Urgent Care :: hibernating or sleeping?

[HOBBIE]

Our turtle just wants to sleep all the time and will not eat at all. This is the second time this year she has been this way. When she woke up earlier this year she had lost alot of weight, Even her head was sunkin in because she hadn't eaten in 4-6 weeks. I think she is hibernating but she does move to different areas of the tank and even basks sometimes but is still sleeping. Not sure if we should get medical treatment or if this is a nature for older turtles. She is going to be 12 years old in december. Has anyone had this experience with older turtles? I thik it's just nature calling because of age but mabe not. Tank has not changed at all. Temp has stayed the same,around 77 degrees since we started and we've had her since she was a couple of weeks old.

[steve]

So you've had her hibernate in the past? Does she stay alert but is just not eating and inactive during this time? What's the basking temperature?

[HOBBIE]

Yes she is alert but very sleepy and will not eat. Her basking temp is 79 degress.

[steve]

She's not in a true hibernating state. While I have heard of people keeping their RES this way, we do not generally recommend it. Those who keep RES inside their homes allow them to be active year-round.

[HOBBIE]

So what do you recommend that I do to get her to stop this?

[steve]

Can you provide more details about your setup? Location, tank size, water volume, filtrations, heaters, basking area, UVB, basking light, etc.

[HOBBIE]

She has her own room with a window. The tank is 120 gal. half full. I use a rena filstar xp4 filter and a 300w heater. She has a 12 x22 in. basking area with thebasking light on one end so she can determine how close she wants to be to the heat and light. I used to use a T-REX active UV heat bulb 100w. but can't get them anymore so I use a POWERSUN-UV 100w. bulb instead, but I don't think it is nearly as good. She also has lots of feeder guppies in tank with her. I don't think they mind her sleeping though.

[steve]

Sounds like she should be active all the time. What are you using for thermometers?

[HOBBIE]

I am using a coral life digital thermometer that I just bought this year.

[HOBBIE]

Our turtles name is Hobie. We named her when she was about the size of a silver dollar. We didn't know the gender at the time because she was to young. Buy the time we were able to tell the difference it was to late to change her name because she was responding to it. (WHEN SHE WANTS TO) I held her last night for a little bit to try to get her to stay awake. She would open her mouth as to warn me as she always did when she doen't like what you are doing but that was all. She would'nt open her eyes. I put her on her basking area and later saw her with her head up and eyes open. This would be the last time I saw her alive. Our Hobie died overnight. I will miss her. She was a pain in the butt to take care of and alot of work compared to other pets but when she looked into my eyes it was worth it. My heart is sad today.

[steve]

I'm very sorry for your loss. This probably wasn't related to hibernation and she might have been ill.