redearslider.com

my 3-4 month (i think) old red ear slider had never eaten while in my care. I get him/her (too little to tell!) in mid august, and recently got correct heating and a larger enclosure. he was still not eating pellets, vegetables, crickets, mealworms, earthworms, tuna, chicken, eggs, cat food, or dog food... i tried everything! so i bought fluker's repta-aid herbivore emergency-aid and have been mixing .5 grams with 1 mL of water and 2 soaked pelets, occasionally adding repto-cal. i feed it with a syringe, the kind with no needle attached, and he eats it pretty willingly. i have been doing this for three days now, once a day, and i notice a huge improvement in energy and happiness. i always make sure i allow him to be in the water between squirts in order to let him swallow and if he gets too stressed i leave him alone. my question is, is this safe? he still isn't eating on his own and i don't know what else to do.

oh, and by the way, he's about 1.5 inches, although i've never measured with a ruler or anything.

force feeding is actualy extremly stressful for turtles,
Have you tried actual live fish? or crab, krill or shrimp.

have you taken your turtle to a vet an asked them to check up o the turtle. Have you noticed any loss in weight?

If you've had him since August he's definitely been eating- he would have starved by now if he weren't eating anything.
Chances are he's too shy to eat in front of you. Have you tried feeding him and then leaving the room and coming back in 10-15 minutes later to see if the food is gone?
Hatchlings can be very shy and can take a while to get used to humans.

It took my turts about 2 weeks before they would eat in front of me. I have had them now for about 2-4 months now and I am finally able to put them in a little dish for them to make a mess in then put em back in the tank. And I would say that your turtle is still scared to eat with you by her. Give her maybe a month then she will probably be eating out of your hands! I bet you are giving her a great life!

i agree with megcornell, it definately would have starved by now. Also don't sit and watch your turtle when trying to feed, it will make it nervous

His size sounds good for the age you say he is---are you sure there aren't fewer pellets at the end of his feeding? If he's eating a little, he could also be eating his poop...

The way you're feeding sounds rather laborious. Are you doing this outside of the tank in a separate container of water? Were you trying to feed him food outside of the tank? If so, try keeping him in the tank when giving "regular" food to see if he'll eat more.

Yeah, I never find any poop in my tank anymore... I was thinking they were eating it..

thanks everyone =)

he's actually been really receptive to the force feeding, and it isn't as mean as it sounds (really!) i had tried EVERYTHING before resorting to this, i promise. it has been 5 days since i first started, and now he opens his mouth whenever he sees the syringe. it's actually really cute. i've started to just feed him straight pellets without the powder added, and i am going to start feeding him pellets in a seperate conatiner soon.

slowsky -- It is not unusual for a turtle to not eat for a week or so when it finds it's self in a new environment. Keep the water clean and raise the temperature from the 78 degrees to 80. This will raise it's metbolism and should make him hungrier quicker. Offer food once or more a day and it will eventually eat.