Reeves turtle won't eat

I have a Reeves turtle that hasn't willingly eaten for months.

He (probably "he") has made a decent recovery after being kept in a small basin for many years. When we got him his body was swollen, he couldn't open one eye, and barely moved his hind legs. Now his eyes are fine, he is crawling around and swimming and his skin looks better. We still give him supplements and occasional electrolyte baths as advised by a vet.

But unfortunately he still won't eat. We've been tube-feeding him this whole time. We've tried live mealworms, fruits, veggies, and meat. (Raw meat was the entirety of his previous diet, and I'm not sure what effect that might have had.)

- Turtle's shell is 10cm - The tank is 30gal, and about half full of water. I know this is not enough based on guidelines, but initially he could barely swim and we didn't want to overdo it. - Lamps: - 35w halogen spot lamp, placed over tile platform, which reaches ~32°C - T5 5% UVB lamp about 20cm above platform - both on for 12h/day - Water is kept at 26°C - Simple reverse osmosis filter - Water is dechlorinated with sodium thiosulfate solution according to [this post](https://www.reddit.com/r/Aquariums/comments/qorucj/creating_a_stock_solution_of_seachem_safe_the/) - Turtle sleeps in a ceramic dome "house" on the basking platform - He seems to have no interest in basking. These days he spends most of the time in the water beneath the platform (a dark "cave"), and at night he usually crawls up to sleep in the house. Some days he stays in the house all day. - We sometimes let him crawl around in a cardboard box to excercise his legs, but he lately he just crawls into the corner and sometimes tries to dig at the cardboard.

Questions:

- Are these signs that he wants to brumate now that the weather is colder? The vet told us that brumating could be risky without enough fat stores. We don't know how to tell if it's safe. - What else can we do? I will take any advice. Are we just prolonging his suffering for nothing?

We've been told that recovery can take a long time and is not always possible once they stop eating, but we still wanted to try. Neither my partner nor I had any experience with reptiles before this, so please be patient.