RES stopped eating pellet food 3+ days ago; theories?
Posted: Sat Apr 01, 2017 2:27 pm
Just as the title says, about three days ago my female Red Eared Slider stopped accepting pellets. Up until last week, I was feeding her OmegaOne sticks for a few weeks. Went back to ZooMed pellets for less than a week when she stopped accepting them.
Less than 24-hours before she stopped accepting the pellets, I used a mesh net to pick up solid waste such as lettuce, and anything that floats.
Is it possible that a turtle would show symptoms less than 24-hours after using a potentially unsanitary net? (a net that was not completely sanitized after being rinsed) Since then I did boil the net prior to using it again.
Current theories:
- Stress
- Gravid (didn't check yet because I didn't want to stress her out)
- Tired of her current food?
- Fed too much as it is?
- Lastly most worrisome, signs of sickness. (due to the potentially unsanitary net used less than a day before this started)
Prior to the unusual behavior, my female RES of nearly 8 years of age was being fed 8 to 10 pellets every day or a few OmegaOne pellets. She also was given Lettuce or Dandelion Greens to graze on during that time.
To entice eating, today I did dip her pellets in Canned Albacore Juice. She didn't take to the dipped ZooMed pellets but she did pick at the OmegaOne sticks after I dipped them. She ate a couple of them un-dipped last night but not all of them. She seemed a little more interested in the OmegaOne pellets once dipped in juice this afternoon.
One last thing to note; Paffie readily ate a couple of pieces of Albacore straight out of my hand under water, with no hesitation.
Next steps:
When I go to work today I'm probably gonna buy Flukers canned shrimp at the pet store. My turtles love that stuff so I suspect my Paffie buddy would eat that if nothing else. Not my first choice because of the high protein but I'm more comfortable with this than feeding her canned Albacore which is made for human consumption.
I'll also buy fresh red leaf lettuce or other leafy greens like collard greens.
I hope enough detail has been provided to receive input on the matter. I'm really worried and want to get the ball rolling on identifying the situation and addressing it.
Less than 24-hours before she stopped accepting the pellets, I used a mesh net to pick up solid waste such as lettuce, and anything that floats.
Is it possible that a turtle would show symptoms less than 24-hours after using a potentially unsanitary net? (a net that was not completely sanitized after being rinsed) Since then I did boil the net prior to using it again.
Current theories:
- Stress
- Gravid (didn't check yet because I didn't want to stress her out)
- Tired of her current food?
- Fed too much as it is?
- Lastly most worrisome, signs of sickness. (due to the potentially unsanitary net used less than a day before this started)
Prior to the unusual behavior, my female RES of nearly 8 years of age was being fed 8 to 10 pellets every day or a few OmegaOne pellets. She also was given Lettuce or Dandelion Greens to graze on during that time.
To entice eating, today I did dip her pellets in Canned Albacore Juice. She didn't take to the dipped ZooMed pellets but she did pick at the OmegaOne sticks after I dipped them. She ate a couple of them un-dipped last night but not all of them. She seemed a little more interested in the OmegaOne pellets once dipped in juice this afternoon.
One last thing to note; Paffie readily ate a couple of pieces of Albacore straight out of my hand under water, with no hesitation.
Next steps:
When I go to work today I'm probably gonna buy Flukers canned shrimp at the pet store. My turtles love that stuff so I suspect my Paffie buddy would eat that if nothing else. Not my first choice because of the high protein but I'm more comfortable with this than feeding her canned Albacore which is made for human consumption.
I'll also buy fresh red leaf lettuce or other leafy greens like collard greens.
I hope enough detail has been provided to receive input on the matter. I'm really worried and want to get the ball rolling on identifying the situation and addressing it.