It may be heartbreaking for you to find out that your pet turtle has died and began to wonder why it had happened. Otherwise, you might have found a dead turtle in the wild and tried to determine the reason behind its death.
As saddening as it may seem, you shouldn’t be too depressed. You certainly couldn’t prevent something from happening if you’re not aware of it. So, why do turtles die?
Generally, most turtles would die due to unnatural and accidental deaths that range from drowning to physical injuries. However, many of the unfortunate deaths can be easily prevented with some additional knowledge.
You might start to question why I’ve not mentioned natural deaths. Well, just so you know, turtles can live on for many years, and thus, they would usually die due to other reasons before they actually die naturally.
Interested to find out what are the main causes of death for most turtles in detail? Read on and I’ll share with you the possible reasons behind a turtle’s death.
Reasons Why Turtles Die
As mentioned above, various reasons may bring accidental and abnormal deaths to turtles. All turtles would generally face similar risks but not all of them would be exposed to the same danger.
Without further ado, I’ll start by telling you what you have to know regarding a turtles’ death not only in the wild but also in captivity.
Turtles Both In The Wild and In Captivity
Drowning
You might have been assuming that all turtles are capable of swimming throughout your life. Well, let me tell you that it’s not the case at all.
Not to mention, every turtle would have to come up to the surface every once in a while to get some fresh air. Most turtles can swim and are pretty good when it comes to swimming.
Nevertheless, it doesn’t apply to every turtle. Having said that, some turtles wouldn’t be able to swim effortlessly or to swim at all.
An example of turtles who would be relatively clumsy-looking when they go for a swim would be the box turtles. Even if it happens to be in the water, it would be in shallow water.
They wouldn’t choose to be underwater when they’re given the chance to be on land as they’re not born to be good swimmers after all. Box turtles who have accidentally stumbled upon deep water would eventually drown.
This doesn’t just apply to turtles who aren’t good at swimming though. An aquatic turtle might also drown if they happen to be entangled by underwater plants.
All in all, turtles who get stuck underwater and couldn’t resurface to obtain fresh air in time will drown.
Poisoning
If a turtle comes into contact with any sort of poison, it might die too. Poison exists in various forms. For example, there are poisonous plants that could take a turtle’s life away after the turtle has had it consumed.
Also, weed killers, fertilizers, or pesticides that could be easily found in our garden can be life-threatening, especially to pet turtles who are more likely to be exposed to them. Your pet turtles might be munching on plants in the garden, and thus swallowing the poisons along the way.
This shouldn’t be too shocking for you. I mean… these poisonous substances could bring serious harm to us too if we have accidentally consumed them.
Broken Shells
A turtle’s shell is attached to its body as it’s part of its exoskeleton. There are many blood vessels and nerves in the shell.
In simpler terms, the shell of a turtle pretty much acts as a ribcage to turtles. Turtles would stand a chance to have their shells broken during incidents such as after being attacked by strong predators.
They would be in extreme pain if their shells are badly crushed. In many cases, the turtle wouldn’t survive the pain for long.
On the other hand, in circumstances where a turtle is only experiencing a slight crack on its shell, it wouldn’t be too life-threatening for it unless it develops a serious infection later on.
Nutritional Deficiency
Just so you know, turtles require several types of vitamins to stay healthy. Having said that, the insufficiency of nutrients can restrict the turtle’s blood flow and would deprive its ability to recover from injuries and illnesses.
A greater consequence of this would be death. In many cases, a poor diet would be the main contributing factor to the occurrence of vitamin deficiency among turtles.
With that being said, turtles in the wild may not be able to obtain nutritious meals daily. As for pet turtles, they may be fed with the right amount of food, yet the type of food that is given to them plays an important role in their health too.
This is similar to us, humans. We can have only fast food in our lives but we wouldn’t be as healthy in the long run.
Likewise, if your pet turtles are strawberry lovers and you’re only giving them strawberries to fill up their tummies, they wouldn’t be in good health too. The possibility of your pet turtles suffering from vitamin deficiencies in the future would increase if a poor diet persists.
To identify a turtle who’s suffering from nutritional deficiencies, a good sign that you could look out for would be soft and mushy shells. This is mainly due to the lack of calcium and can be further diagnosed as metabolic bone disease.
Underfeeding
Just like any other animal, turtles would require proper feedings to be healthy and strong. Nevertheless, it’s pretty common for turtles to be underfed as the amount of food that a turtle needs greatly varies according to its age and species.
Baby turtles would require frequent feedings since they wouldn’t be capable of keeping much food in their tummies at once. Hence, if you do not feed them frequently, you might have been underfeeding your baby pet turtles.
