Feeding and Nutrition :: Changed Feeding Routine & Won't Eat

[Tewhanau]

I bought four turtles - all one year old, and setup plus mealworms end of May 2009. Have got them set up nicely and just realised tank too small for them all. Also found via internet that the reason my tank so dirty every day was because I was feeding them in it! Two days ago, I bought 4 kitty litter trays and put warm water (poss too warm?) in them on kitchen table. I put each turtle in one, feeding them as I put them in. I have two large and two small, but three small tails and one long. They are all the same age as I have hatchling certs with them. The lady gave me some liver but I bought chicken kidneys and they loved them but made a mess in tank. Then lamb kidneys then lambs fry and now ox liver. The two smallest are now not eating at all. I also fed them Nutrafin Max Turtle Gammarus Pellets but ran out. Was feeding twice a day. Then read once a day for adult turtles and feed at same time of day. I realise their routine has drastically changed but their water is ALOT cleaner now. Please can I have some help as the info on all the sites I am reading are conflicting.

[TheComputerGremlin]

Welcome to turtle parenthood! Adult turtles (over 4" shell length) need to be fed every other day, as many pellets as would fit in their hollow head or skull. For a 4" turtle, I would guess a good starting place is about 8 pellets, depending on the pellet size. So you can feed them 8 pellets every other day, or 4 pellets daily. Pellets shouldn't dirty the tank too much, I feed in my tank and it's not dirty. Consider getting a better filter, that will keep your tank cleaner. As for mealworms, chicken kidneys, liver, etc, those should be fed ONCE PER MONTH, no more often than that. They are too high in protein for daily feeding. It will cause extreme pyramiding of the shell, which will shorten the lifetime. Those should also be cooked in no oil or boiled before being fed, no raw food (minus the mealworms, those can be raw).

Basically you need to do some tough love. Get a new bottle of pellets and feed only pellets for the next week or two. Try feeding every day, and if they don't eat them, they don't get fed that day. Keep that up until the turtles give in and eat the pellets out of hunger.

For four 4" turtles, you need between 100-160 gallons of water RIGHT NOW. If you say it appears you have 3 females and one male, you may need as many as 300-480 gallons of water when full grown, assuming they can even stay together. The male WILL mate with all three females, resulting in them needing pretty much a constant nesting area because they can lay many times a year. Each egg needs to be individually destroyed as to not cause further overpopulation, you can do this by boiling or freezing the eggs and then immediately cracking them before disposal. The females may end up biting and severely injuring or killing the male, so you may need to separate them into two or more tanks permanently. 4 turtles is A LOT of work. I don't want to scare you, but you need to know this information before it happens. You may want to consider adopting the male to another family to ease the stress. You'll still need a large tank, but you won't need to worry as much about aggression and eggs.