As I posted last week, the light bulb over my turtle's tank burst last week. I got it all taken care of but she's still not acting like herself.
When the bulb exploded (luckily we were home and heard it go) grabbed her out immediately and put her in a kiddie pool in our back room. I had de-chorinated the water and put in her heaters. There was some gravel on the bottom, and I cleaned her cave and added it.
It took me about 4 days to get her tank emptied, cleaned, every scrap of algae removed, all the gravel removed (and I found a bunch of little glass shards from the bulb!) and her basking platform cleaned. I put in totally new gravel (rinsed first), refilled it with dechlorinated water, put her heaters, cave and basking platform back in, EXACTLY where they had been before and then put her back in.
For the 4 days that she was in the kiddie pool, she wouldn't eat at all. I chalked this up to stress and wasn't too worried.
But she's been back in her tank for a week now and STILL hasn't eaten!
She's very active- roaming all over her tank and is basking even now as I write this. BUT SHE WONT' EAT. I gave her the kibble she's eaten all her life with me (about 5 years now) but she just walks across them. I was scooping out the kibbles that she didn't eat so that they wouldn't foul the water, but then I decided to leave them in and let them disintegrate. I even dug up an earthworm for her but she after looking at it, she turned away.
I did NOT expect her to react like this. I know turtles can go a long time without eating, but I just don't know what to make of this. I thought she would settle down quickly once she was back in her familiar setting.
Thoughts?
thanks, Mooz
When the bulb exploded (luckily we were home and heard it go) grabbed her out immediately and put her in a kiddie pool in our back room. I had de-chorinated the water and put in her heaters. There was some gravel on the bottom, and I cleaned her cave and added it.
It took me about 4 days to get her tank emptied, cleaned, every scrap of algae removed, all the gravel removed (and I found a bunch of little glass shards from the bulb!) and her basking platform cleaned. I put in totally new gravel (rinsed first), refilled it with dechlorinated water, put her heaters, cave and basking platform back in, EXACTLY where they had been before and then put her back in.
For the 4 days that she was in the kiddie pool, she wouldn't eat at all. I chalked this up to stress and wasn't too worried.
But she's been back in her tank for a week now and STILL hasn't eaten!
She's very active- roaming all over her tank and is basking even now as I write this. BUT SHE WONT' EAT. I gave her the kibble she's eaten all her life with me (about 5 years now) but she just walks across them. I was scooping out the kibbles that she didn't eat so that they wouldn't foul the water, but then I decided to leave them in and let them disintegrate. I even dug up an earthworm for her but she after looking at it, she turned away.
I did NOT expect her to react like this. I know turtles can go a long time without eating, but I just don't know what to make of this. I thought she would settle down quickly once she was back in her familiar setting.
Thoughts?
thanks, Mooz
