Feeding and Nutrition :: How do you do it?

[CountryGirl68]

With all the tank cleaning I do each day (scooping out poop, leftover lettuce), and making sure the water and basking temp is just right, I find the hardest thing is seeing Tanner's cute little "sad" face begging for food. Every time we look his way, he comes up to the glass and claws at it frantically, almost saying "Please, please feed me".

Tanner seems to ALWAYS be hungry, even after he's been fed. I've read here where some folks feed them until they are full but I'm afraid doing that will cause Tanner to become overweight.

I'm just curious: how do you folks handle having to ignore the greedy little, yet so adorable, tykes?

[steve]

Its hard but you get used to it. I do try to keep some fresh lettuce on the side if they ever beg. I usually have to back away because water will get splashed all over the place if I just stand around a tank.

[marisa]

I walk away.

[BullDog]

I also usually dump his food in, then either leave the room, or sit back a ways and watch for a bit. He realises pretty quick now that that is all the food he's getting.

[missibsu]

You can always offer some cuttlebone too. It doesn't seem to get eaten as quickly in my tank.

[grey goose]

Theres no end to the ways they will try to get a little extra food out of you. Each of my babies has their own routine:

Beaker will press his plasteron against the front glass and with paws outstreched, slowly slide to the bottom. I call it the "Dying of starvation beg". It's quite good. Score: 8.5
Big Daddy/Momma just claws at the glass. Standard begging, no imagination. Score: 6.0
Gomez stays at the surface, desperatly flailing his arms and legs, splashing while trying to keep his head above the water. I call it the "Too famished, gonna drown" routine. Very entergetic and original. Score: 9.5

But as soon as I leave the room, the Begging Olympics end, and they go back to whatever they were doing......

[SpotsMama]

Hilarious!!

[Shavannah]

OMG, grey goose! You never cease to crack me up! You need to write a turtle anicdote book! I would definitely buy one!

[pixiedust]

i can' stop laughing! nice one grey goose! i could imagine those turts...cuuuute!

[CountryGirl68]

You can always offer some cuttlebone too. It doesn't seem to get eaten as quickly in my tank.

I've tried that. It's usually gone in about 15 minutes. I have to turn my back on him and totally ignore him or else I feel so guilty seeing him beg the way he does.

Beaker will press his plasteron against the front glass and with paws outstreched, slowly slide to the bottom. I call it the "Dying of starvation beg". It's quite good. Score: 8.5
Big Daddy/Momma just claws at the glass. Standard begging, no imagination. Score: 6.0
Gomez stays at the surface, desperatly flailing his arms and legs, splashing while trying to keep his head above the water. I call it the "Too famished, gonna drown" routine. Very entergetic and original. Score: 9.5

YOU ARE TOO FUNNY!!!!!!

[grey goose]

Lol! Its just so much fun having three babies in one tank. After work, I can spend hours on my bonding process, or just watching them interact with each other. For me its therapy, really. I have family and friends who visit, all cat/dog people (not that there's anything wrong with that ), who walk up to the tank, stare at them and say, "Thats a pretty boring pet you've got there, whats the fasination, Goose?"

I swear I'll never tell.......

[Shavannah]

I'm a cat person, 3 of them. They are always entertaining. I don't think people get the 'turtle fun' thing until they own one for themselves. Turts are very entertaining, and theraputic like you said. I find myself looking over at Gandalf's tank watching him instead of the tv, lol.