Moreover, most pet turtle owners would come across the fact that the majority of adult turtles wouldn’t need frequent meals. Therefore, they’d usually cut down their pet turtles’ meals, thinking that it’s for the best of them.
However, the number of meals an adult turtle needs would differ with its species. Some types of turtles would require more food and frequent feedings, while others may be the complete opposite.
If you have more than one turtle in the same turtle tank but the smaller and weaker one has recently died, it may be due to underfeeding too. Chances are that you’ve been providing sufficient food for all of your pet turtles, yet the other turtles have likely been eating more than their own portions.
Likewise, this may be one of the main causes behind the death of a wild turtle in its natural habitat. This is because wild turtles might find it difficult to obtain sufficient food at times, especially when they happen to be stranded in an empty land.
In simpler words, turtles would die if they happen to be underfed for a prolonged time. I mean… it wouldn’t be good for us too if we were to be starved for days right?
Infections
Some infections can be life-threatening to everyone, including turtles. Turtles would be more prone to infections when they’re living in a contaminated place as well as when their injuries aren’t being treated in time.
As unlikely as it may seem, but turtles can be really messy. This is because turtles would basically be doing everything in the same water.
They drink, eat, poop and pee all in one place, which would contaminate the water in no time. Open water reduces the chances of having the turtles live in polluted water.
Hence, a turtle who has died due to a contaminated living space would typically be a pet turtle instead of a wild turtle since pet turtles would usually be living in tanks or enclosures rather than in open water.
Nevertheless, the likelihood for a wild turtle to die due to infection from their injuries is greater when compared to a pet turtle. In most cases, they wouldn’t be able to be treated with professional care until it’s already too late.
Of course, if you leave your pet turtle’s injuries untreated, it might develop a severe infection that would lead to death too.
Injuries
Similar to infections, turtles would often die due to physical injuries. There are many instances where a turtle could be hurt.
For your information, turtles can be really aggressive at times and would end up in fights on many occasions. Having said that, injuries resulting from fights would occur rather frequently among turtles, no matter if they’re in the wild or captivity.
However, it would be more likely to happen among pet turtles as some of them may become a bully when limited living space is provided. Don’t look down at how much harm a turtle could make to the other though.
Their bites and scratches may not be as life-threatening to us but they can be deadly to turtles. Turtles can also be injured if they’ve been attacked by a predator or accidentally fell onto hard surfaces.
Although the hard shells would provide a lot of protection to them, they can be injured as well.
Choking
Remember the last time when you choked on something mildly? I’m betting that it wasn’t a pleasant experience because it can indeed cause major discomforts.
Now, did you know that turtles can choke too? I was surprised as well when I first realized the fact that turtles can choke.
Several incidents have indicated that turtles would usually be choking on their food when they’re trying to take in multiple pieces of food and swallow it at the same time.
Wild turtles could choke too but pet turtles would be of higher possibility of choking as they would come into contact with plastic plants or small toys that are placed in their tank.
With that being said, they might accidentally mistake them for food and try to gulp them down but end up choking on it. Just like us, turtles can die if they don’t receive immediate help when they choke as they wouldn’t be able to breathe.
Stress
You might be wondering if I’m just joking when you first read the subheading. Well, it’s not a joke at all… turtles would feel stressed too, and they do not like to live under stress.
Many things could become a stressor to turtles. For instance, the sound of screeching tires and dog barkings. Other than that, frequent handling of the turtle would also result in stress for them.
Just so you know, pet turtles who have had to live alongside other turtles would feel stress as well since turtles are generally solitary animals. They would be easily stressed out especially when they’re forced to live in a tank or enclosure that’s too small.
Moreover, a turtle would also feel stressed when it experiences a change of environment and routine. If a wild turtle happens to end up in a different environment such as being in captivity, it might trigger the turtle.
Some pet turtles can also be overwhelmed and stressed when you’ve made changes to the location of your furniture and lightings. So, be mindful of this since you wouldn’t want your pet turtles to be too pent-up with stress.
Turtles In The Wild
Natural Predators
I bet some of you might have already had this in mind. Although turtles have relatively hard shells, they are like any other animals as they can become prey to many predators in the wild.
One of the most common predators to turtles would be birds, namely the bearded vultures. These birds are known to drop the turtles onto rocky grounds from a high altitude.
They will continue to repeat the action until the shell of a turtle breaks so it can feed on the flesh. Other than birds, carnivorous mammals such as coyotes, raccoons, and foxes would also prey on turtles on land.
Sea turtles aren’t safe in the ocean too as they’d often be part of a great white shark’s meal.
Dehydration
Many living things, including us, would struggle to stay alive if we happen to be dehydrated for a long time. Thus, dehydration is without a doubt, one of the reasons a turtle, especially in the wild, would die.
