Feeding and Nutrition :: A little Worried...

[GThiele93]

I have had my turtles for week now. They are only about 1 inch. I am not power feeding them or starving them I'm trying for a AVERAGE diet.
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(My smaller male turtle)ODB has a heatlthy appetite and he is of no concern.
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(My female)Soda seems to not eat(maybe she is I cant tell).
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This is her.^^^^
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I feed them: Zoo Med Hatchling Pellets(micro sized): about 4 pellets every other day. Somtimes I included a teaspoon of the water From a can of tuna.(not the tuna just the liquid)_This seems to intrest ODB.
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When I moved her to a seperate feeding tank I noticed she just tries to clim to the top and escape or swims around frantically. I relized maybe she doesnt want to be moved.
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Next I tried feeding her directly in the tank she seems to miss the pellets and just run to the walls and rub her nose against them. Somtimes I see her mouth open when she hits the walls as if biting them. she bumps into the pellets or just swims around franticaly.
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I also have the Aquatic plant "Amazon Swords"(they are untouched and seem to be dying.)
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I have seen ODB eat and know how much he eats.
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List of things I have done:
-Water temperature checks
-If the Filer was pulling her around the tank
-Privacy(I have left them alone and watched them seem to act the same)
-Seperatating them
-Veggies
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I am looking into adding some variety to the diet.
-Treats
-Powder to attract them to the food
-Live or dead Meat
-Vitamins
-Aquatic Plants
-Veggies
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Some Pictures.
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If You have any suggestions or Ideas please Reply or contact me.

[Amg81083]

I would try feeding them pellets every day- they are still babies and need to be fed once a day. You could try hand feeding her, then she wouldn't have to search for her food... You said she's outgoing so she might take to that.. Good Luck!!!

[shannon_nicole]

When I got my babies a few months ago, they were the same size as yours and I had one who would not eat. He didn't eat for like 3 weeks!!! And his eyes were often swollen shut and he seemed really bad off and lethargic most of the time. So what I did was, I raised the temperature up to around 82 F in case he was sick, that will help the immune system to fight off whatever is wrong. And then when it was feeding time, I would put him in one of those small critter keeper things, it's basically a square plastic bowl, but I guess any bowl will do as long as it's not big enough that the turtle can get away from the food too much. You can use the little plastic tank that they came in for feeding. I put just enough water from the tank into the bowl so that the water in the bowl just covered the baby's shell. Then I would put the food right in front of the turtle and just wait. And walk away for like 10 to 15 minutes in case he was just being shy. (maybe not a great idea though, now that I think about it, because then there's a chance that the turtle could flip over on it's back and drown... mine was totally inactive though so not much of a worry for me) And then if I come back and the food is gone then good. And if not I wait a bit longer and see if he eats it... and if not I try again tomorrow. Feeding them in a bowl like that, you will know if your turtle is eating the food or not.


Oh yeah one thing. You said you feed them 4 every other day... I'd switch to 2 or 3 pellets each every day. That way they won't get too hungry in between.

[GThiele93]

I would try feeding them pellets every day- they are still babies and need to be fed once a day. You could try hand feeding her, then she wouldn't have to search for her food... You said she's outgoing so she might take to that.. Good Luck!!!

Thank you. How do you hand feed by the way?

[GThiele93]

When I got my babies a few months ago, they were the same size as yours and I had one who would not eat. He didn't eat for like 3 weeks!!! And his eyes were often swollen shut and he seemed really bad off and lethargic most of the time. So what I did was, I raised the temperature up to around 82 F in case he was sick, that will help the immune system to fight off whatever is wrong. And then when it was feeding time, I would put him in one of those small critter keeper things, it's basically a square plastic bowl, but I guess any bowl will do as long as it's not big enough that the turtle can get away from the food too much. You can use the little plastic tank that they came in for feeding. I put just enough water from the tank into the bowl so that the water in the bowl just covered the baby's shell. Then I would put the food right in front of the turtle and just wait. And walk away for like 10 to 15 minutes in case he was just being shy. (maybe not a great idea though, now that I think about it, because then there's a chance that the turtle could flip over on it's back and drown... mine was totally inactive though so not much of a worry for me) And then if I come back and the food is gone then good. And if not I wait a bit longer and see if he eats it... and if not I try again tomorrow. Feeding them in a bowl like that, you will know if your turtle is eating the food or not.


Oh yeah one thing. You said you feed them 4 every other day... I'd switch to 2 or 3 pellets each every day. That way they won't get too hungry in between.

Thank you very much, that was very good advice.
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However i was wondering if by lathargic you mean
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1: Basking all day,very rarley swimming, also when swimming they swim frantically and seem to float up to the surface.
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2:In the water all day long ocassionaly leaning on basking platform. also shuts eyes tight under water swims Well and likes to rest on bottom of the tank.

Because the Female turtle Soda (Turtle I am worried about) is #1
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And my male turtle ODB is #2

[emma]

Try getting your turtles some hatchling ReptoMin pellets. Those seem to be the kind that a lot of turtles will eat. I have the same pellets as you too, and the reptomin, but my turtles barely touch the zoomed stuff, they love the reptomin though. Young turtles typically don't like veggies as much as adults, but you should still be offering them all the time. What kind of veggies are you feeding your turtles?
She still might be getting used to get new habitat. She might start to eat pretty soon. Some turtles adjust better than others.
And like the others said, you should start to feed your turtles everyday. The amount you should be feeding is the amount you think can fit into their head (not counting neck).

