Urgent Care :: My turtle is sleeping ALOT and I'm worried!!!

[JAS722]

I have had my two RES turtles for about 3 months (one boy and one girl about 1 inch diameter each) and things have been going great until the past couple days. I have noticed that the boy turtle has been sleeping excessively. He only wakes up when I pick him up and then he immediatly closes his eyes when he crawls off my hand. I have a fairly large tank for thier size, both areas to bask and swim in 4 inch deep water. I keep the temp around 75 degrees during the day, however, the temp may be colder in the night because I shut off the tank light. I don't know what I should do to help him or maybe I am overreacting. Please let me know if you have any suggestions I would greatly appreciate your help. Thank you.

Jennifer

[TheComputerGremlin]

First, the lights will not provide enough heat for the water. Go to the pet store and buy a water heater, about 3-5 watts per gallon of water. They are cheap and very effective. Stealth heaters are suggested, as are non-breakable ones. That way, your water can be kept at around 80 degrees (for turtles under 4", you want the water closer to 80 degrees, after that, 75 degrees).

Are you feeding them separately? Is he getting any food? Often when you have two turtles, one will starve to death because the other hogs the food.

Can you describe your setup better, or post pictures?

After 3 months, I would expect your turtles to be larger than 1". My turtle sprouted up very quickly and is just now slowing down in growing. If you got them as quarter-sized hatchlings, they should be getting closer to 2" by now. Are you feeding them enough? Can you describe their diet?

[JAS722]

Thank you so much for you help. I thought the temperture may be the problem so I just purchased a water heater, I have not seen any change in my turtle's sleepy behavior so far but it has only been a few hours. I have seen both turtles eat well. I feed them meat such as cooked chicken and turkey as well as thier dried pellet food, however, they seem to prefer the meat and rarely touch the pellets. When I purchased the turtles three months ago they were a bit smaller then they are now but they have not grown much. I have a 10 gallon tank filled 1/4 the way with water with two rocks that come out of the water for basking. There is a lid that covers half the tank and contains two lights (one 40 watt and the other 20) I change their water at least twice a week and add drops to remove harmful substances like chlorine. I have seen both my turtles lay out on the rocks, however, the boy has not been out of the water in the past few days in additon to his lathargic behavior. I am very concerned and I want to give them the perfect environment but im not sure if I'm doing everything right. If you have any more suggestions I would be extremly greatful. Thank you.

[octpusgirl8]

Your setup could definitely use some work, check out this link, it's got all the basic info you need: http://www.redearslider.com/index_habitat.html There's lots of great info for new turtle owners on the main site, i highly suggest you read through it all. Once you've read over everything, if you have any more questions don't hesitate to ask
Lethargy like you're describing usually indicates a sick turtle, i'd get him to a vet if possible. Hatchlings are delicate, and they're fequently already sick when you get them. The sooner you get him treated, the more likely it is that he'll recover.

[JAS722]

I just wanted to say thank you for the suggestions and let you know since buying a water heater my turtles have been doing much better!!!