidity and the heat are at a great degree for the turtles.

I am sorry, I am not trying to be rude or to be a jerk, but this tells me absolutely NOTHING. What does that translate into? The actual parameters needed, what the petstore told you to do, what you read on some website... How do we know the info you have is correct?

With answers that ambiguous, the problem is, we absolutely cannot help you. You need to answer with 100% honesty and actual values, as in degrees and percentage. Otherwise the answers we give you are just a shot in the dark.

A good thermometer/hydrometer combo that I really like is the Accurite digital. It can be purchased at Walmart for about $7. I strongly suggest picking one up. If you have the dial type thermometer and hydrometer, don't rely on them. They are absolute junk and do not give accurate readings.

I cannot stress how important this is.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

If my bad memory is correct, the OP was given 2 young box turtles and she was feeding them hamburger. She was given some pretty good advice from this forum. I think she has only had them for a couple of weeks. She knows nothing about keeping turtles and we were trying to help her.

The diet still needs some tweaking...you need to add more fruit like blueberries, melons, and the like. Trout chow is also something good to feed. My box turtles love it. As I write this my box turtles are eating honeydew melon, blueberries, trout chow, meal worms and nightcrawlers.
I wouldn't normally feed the worms with all the other stuff but I was gone for a few days and they needed something extra...

Have you soaked this turtle? They like a lot of water...

 

[Saloli]

if you have a video it might help. also if you like i can repost my list. hey speaking of trout chow my spotted turtle is in with my adult boxers because i had to pull every one in and his tank is broken (some one stole Atsila Daksi on my birthday) so until i can get his deck pond set up some how in the house he is in with the boxers, but any way i feed him in the water bowl (a large painters tray) some of the boxers started eating his hikari gold cichlid pellets.

 

[ekj040510]

the temp is at 78* during the day. I dont know the humidity but it is humid in their tank. I was doing the baby food soaks and it seemed to be helping them both and then all of a sudden, when we did the soak today, i come back to a dead boxie. I know a few of you told me his eyes were swollen and i recently found out that he was sick when i got him. I tried everything you guys have told me and i appreciate deeply. even though I have only had them for a few weeks it still got me heartbroken. they are such spectacular creatures. I am now down to the one little one and have completely cleaned out the tank and gave him new bedding, just in case it was infected. The little one is doing great (always has been). Thanks for all of your support.


~~Little ones diet now-nightcrawlers, strawberry, banana, shredded carrot, romaine lettuce

 

[dmmj]

Sorry to hear about the other one, but if you received it sick, it has most likely been sick for quite awhile now.

 

[ekj040510]

That is what i was told by a friend of the family that has raised boxies for 15 years..She told me that it was very hard to nurture them back to health, but at least i tried and i hope he was happy for the most part.

 

[Saloli]

sorry to hear that it is hard to lose one even when it is expected, let alone when it isn't.