mdane
New Member
I own three Easterns for a few years now, and I've noticed that one of them tends to not move for long periods of time, often with head down and eyes closed. It's still alive because she shows signs of movement, also after transferring to a new enclosure it was running about as though nothing was wrong, but after about half an hour it reverted back to this behavior; checked later during the night and it was still in the same spot. Is this normal, or is veterinary care recommended? I prefer not to make a trip out to the vet with the whole COVID-19 situation, but if the issue is critical then I am willing to go out.
A bit more information that may help:
A bit more information that may help:
- Admittedly, its diet has been mostly earthworms and occasionally lettuce and carrots (this was before I learned that it's better to offer a variety of foods other than live items). I've also seen the turtles eat the stalks of aloe vera plants.
- Outdoor enclosure is 5'x5' roughly, I may expand the size if space is the cause. There are two dugouts and a broken clay pot for the turtles to hide in. A pool of water has also been set up for turtles to drink and climb in/out.
- Past few days the temperature has been above 85 degrees, and I had an enclosure that was exposed to sunlight for almost the entire day. As of today, the turtles have been relocated to where there is more shade. Also temperature at night averages around 65 degrees.
- Humidity is quite low where I live, I try to sprinkle water in the enclosure twice every day, and I'm planting moss, grass, etc. to up the humidity as much as possible. (I would like some advice on this as well)
- Last time I saw this particular turtle eat was around 3-5 days ago, and possibly today when I transferred her to the shaded enclosure, it was hard to tell what she was eating..
- All turtles in the enclosure are female, the turtle in question tends to hide under the burrows I dug out in the enclosure for most of the day, really only showing up in the morning, though I never saw it do what I described above until earlier this week. If I drop a worm into the enclosure she would stare at it but never make an attempt to eat it. I have not seen the other turtles show any aggression towards one, but I have seen them crawl into the same housing, sometimes blocking it from moving, if that's an indication of anything.
- I have a dog that often looks into the enclosure, though most of the time (at least when I'm present) the turtles do not react unless the dog gets very close. (I don't think the dog is the cause, but I'm bringing this up anyway to provide as much info as possible).