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My boyfriend has a yellow belly slider turtle (about 3 years old). Recently we experienced hurricane Irma in which power was lost, so the heating lamp he has could not be used as we lost power. He placed his turtle outside to bask for about 10 minutes. After that time was up, his turtle (Walt) was a bit limp. He tried googling if he was overheated and found that this is common when they become dehydrated, so he put him back in his tank. He has been swimming but not eating for a week now.

My boyfriend has a yellow belly slider turtle (about 3 years old). Recently we experienced hurricane Irma in which power was lost, so the heating lamp he has could not be used as we lost power. He placed his turtle outside to bask for about 10 minutes. After that time was up, his turtle (Walt) was a bit limp. He tried googling if he was overheated and found that this is common when they become dehydrated, so he put him back in his tank. He has been swimming but not eating for a week now.

Updated On September 19th, 2017

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Answered By Dr. Strydom, DVM

Veterinarian

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Walt likely got too cold when the power went out. I'm not convinced that 10 minutes basking outside would have made him that dehydrated. He may be on his way to getting a respiratory infection. What food(s) has he tried feeding him (turtle sticks, live meal worms, sun-dried worms, shrimp?)? The other option is that when he got cold it stimulated his body to go into hibernation mode. In the wild, sliders do hibernate, but it has to be quite cold and other conditions have to met for captive turtles to successfully hibernate. When they're a bit too chilly, but not cold enough to hibernate, they become inactive and quit eating. This leads to illness, and often death. Your boyfriend needs to make sure that his husbandry is 100% spot on - water temperature, humidity, basking area, etc. If he has a UVB light it needs to be changed every 6 months even if the light is still working. It will stop producing UVB rays and then he is not getting what he needs. So I suggest changing that bulb if that has not been done in the last 6 months. Reptisun 10 is my preference. Here is a great care sheet: http://www.reptilecentre.com/info-yellow-bellied-slider-care-sheet If his husbandry is 100% correct and he tries various other things to feed him and he still isn't eating in a few days he will need to see a vet. Hope this helps. Best wishes.

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