Feeding and Nutrition :: Watson stopped eating :(

[Watson&Crick]

Nope, wouldn't even eat Krill treats last night or this morning.

Watson might still be getting used to you, and the new house. Every turtle has their moments where they just are not that into food.

I still think you should try either feeding super smelly foods, like tuna, or soaking pellets in tuna juice. Some people have had success with feeding their turtles canned cat food, but since cat food is for cats, whether or not you want to attempt that is up to you.

So is this a set-back then? Neither Watson nor Crick wanted to eat the first 2 days we got them home, after that they started finishing all their pellets in a couple of minutes! Watson was the more active one at first, learning the fine art of begging, but now he's super low-key and Crick is the one swimming around and diving all the time.

We tried the tuna juice thing originally when they weren't eating, I'll try it again. But I can't imagine anything that will make their food smellier than Krill!

[theartbook35]

Nope, wouldn't even eat Krill treats last night or this morning.

Watson might still be getting used to you, and the new house. Every turtle has their moments where they just are not that into food.

I still think you should try either feeding super smelly foods, like tuna, or soaking pellets in tuna juice. Some people have had success with feeding their turtles canned cat food, but since cat food is for cats, whether or not you want to attempt that is up to you.

So is this a set-back then? Neither Watson nor Crick wanted to eat the first 2 days we got them home, after that they started finishing all their pellets in a couple of minutes! Watson was the more active one at first, learning the fine art of begging, but now he's super low-key and Crick is the one swimming around and diving all the time.

We tried the tuna juice thing originally when they weren't eating, I'll try it again. But I can't imagine anything that will make their food smellier than Krill!

Like I said, canned tuna and canned cat food are pretty strong smelling.

There is also live baby shrimp or feeder fish that you could try.

[Watson&Crick]

No go on the canned cat food and canned tuna last night. Still nothing on either brand of pellet (Nutafin Max Gammarus and Reptomin), no on Krill, no on lettuce, carrots, and bananas.

This afternoon I'm going to buy some rosy reds and another brand of pellet.



On the plus side (I guess), I've been taking him out of his tank so much to put him in his feeding container (and yes, I've tried feeding him in the tank too, no luck), that he has become more active, trying to get away from my hand.

I've also noticed that while he's still not diving, it almost looks like he can't dive. I've seen him try to swim down but he stays floating on the top of the water.

[TheComputerGremlin]

Hmm, that's probably not good. If they are unable to dive, that can be an indicator of an infection. I would make sure your water temps are around 80 degrees to up their immune system, and keep an eye on him/them. You may want to consider separating them as respiratory infections are very contagious. You also probably want to find a herp vet in the area just to have their number ready in case it continues to get worse, or you can take him there sooner.

In their feeding containers, is the water the same temp as the tank? If the temps are lower than that, it may be that it's too cold for them to want to eat. You may want to double check your temps with another thermometer in case yours is not registering the correct temps.

[Watson&Crick]

Alright, heading out hopefully tomorrow to return our pre-set heater (supposed to keep it at 78, but surprise, surprise, it's not) and will get an adjustable one. In the meantime, I've upped the basking temp. I also picked up another brand of pellets (no luck), and Jungle Fever Anti-bacteria pellets, of which he's eaten 2 so far. I picked up some rosy reds, which he happily watches while he floats around, until Crick ate most of them yesterday.

Something new that I noticed today, it looks like his shell is pink, I'll post pictures in a second.

[Watson&Crick]

Hopefully these work!




If not, here are links
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9d806b3127ccec722fc9d586c00000040O01EcMnLJuyYg9vPhI/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/
http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9d806b3127ccec723eb1bb90500000040O01EcMnLJuyYg9vPhI/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

[Watson&Crick]

Also, I forgot to mention. I called the two turtle vets my dog/cat vet recommended to me and both of them said they do not like to take in turtles that are under 2" because usually the stress of the vet visit and whatever treatment can kill them.

Watson's only an inch, so they're not an option.

[TheComputerGremlin]

Yeah, that vet thing is pretty common. I mean, I can't imagine them not seeing the turtle at least, but treating, I can understand that small turtles are very difficult to treat!