[GThiele93]

Try getting your turtles some hatchling ReptoMin pellets. Those seem to be the kind that a lot of turtles will eat. I have the same pellets as you too, and the reptomin, but my turtles barely touch the zoomed stuff, they love the reptomin though. Young turtles typically don't like veggies as much as adults, but you should still be offering them all the time. What kind of veggies are you feeding your turtles?
She still might be getting used to get new habitat. She might start to eat pretty soon. Some turtles adjust better than others.
And like the others said, you should start to feed your turtles everyday. The amount you should be feeding is the amount you think can fit into their head (not counting neck).

I attempt to feed them veggies like Green leaf lettuce and diced carrots<these are washed very thoroghly.
(I then lightly blend them with water to make very small bites.)
Im looking into the reptomin tommorow

[shannon_nicole]

1: Basking all day,very rarley swimming, also when swimming they swim frantically and seem to float up to the surface.

that kind of describes how my sick turtle was acting.
He would just sleep on the basking dock all day with his eyes closed... and sometimes his eyes would be crusty or puffy. And when I put him into the little bowl thing to feed him, it would take like ten minutes before he would even try to open his eyes, and then he would just open one of them. it was weird. And the rare occasions when he would swim it was crazy and frantic. But I eventually got him healthy and now he swims and basks and all just like a normal turtle.

Your other turtle sounds like it's just adjusting to the new tank. shutting its eyes underwater might be a sign of being sensitive to chlorine or whatever might be in the water? have you used reptisafe or some other dechlorinator when adding tap water? Anyway even if that's the issue, it's not a big deal really and it shouldn't hurt your turtle.

[Amg81083]

Hand feeding is easy, Just hold the pellet you're trying to feed soda between two fingers and hold it in or just above the water near her.

[GThiele93]

1: Basking all day,very rarley swimming, also when swimming they swim frantically and seem to float up to the surface.

that kind of describes how my sick turtle was acting.
He would just sleep on the basking dock all day with his eyes closed... and sometimes his eyes would be crusty or puffy. And when I put him into the little bowl thing to feed him, it would take like ten minutes before he would even try to open his eyes, and then he would just open one of them. it was weird. And the rare occasions when he would swim it was crazy and frantic. But I eventually got him healthy and now he swims and basks and all just like a normal turtle.

Your other turtle sounds like it's just adjusting to the new tank. shutting its eyes underwater might be a sign of being sensitive to chlorine or whatever might be in the water? have you used reptisafe or some other dechlorinator when adding tap water? Anyway even if that's the issue, it's not a big deal really and it shouldn't hurt your turtle.

Its The Female im worried about and what you just described(basking all day,frantic swmming ETC.) Is EXACTLY how she is acting how did you get your's back to normal.

[shannon_nicole]

This was a while back so let me see if I remember.
I know I brought the temps up a bit, to around 82 F in the water, and the basking temp was like 85 to 95, and I also separated him from the other turtle so that she wouldn't bother him. Then I just put him in the small dish when I wanted him to eat, and put the food right in front of him and gave him some time to eat it. Once they start eating it's a good sign and they will start to get better. If you have different kinds of turtle pellets available then I would use the one that has the strongest smell. Also you could try offering live foods such as earthworms or crickets... but if the turtle is sick I probably wouldn't push these foods on her too much because they could freak him out. Also don't offer a bunch of different foods at once. Just one or two types would be fine for one feeding session. You can try the dried shrimp or dried krill, sometimes they will eat that more readily I guess it smells better to them or something? Just try to get your turtle to eat something. Oh and when you are feeding her in the little bowl, make sure you get the water out of their tank and not from the sink because the tank water will already be the right temperature and all. I've heard of other people getting some pedialyte and putting the turtle in a little bowl of pedialyte to see if he will drink some of it... I didn't have to do that but you might try it? I'd wait and try the feeding in a bowl thing first especially if it's only been like a week.. if the turtle still won't eat after trying what I said for a few days then try the pedialyte thing.

You can leave the turtle in the bowl for up to like an hour if you want, just watch I guess and make sure it doesn't flip over and drown.

Anyways my turtle was pretty sick for quite a while, but once I got him eating he slowly and steadily got better. For about a week or two he would eat but he would still sleep a lot and still get the crusty eyes and all. But the nutrition was helping him and also the warm temperatures so he got better.

Oh yeah if the food is too big to fit in the turtle's mouth then.. they're not going to eat it. Also I'd get the reptomin baby food, that's what I used, I had some other food too but they wouldn't eat that because it was too big to fit in their mouths. The reptomin baby food is like the perfect size and if not it's really easy to break it in half. Just put the food in front of the turtle, if you want you can break like 3 to 5 of them in half and just put all the pieces in and let it float around then if the turtle decides to eat one of them it should be right there for it. Instead of the turtle having to go looking for the food.

[grey goose]

They both look healthy to me and from the pictures their setup seems fine. Keep in mind that turts need time to get used to you and their new surroundings before they feel comfortable enough to start eating and basking.
Babies should be fed pellets and veggies (baby retomin will do) everyday for the first six months or so, once they have adjusted continue to give them veggies (romaine, green leaf lettuce, NOT iceberg) everyday but start offering pellets every other day.

[shannon_nicole]

oh yeah one other thing that I did is since the turtle was sleeping on the basking dock and not in the water, and the heat lamp was off at night, I got one of those red heat bulbs from the pet store I think they are made for nocturnal animals or something? But anyway it's something that provides heat without white light. and put that towhere it warmed up the turtle on the basking dock at night. I aimed for a temperature between 80 and 85 F for this nighttime heating of basking area. So if your turtle is sleeping on the basking area, you don't want her to get too cold at night because this could make her sicker, so you might try getting one of those lights. I think it's called an infrared heat light.

[GThiele93]

My bulb is 50 Watt and the temp on the dock is 82 should i upgrade to 75wt and move the lamp a little farther away

[shannon_nicole]

either that or try a 60 watt.