There are many circumstances where a turtle would be dehydrated, one of them being having freshwater turtles placed in saltwater. A freshwater turtle wouldn’t be able to survive in saltwater as it would be severely dehydrated over time.
Another example where dehydration would occur would be when a turtle appears to be in a place that is experiencing droughts. The effect of dehydration can be mild given that they’re rehydrated soon enough.
However, a turtle would suffer severe dehydration after a prolonged time. In most cases, the turtle wouldn’t be able to escape death.
Pollution
Sea turtles would be greatly affected by environmental pollution. As the amount of plastic wastes and discarded fishing gears increases in the ocean, sea turtles are now exposed to plenty of man-made danger.
Many sea turtles have been found dead because of the indigestion of plastic bags as they were consumed after being mistaken as jellyfish. There are also many sea turtles that have died due to the entanglement of discarded fishing gears, namely fishnets in the ocean.
On top of that, chemical pollutants such as petroleum by-products that have been released into the ocean can weaken the immune systems of sea turtles. As a result, they would be more vulnerable to numerous diseases.
Turtles In Captivity
Overfeeding
It may seem surprising for you to know that other than underfeeding, turtles might also die if they’re overfed. This is rather common among pet turtles as some owners would constantly be worrying if their pet turtles are hungry.
As a result, the owners would provide an unlimited supply of food to their pet turtles. It’s merely a kindhearted act to us, yet it can be detrimental to the turtles’ health in the future as they can overeat.
Just like us, a turtle that overeats would eventually become obese. Hence, it would begin to find its shell tight-fitting and uncomfortable for its bloated body.
In serious cases, it will have an impact on the turtle’s movement, breathing, as well as blood flow, which would eventually lead to death.
Why Do Turtles Die Suddenly?
The reasons that I’ve stated above would usually take a prolonged time to cause death to the turtles, yet some other reasons can kill them instantly. Read on and I’ll share with you the reasons that I’ve compiled behind the sudden deaths of turtles.
Electrocution
This would mainly bring death to turtles that are in captivity. The main culprits that would cause electrocution would be anything that you placed into the water of the turtle’s tank or enclosure that is connected to electricity.
Water filters and water heaters are something that most pet turtle owners would install in a turtle’s tank. However, these features would stand a chance to electrocute the turtles if it’s not installed properly or have already been worn-out.
Most, if not all cases of electrocution would lead to sudden death to humans let alone the impact on turtles.
Exposed to Toxic Substances
As stated above, turtles can die after being exposed to poison for quite some time. However, they could succumb to death immediately if it happens to have strong poisons consumed or inhaled.
A pet turtle who is kept in a closed space might take in high levels of carbon monoxide, which would lead to carbon monoxide poisoning. It would be rather deadly and could take a turtle’s life away if the level of carbon monoxide continues to increase.
If you’ve recently cleaned your pet turtle’s tank with soap and found them dead shortly after you put them back in, chances are that you’ve not washed off the soap properly.
Chemicals in the soap can be toxic to turtles as they might swallow the toxic substances when they perform their daily activities in the water.
Overheating
Some turtles may not be diligent enough to notice that it has been overheated during their basking session. They wouldn’t try to cool down before it’s already too late.
In some circumstances where there are no shades at all, the turtles would have no other choice but to be overheated. These turtles would usually be dead within a short time.
A severely overheated turtle wouldn’t be able to survive for long. Thus, you need to have shades in the turtle tank or around the turtle’s enclosure if you don’t want your pet turtles to fall victim to overheating.
Would Baby Turtles Die More Easily?
We all know that baby turtles can swim pretty well right after they’ve hatched. So, does this mean that they’re also conscious enough to avoid dangers and threats at a young age?
Unfortunately, baby turtles would stand a greater chance to lose their lives when compared to adult turtles. The main reason for this is because baby turtles themselves remain to be rather weak and can be naive.
Turtles tend to rely on their hard shells for protection when danger approaches. They wouldn’t be capable of outrunning their predators since they’re usually quite slow, especially on land.
However, the shells of the baby turtles would still be soft and yet to be fully developed, which is why it wouldn’t be of much use when it comes to protection.
On top of that, many of them are still inexperienced and wouldn’t be able to identify the danger around them in time. I mean… we wouldn’t be expecting a newly born human baby to be capable of protecting themselves too right?
It’s pretty much the same case when it comes to turtles.
Signs of A Dead Turtle
It may be difficult for you to differentiate if the turtle is actually dead or merely undergoing brumation, which is a state similar to hibernation. Turtles can look somewhat lifeless when they brumate. There are several signs that you could look out for to identify a dead turtle.
A Foul Smell
Decomposition would take place on a dead turtle, just like how it would on any other dead living organism. The body of a deceased turtle would eventually let out a stinky smell when microorganisms start to feed on its tissues.