The photos seem to show a little pink. Can you try this experiment and report back the results? Get a super soft toothbrush or wash rag and with tank-temperature water from the tap, gently wipe the shell or scrub it a little bit. Does the pink come off? If the pink comes off, it's a harmless bacteria/algae/mold that is frequently added into the water supply as a tracer, and you may just want to check out your tank chemistry or try a small water change. If it doesn't come off, there is a turtle disorder that turns the shell pink/red, but I don't remember what it's called. It's on the forums if you search pink shells. Typically it's just a matter of it being the harmless thing in the water, the turtle disorder is fairly uncommon.

Oh, and know that it's not likely that if your turtle becomes ill that it was your fault. Turtles are treated horribly before they come to us, and we just try to give them as good of a life as we can! Before they come to us, they are often kept with hundreds of babies in too small of conditions, and they are sold to us sick and vulnerable. Many baby turtles on this board have passed away. The key is to recognize if he is really sick and to separate them to let the healthy one not get sick. But I'm still not certain that he's sick.

Your one photo, it looks like you have rather shallow water? What size tank do you have? Ideally, you want to have at least a 20 gallon tank at this point mostly filled up, since you have 2 hatchlings. Much less than that, and it's difficult to maintain the water temps or even fit a water heater in there. If you have a smaller tank, like a 10 gallon, you want to fill it up much more. RES are aquatic and love to swim and dive. It's also much easier to tell if there is something wrong when there is more water. You can include underwater resting areas (I used upside-down suction-cup soap dishes I got from Walmart) that you can place just under the water so they can just lay there and be close to the surface.

[Watson&Crick]

Ok, the pink did come off with some light scrubbing. The pink isn't on Crick yet, think this is because Crick is far more active? This didn't happen before, so I'm also wondering if it has anything to do with our new filter (Fluval 2 Plus)? We can do a water change today, though we just did one Wednesday when we got the new filter in.

We do have them in a 10 gallon tank right now. The people at the pet store (some aqua store, so we thought we could trust them) suggested we start with that until they're about 2.5 or 3", then switch up to a 20 or 30 gallon. It's got about 8 gallons in it right now.

[Caphits]

A 10 gallon is fine for a while, but you are gonna need a really huge tank eventually, so you should skip the 20-30 gallon range, and buy the biggest you can afford.

[Watson&Crick]

A 10 gallon is fine for a while, but you are gonna need a really huge tank eventually, so you should skip the 20-30 gallon range, and buy the biggest you can afford.

We're in a small home right now but plan on moving into something bigger in 2 or 3 years, so that's when we were hoping to go really big, so we might do a 20-30 gallon before moving up. As they get bigger, we just plan on using their smaller tank to breed some feeder fish, so it wouldn't be a total waste.

[Caphits]

Yeah, that would be good if you plan to re-use them. 2-3 years is a long time for 2 turtles to be in a 30 gallon tank. They will be pretty big by then, each requiring probably around 50-60 gallons each. (Ideally).

[TheComputerGremlin]

2-3 year old turtles would be about 5-6", so minimally at that point you would want a 90-120 gallon tank. Eventually you are going to want a 150-240 gallon tank, assuming that they get along. I would say that right now, if you could try to get your hands on a 55-75 gallon tank, they could survive in that for 2-3 years. Set that as a goal, look around for the next month or two on Craigslist or yard sales to find something in that range. It would be tight in 3 years, but it's better than a 20 gallon! And an above tank basking area will give you the ability to put the squeeze on a smaller tank, because it will maximize swimming space. Look into building one of those for your 55-75 gallon, check the photos section for ideas.

[Watson&Crick]

My first concern is to make sure they both survive the first year. After that we'll look at upgrading their tank size.

If they start to show aggression or for some reason can't be kept together anymore, my parents have a nice outdoor garden pond that should easily house one of them (when they're larger of course).

We know our 10 gallon won't do for very long and can upgrade as they need it, my concern right now is to get Watson eating and growing again.

Over the weekend we were able to get him to eat 1 medicated pellet on Friday, 2 on Saturday, and 1 yesterday. He also ate a couple krill on Saturday.

[TheComputerGremlin]

Sounds like a start! When my turtle was 2", she only at 3 Reptomin pellets each day. Even a little bit is good, and hopefully as he's feeling more up to it, he'll eat a bit more.