Hi i am just wondering. Can stress lead to death. Also i needed to know how often to change my soil and peat moss mix.
I've never witnessed it first hand, of course I have also never attempted to find out. It is possible to stress any reptile off of it's food. For a turtle, casual handling once a day isn't enough to do it. Especially if the handling results in food for the turtle, they're actually smart enough to figure out person = food. How often to change the mix, what size container did you end up getting? And do you feed from a dish? In a large container, using a dish, I'd say every 3-5 weeks. Turtles usually poop in their water or near it, so spot cleaning around the water bowl can help.
The question of stressing an animal to the point of illness is a good one for me... I keep several snakes (2 corns and a royal python), a gecko, 3 gerbils, an anole, and a red eared slider in my classroom. I recommend reading anything and everything you can about stress-related illnesses and then keeping an eye on your critter. As strangewings added, turtles seem very hardy critters. Our RES, Leonardo, acts like a dog and splashes all over the place when he sees a kid going by his tank so he'll get a treat. I don't think that's stress. =) Monitor your critter, read all about it and have fun. =)
