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I wanted to post what I'm just starting to try to feed my young RES (8-10 months) for anyone to comment on or whatever.

Even though he/she is used to eating the turtle sticks, my RES has not taken a liking to veggies so I remembered an earlier suggestion to add tuna juice to make it more 'palatable'.

So today, I went a bit further and grated different veggies together i.e. red pepper, carrot, zucchini, then added some tuna juice, THEN added some powdered cuttlebone. It's still a pretty wet mix so I put it on his basking rock that is partially in the water so the powder and stuff stays with the food but does not float away.

He's TOTALLY shy and I have not seen him eat but I will know if it disappears from the rock. I made extra and am thinking about letting the mixture dry some so I can add it to the water. But if he likes eating off the 'rock', then maybe he'll get used to that. I think the veggies should stay fresh anyway.

We'll see!

YY

oh thats exactly like my turtles! they wont eat any veggie like object. does your mashy concoction work?

Try some aquatic plants... if he doesn't eat them, then they won't go to waste.

The aquatic plants are a great idea. But if he loves them, won't that "spoil" him for veggies? I guess if he doesn't like veggies to begin with, it doesn't matter.

Yea so far my mish-mash seems to work. Later I check the area where I put his food and see that most of it is gone. I also vary the vegetables. I add his turtle sticks and since they need a bit more protein, I've even added some canned cricket (Have to chop'em, yuk) at times but not too often. Or I'll put in Zoo-med's freeze-dried krill or shrimp.

But the main ingredient is veggies which I grate with a small-hole cheese grater since my turt is only about 1.5".

It's hard to judge their appetites. Some are very aggressive while others are passive. If he's taking the mish-mash, I think that it is a very good start.