What do you do when your baby red ear slider has not eaten all week and sleeps all the time?

Check the temperature of the tank air and the water. During times of cold weather turtles, especially aquatic turtles, will slow down their metabolism to the point where food energy is not required. This is not healthy for captive turtles. There are also underlying medical problems that could be the reason, but would also accompany other signs, ie. difficulty breathing, eye infections, shell softening. Most vets that deal with reptiles can help.

Answer

The turtle most likely has a respiratory infection. This is mainly caused by it being kept too cold. Other signs are crooked swimming, not swimming away when it sees you like it normally does, bubbles coming out of it's nose and mouth, and the very unpleasant opening of the mouth like if it was trying to breath out really hard, floating, and not being able to swim down. This is bad because it can die, but if you notice it early, then a shot from the vet and making the water much warmer will help it recover just fine. You have to slightly spoil them with treats to encourage it start eating again. Cooked wet ground beef was the only thing mine ate when she was in the late stage of floating. Try small live earth worms too. Get a water heater and thermometer at 80 degrees. You have about 3 weeks to notice and treat this before it may die.

• Do iguanas eat romaine letture?
• What is bulge from red eared slider?
• Can pet turtles be fed hermit crabs?