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I have a two year old RES and have never had any problems with him. I just bougth two tiny( one inch) Baby RES. I have gotten all my Turtles from vendors on the side of the road( I live New Mexico where it is Illegal to sell Turtles under four inches long(Salmonella issue)) and therefore cannot get additional info or help on my new babies. I think they have eaten since they got here but I'm not positive and they have not in the last three days. I have tried ReptoMin mini sticks, baby shrimp,mini-krill,anacharis and now strawberries. Nothing. What can no turtle pass up? I'll get it what ever it is.

I was transferring to little tank to eat, but tried feeding in normal tank in case fear was an issue.

Water temp is correct at day...may get down to 60's at night. Not sure of basking area temp, big(2.5 incher) turtle likes it. Water clean.

Please help. Tj

First of all (you didn't mention in the post) what do you have them in (tank, pond, etc.)

If they are in a tank you should be able to tell if they are eating, by food left in the tank and also if they poop. RES normally defecate right after eating. What ever you are feeding them don't stop because they will eventually eat when they are hungry, just don't go over board with protein. It will be much harder to get them eating other foods, if you let them become picky eaters. Also give them time to eat. If you are standing there watching over, they might feel over whelmed.

I do just want to mention something about the temps. You really should try to keep it regular, check the "sticky's" in the "Indoor Habitat" section for info. I am only saying this because the water might be too cold for them and it could be the reason they are not eating.

They are in a inside tank, I'm shopping for abigger one right now, I like the longer turtle ones so the filter is lower.

I just put the heater back in so the temp should get more even.

I actually counted baby shrimp parts and left the room for feeding time today. I don't think they ate any. I know they didn't eat a whole piece of mini sticks, only one prtion of one looked touched but that could have just disolved.

I have to say though, I have never seen my big one poop and I have had her for 2.5 years. She loves anacharis so that is why we have it. She didn't even touch the strawberry. She also loves earthworms my kids bring her from the back yard. I thought of trying that for the babies but didn't know if I should cut it up. Any thoughts?

after looking at other subjects, I have decided not to pick them up so much. Probably not even mov01e them to a feeder tank. Maybe we have been handling them too much and they're stressed out. They're just soooo cute.

that's what I was thinking. Just leave them be for a bit. They'll eat as soon as they get used to their habitat. Also, depending on how young they are, they may not need to eat yet. Are they just hatched or a few weeks old? If they were just hatched and have a yolk sac on their tummys they get their nutrients from that and they wont eat yet.

I've had a baby res for two weeks now and the first three days he wouldn't eat pellots. I finally got him to eat tiny little pieces of raw shrimp on a toothpick. However i later found out that raw shrimp can carry disease, but it got him to eat! Now he's eating pellots but only on the toothpick.

Oh and not putting him in a seperate feeding tank helped too!

About the poop, I had never seen my turtle poop until a couple days ago and I don't know if it's normal but he seems to be doing it a lot lately. At first I thought it was a piece of pellot but it was a lot longer and looked like strings of miny sausage links ( sorry to be so graphic but I wanna know if that's normal )