My turtle hasnt eaten in a week, what should I do?

Question
Hi, before I ask I'll provide all of the info you need. I have a Midland Painted Turtle. She's in a 13 gallon tank and 1 inch long. She has a basking, UVA, and UVB lamp, they're coils.  She also goes outside for natural sunglight sometimes. I usually offer her waxworms, earthworms, Reptomin turtle pellets, chicken, beef, lettuce and apples. I usually feed her the amount that would fit in her head if it was empty, daily. The last time she ate was a week ago, which i'm really worried about. Last time she went to the bathroom was one or two nights ago. She's wild caught. She is shedding her scutes.

I've had her for about 4 months. Last week, she randomly stopped eat. Yet she is swimming and basking, and exploring outside. She is alert, and her eyes are clear. So no signs of illness.

What should I do? Should I be worried? Thanks for any help.

Answer
First, I am not a fan of catching and keeping wild caught. My advice would be to let it go where you found it before it does end up getting killed. That is of course after this situation is remedied and it is back to eating and defecating properly.

Get rid of the coils and buy only mercury vapors or long UVB tubes if you intend to keep the turtle. Coils are crap, and faulty manufacture has led to the death of many animals with them. They could kill the turtle.

Of course, if the turtle has not eaten in a week, and has stopped defecating, this is a serious matter that requires a vet. You see, I cannot answer these questions all that quickly. So, you need to see a vet ASAP before it dies. The turtle might have become impacted on a small pebble and this will kill it in only a few days. Remove any pebbles or other non-digestables which are small enough to be swallowed.

I see problems with the diet though. You should not be feeding this turtle beef at all. The commercial diet is also not very healthy, nor is too much fruit, or the lettuce. Most lettuce has absolutely no nutritional value. Only romaine, red or green leaf are acceptable as TREATS only. You should be feeding collard, mustard, or turnip greens instead, as well as grated squash or carrots if it will eat them, brine shrimp, bloodworms, anacharis, duckweed, dried kelp, crickets, etc. You need a more natural diet if you want to raise this thing and have it leave even a year.

You have apparently taken something from the wild, and not done sufficient research on how to keep it alive and healthy. Therefore, it needs to be released if it lives past this, which is not often the case when I hear situations like this.