My box turtle died out of Nowhere

pacific chelonians

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I have a three 2 to 4-year-old box turtle not sure what type bought her a couple of years ago off craigslist for $25 she has been doing great for the last year or two and I am not unfamiliar with box turtles she has her own outdoor pen with sufficient access to water shade and burrowing spots I came out to check on her again this morning like I always do and she was fine about five minutes ago I went to pick her up and she’s dead she always has a very outgoing personality and loves to be held I’ve put her in a soak in case she is notDead but I believe she is I don’t know what happened I have attached some photos if anyone knows please let me know I am located in Southern California California it’s about 75 right now my box turtles have a heated house which I know is not necessary but I want to take every precaution necessary she did not get cold last night and the rest of my box turtles are doing fine

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zovick

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I have a three 24-year-old box turtle not sure what type bought her a couple of years ago off craigslist for $25 she has been doing great for the last year or two and I am not unfamiliar with box turtles she has her own outdoor pen with sufficient access to water shade and burrowing spots I came out to check on her again this morning like I always do and she was fine about five minutes ago I went to pick her up and she’s dead she always has a very outgoing personality and loves to be held I’ve put her in a soak in case she is notDead but I believe she is I don’t know what happened I have attached some photos if anyone knows please let me know I am located in Southern California California it’s about 75 right now my box turtles have a heated house which I know is not necessary but I want to take every precaution necessary she did not get cold last night and the rest of my box turtles are doing fine
Not sure what to say in this case. Looking at the face and eyes, it is hard to believe that the turtle was "fine" 5 minutes before you found it dead. It almost appears as though the turtle was dehydrated. Does it feel light when picked up?
 

pacific chelonians

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I doubt she was dehydrated but there always could be the possibility that she was she has plenty of access to water and she felt like a normal weight like I said the rest of the box turtles living with her or fun and when I said five minutes I guess I meant like an hour and a half
 

Ddflinn

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I have a three 24-year-old box turtle not sure what type bought her a couple of years ago off craigslist for $25 she has been doing great for the last year or two and I am not unfamiliar with box turtles she has her own outdoor pen with sufficient access to water shade and burrowing spots I came out to check on her again this morning like I always do and she was fine about five minutes ago I went to pick her up and she’s dead she always has a very outgoing personality and loves to be held I’ve put her in a soak in case she is notDead but I believe she is I don’t know what happened I have attached some photos if anyone knows please let me know I am located in Southern California California it’s about 75 right now my box turtles have a heated house which I know is not necessary but I want to take every precaution necessary she did not get cold last night and the rest of my box turtles are doing fine
i'm in east county san diego and it was 39 at my house at 7am this morning. sorry for your loss
 

pacific chelonians

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I let them out of their house at around 11 3012 where it was around 60° and it’s reached the hive like 70 all of my tortoises are doing fine like I said I’m very familiar with turtles and tortoises just questioning what happened the rest of my box turtles are fine
 

TammyJ

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Sorry about your turtle. Hope you can get some answers as to why this happened.
 

TammyJ

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I hope also that the rest of them are fine. Were they all kept together in the same enclosure?
 

Toddrickfl1

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So sorry for your loss bud. I had a similar experience with one of my water turtles this weekend. Was perfectly healthy and eating on Saturday and Sunday I found him deceased with no explanation.
 

zovick

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I doubt it she lives with 6 other box turtles and they have 5 pools of water in there pen to soak in and the other 5 are fine and the water pools are still clean and cool
Do you know when you last observed that turtle eating? It just looks a bit "off" in those photos.

Hard to tell what may really be the case unless you have a necropsy done on it. If you want to know for sure what killed it, you will need to have that done. Put it in a plastic bag and refrigerate it (do not freeze it) until you get it to the vet for the necropsy.
 

Gillian M

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Extremely sorry to hear about the death of your tortoise.?
 

Aloysius Taschse

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I'm very sorry for your loss. My tort died a few weeks ago and I didn't do a necropsy because so many things could have gone wrong due to insufficient care with me and when she was being started. We think she died of a bladder stone. Anyways, I'm very sorry and hopefully you had some good times together.
 

Maggie3fan

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Sometimes we never know why our pets die. Personally, she simply looks dead to me. I don't see obvious signs of sickness, eyes look normally dead. I'm so very sorry. Do you keep different species of box turtles together?
 

MNGuy

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I'm sorry for your loss.

I'm no expert, but I've seen a lot of animals after they die (hunting, fishing, slaughter) and they will always look "off" when they're dead even if they were fine beforehand.
 

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