Feeding and Nutrition :: My Turtle Only Eats Shrimp!

[queenjane]

Hello All,

I have a baby red-eared slider... just a little over hatchling age (he is still smaller than the palm of my hand), and he ONLY eats Tetra River Shrimp. He absolutely refuses to eat anything else, ever. I have tried bloodworms, collard greens, live prey, ReptoMin... and he won't eat. So then I feel bad for him and end up caving and feeding him the stupid shrimp. I have read that hatchlings are supposed to be fed every day, so that's what I've been doing.

His habitat is fine, the water temperature is normal, he has a basking light, and pretty much everything is as it should be. All I can figure is I have a defective turtle. I'm worried about his health because he's on a 100% protein diet-- and we've all seen what that can do to humans thanks to Dr. Atkins. But he seems happy, active, and healthy... So I don't know what to do.

One further word, I did catch this turtle in the wild, but even so, it doesn't seem to me that the ONLY thing he should eat is shrimp. He's been with me for several months now.

Thanks,

Queen Jane

[megcornell]

It sounds like he's made up his mind as to what he'd like his diet to be. Unfortunately, it's not a very healthy diet and he'll develop shell issues if you don't start feeding him less protein.
I think you're probably going to find that you have to use some tough love. Have you purchased turtle pellets yet? You can try bribing him to eat them by dipping them in tuna juice or storing them with shrimp to give them an enticing scent.
If that doesn't work, just offer him pellets, day in and day out. You can also offer greens, but no shrimp. He'll get hungry and eat eventually. He won't starve himself when there's food around. A lot of turtles who don't like vegetables like water plants like anacharis, so you might want to buy some of that.

Once you get him eating healthy turtle foods, he should get a headful of pellets every day until he's 4 inches, and fresh vegetables daily. After he's 4 inches, feed him a headful every other day, but still offer veggies daily.

A lot of good nutrition facts can be found in the nutrition section of the main site, that may be a good place to start reading.

[queenjane]

Well, I read everything about feeding on this site and others a long time ago, and the last few days I have done exactly as you suggested... and still... He won't eat.

I even put the ReptoMin pellets in with some powder that came off of the shrimp so they'd smell like shrimp to my turtle, and he won't eat. He won't eat collard greens either. I use a separate feeding tank because he makes a ridiculous mess, and at the moment, all he is doing is swimming around in circles and ignoring the floating pellets and greens. He refuses to react to anything in his environment unless it's shrimp.

I don't know what to do. He hasn't eaten in two days and he's a hatchling.

[LeslieMW]

my turtle was the same way. she'd refuse anything except live things, then finally she moved to those shrimp things. so i would wet the pellet first in tuna juice, and then crumble the shrimp all over the pellet. and i mean cover the pellet! so then i would hold it with my fingers in the water and my little turtle would come up and eat the shrimp off of the pellet, but then she'd eventually take a bite of the pellet. i kept doing this for a few days, and then she would eat the whole pellet. now she takes pellets straight out of the box.

but don't cave when your turtle doesn't take it at first!

[meltedspork]

Have you looked at this thread?:

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewt ... ot&start=0

A lot of people have had success making the gelatin turtle food. In your case, put a bunch of shrimp in there a just a little bit of pellets and veggies and with each batch decrease the amount of shrimp.

[queenjane]

Well, I just might try that. As it stands, I just got back from the pet store, and bought calcium supplements, a different kind of pellet (vegetable based) and small crickets, plus a UVA bulb (I already use a UVB during the day).

So I mixed it all with calcium powder (the pellets already had shrimp powder all over them) and gave him a few pellets and some crickets... and all he's doing is swimming in circles and kicking the cricket carcasses out of the way.

And by the way, if anyone ever decides to buy canned dead crickets... don't. I nearly died from the smell... and I don't even have that sensitive a gag reflex.

[queenjane]

Well, my turtle has not eaten in four days now. There is food in his tank and a cricket, and he hasn't touched anything all day. I don't know what to do.

[chrisinva]

Well, my turtle has not eaten in four days now. There is food in his tank and a cricket, and he hasn't touched anything all day. I don't know what to do.

have you tried repto min Baby?? It's a smaller and softer pellet

[steve]

What brand of canned crickets did you get? The Can-O-Crickets (mini) brand has a decent following.