Question:
I have a male red-eared slider turtle. He is approximately 4 years old. Normally, I feed him floating turtle sticks and a grape once a day, with an occasional bite of carrot. About once a week, I give him some cooked chicken that he seems to like particularly well. In the past, the turtle has stopped eating for periods of time. It usually lasts about a week. The first time this happened, I took him to the veterinarian who could find nothing wrong and, eventually, the turtle started eating again.
Recently, he stopped eating again, but this time it lasted about three weeks! I've tried everything: vegetables, fruit, turtle sticks and chicken. He completely ignores all of it, except the chicken that he will eat, but not every day.
His tank is kept clean, and I take him out of the tank for a while every day to just let him roam indoors. There have been times when he would follow me from room to room, almost like a puppy. He has a lot of personality.
What could be causing the loss of appetite? I would be most grateful for any suggestions.
K.F.T., Stuart, FL Jun 05, 2011
Answer:
Yes, turtles and other wild creatures who habituate to captivity and show no fear can indeed reveal the distinct personalities they have. You might see even more if your turtle had the company of his own kind.
But, regardless of how much expertise you may have and how well you provide for the animal's physical and environmental needs, the fact remains that they are not domesticated. This means that they do best in their natural environments, and that is why I am opposed to their commercial exploitation and sale as "pets." Reptiles, notably terrapins, and amphibians like African clawed frogs have been the source of bacterial (salmonella) infections in children.
Both reptiles and amphibians will go through periods of anorexia in captivity. They often have a fungal or other infection, a nutritional deficiency or are infested with internal parasites. You should add crushed oyster shell or other sources of calcium to his food and check the Internet for more natural foods for your animal.
Turtles like and need to sun themselves and this could be an indirect source of vitamin D and subtle energies we have yet to fully understand. Many such species show significant improvement when given a full-spectrum artificial light over their enclosures during daylight hours, as with Vita-Lite
or Dr. Ott's fluorescent light
.
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