When decomposition occurs, you may anticipate a foul smell within one or two days after the turtle’s death in low temperatures. However, some would take a longer time before the dead body starts to stink. To further determine if the turtle is dead, you may lookout for the next sign.
Visual Indication
Although a turtle can hold their breath much longer than us, they would have to breathe sooner or later to stay alive. Therefore, you could always look out for subtle pumping movements on the area between its front legs and neck or rear legs and its tail.
These movements are due to their usual lung activity. If there are no pumping movements at all, the turtle should be already dead. Some people might find it hard to watch out for the turtle’s pumping movement.
So, you could always try to utilize a feather to ease the confirmation. With that being said, a feather can be placed in front of the nostrils of the turtle.
All you have to do next would be to watch if the feather has moved. Be reminded to watch for a longer time before you drop the conclusion and confirm its death.
Professional Assessment
To be completely sure that the turtle that you’ve suspected to be dead is indeed not alive, you should always bring the turtle to your local vet for confirmation.
An experienced veterinarian would be professionally trained to determine if the turtle is dead, dying, or merely in an unhealthy state. He or she would be able to provide you with suitable advice on what both of you could do next for the turtle.
How to Reduce Death Among Turtles In The Wild?
It would be great if we could be able to protect turtles from their natural predators in the wild but it’s undeniably out of our reach. Instead, what we can do is try our best to reduce the pollution that we’re creating in the world.
We could always start by reducing the trash that we make. Another simple gesture that we could do would be by throwing the waste that we produce, namely plastic bottles into a proper trash can, instead of littering it all around the place.
It wouldn’t be too difficult for us to play our role in keeping the environment clean. In fact, we should always be mindful of what pollution is doing to these innocent animals and confront anyone who’s trying to pollute the environment.
How to Prevent Your Pet Turtle from Accidental Deaths?
Don’t be too downhearted after reading all of the reasons where a turtle could die from though. There are many ways to keep them safe and healthy if you put in some effort here and there.
Research Beforehand
Before you get a pet turtle, you should definitely spend some time researching the type of turtles that you’re going to get. It’s highly suggested for you to learn about the turtle’s eating habits, living needs as well as any additional needs.
This is because the requirement of every turtle species would differ greatly from one another. By doing this, you’d be able to provide your pet turtle with what it really needs.
You might think that it’s a waste of your time but trust me, there are more pros than cons. A little more knowledge on your soon-to-be pet turtles would also prevent you from underfeeding and overfeeding them. It’s ultimately killing two birds with one stone.
Always Keep The Tank Clean
As mentioned above, turtles would be sick and would eventually die if they’re forced to live in unsanitary conditions. All you have to do is to change the water regularly and remove any visible food debris from time to time.
Additionally, you could also consider getting a better water filter installed. Water filter plays a big role in keeping the water in the tank clean.
If the water filter is good enough, it would greatly decrease the number of times you’d need to clean the tank. Your pet turtles would greatly appreciate it if you’re helping them to keep their living space clean at all times!
Safety Inspections And Precautions
To ensure that your pet turtles are well protected, it’s highly recommended for you to have a safety inspection of the tank or enclosure of your pet turtles every once in a while.
Safety inspections are important and can help you to identify any potential threat to your pet turtles. For example, you could look out if the cables to the tank’s water heater are in good condition.
Alternatively, a circuit breaker could be installed to prevent electrocution. Moreover, a carbon monoxide detector that is placed near the turtle’s tank or enclosure would be useful too.
Nevertheless, this would only be made use of if the tank is located in closed spaces such as in a basement.
Regular Check-Ups
Again, you shouldn’t neglect the importance of consulting a veterinarian regularly. Turtles are just like us, they would require regular body checkups too.
During the examination, your local vet would be able to identify if your pet turtle is healthy or if it has contracted any illnesses or infections. Professional treatment would also be given to your pet turtle early enough if any health concerns have been determined.
You could also consult the vet whenever you have doubts about your pet turtles’ health condition so that you wouldn’t have to keep your worries to yourself.
Conclusion
Turtles would lose their lives over various reasons that range from drowning, choking to broken shells. Other causes of the sudden death of turtles would be due to electrocution, exposure to toxic substances, and overheating.
Moreover, a baby turtle would die more easily as they’re still rather weak. If you’re unsure if the turtle that you’ve come across is still alive or dead, you could always look out for foul smells and visual indications as well as obtain professional assessments.
We could always help to reduce the possibility of causing man-made death to wild turtles by reducing the production of wastes and simply avoid littering.
As for your pet turtles’ safety, it’s best if you could do some research on your pet turtles beforehand, keep their tank clean and take safety inspections seriously. Remember to never skip your pet turtle’s regular check-ups too!
