I have had my 3 toed box turtle for 18 yrs. A friend found her in her backyard with her eyes swollen shut and brought her to me. Her 1rst vet visit in 1995 the vet was amazed how thin her skin was. He said this was an indication of age and she was a very old turtle. I have not changed anything in her habitat. I have bought everything she has always eaten - from fresh foods to prepared foods from the pet store. She has not eaten for almost a month, no matter what I give her. I have increased her soaking times since I know soaking can stimulate a turtles appetite. This has had no effect at all. I have noticed she is not sunning as much under her reptile light and is not as active as she once was. I haven't called the vet yet as she has no symptoms of illness. My question is - is this just a symptom of old age in a turtle? She hates the car ride and really freaks out at the vets. I hate to put her through it if there is nothing he can do. She is a dear old girl who used to eat out of my hand and it breaks my heart to see her this way.

My son had box turtles when he was 8 or ten years old. We took the turtle to the vet because of white deposits in the mouth- looked like large rice particles.
The vet said it was an infection and gave us medicine to put in the turtle's mouth.
Have you looked in the mouth of your turtle?
That's the total of my knowledge regarding turtle health conditions.

This could be a symptom of decline from old age but it is more likely the result of a number of other possiblilities:

I'm assuming swollen eyes is not a current symptom but it is a possible reaction to many problems including vitamin A deficiency..

To start with the turtle should have access to direct sunlight or a UVB light (UVB does not penetrate glass and UVB bulbs must me replaced every 6 months) or it's immune system will weaken over time and it will become susceptible to bacterial infections, disease and MBD.

Shortening of daylight hours in fall stimulates the instinct to brumate (similar to hibernation) and will cause the turtle to become lethargic and stop eating. Keeping a uvb light (uvb bulbs must me replaced every 6 months) on a 12 hour timer will return the turtle to normal activity in a few days.

If the turtle's environment has low humidity it will kill the turtle. High humidity is necessary for their lungs to remain healthy and often when winter heat starts in a home it removes the humidity in the air unless you have a humidifier on the heat system set above 60%. The turtle's tank should always be 80 % or above. Dry air will make it susceptible to respiratory infections like pneumonia which can kill it in a month.

An aural abscess will give symptoms as you described also, so check it's ear area - if it is swollen then that is the problem.

All this and more informaton can be found on this site What you should know about Eastern Box Turtles: Terrapene carolina carolina.

If you can address each of the above potential problems satisfactorily by isolating the turtle in a "sick bay", a small (5 gallon or less) empty tank with an inch of distilled water in the bottom which you can change daily and something in there for him to crawl out of the water onto you may save him. If you suspect a bacterial or respiratory infection get some bird antibiotics for drinking water from the pet store (I use tetracycline) and add it to the distilled water like you were treating a bird (the turtle will drink it and absorb it from soaking if he isn't drinking or eating). Do not feed the turtle until he is acting normal or shows some improvement.