General Care Discussion :: Turtle Health

[Roazbear]

My 9" slider is exhibiting unusual behavior. SHe is spending a lot of time on bottom of tank sleeping during the day. Her appetite is off also. She has no signs of disease. It's just her behavior. Tank is 90 gallons. Temp is 80. Has anybody had experience with a change of behavior like this. She is still basking occasionally. I'm thinking I may have to take her to vet. Any input out there?

Thank you

[kiwi]

My 9" slider is exhibiting unusual behavior. SHe is spending a lot of time on bottom of tank sleeping during the day. Her appetite is off also. She has no signs of disease. It's just her behavior. Tank is 90 gallons. Temp is 80. Has anybody had experience with a change of behavior like this. She is still basking occasionally. I'm thinking I may have to take her to vet. Any input out there?

Thank you

Roazbear,
My 3 y/o Male RES is doing similar things. He is less active spending a lot of time on the bottom, sleeping more during the day and only wants to eat nightcrawlers (no turtle food). My tank temperature is 73 F, yours at 80 F seems high for an adult. Mine also has no sign of disease.

[steve]

Could be S.A.D (seasonal affective disorder) when RES are a bit more moody during the winter. When was the last time you made any changes to the tank/diet/filter?

[Roazbear]

I wondered if it was seasonal. I actually just raised the temperature after I posted thinking maybe it was too cool. It is at about 79 right now. Should I lower? No change in diet although she is definitely eating less. I'd say she has been off for about a month now. Admittedly her filter is long overdue for cleaning. I had surgery and couldn't lift it but should be able to this weekend. I have done partial water changes but not in a couple of weeks. It is a large canister filter. I fed her outside of the tank her protean meal last night. A combo of pellets with some dried mealworms mixed in. She ate all the worms but left most of the pellets. This is also unusual. She is basking right now. Her eyes are clear and after I examined her and I found no signs of any shell disorder or lumps or anything that looks out of order.

I wondered if it was seasonal but discounted this since the environment where her tank is is fairly consistent. Maybe a little cooler in the room with winter outside but tank temp is consistent.

[Roazbear]

She is also basking at night with lights off which is unusual. This also about a 4-6 weeks now. I have had her for two years.

[Roazbear]

I was concerned once before about her behavior change after water change but I think the info here was correct and I didn't de-chlorinate well enough. I have also used algae herbicide in the past and thought she reacted negatively(very 'excited' and swimming more frantically than usual) to it when put back in tank after cleaning and added. I stopped using it several months ago not being sure if it was affecting her in a bad way. OK..thats all I got.

[steve]

I don't think warming up the temps will do much to snap her out of it. They just seem to know what's going on (maybe Barometric pressure effects them?). How long was she basking after the lights went out?