Habitat - Indoor :: Fake plants for turtle tank...

[Ensley03]

I have a 7" RES and I recently gave him a couple fake plants. They are the ones that are stuck in a cluster of glued little rocks. One of them is pretty small and the other is quite large with big leaves. It's been about a month now and the issue is my turtle keeps trying to eat the large plant. Most of the leaves are partially shredded. He doesn't seem to catch on that they're fake.

There is no way I could put live plants in - he would just eat them all immediately as he is a huge pig that devours everything instantly. If I take away his plants, he would be pretty upset if I didn't replace them because he loves to just sit in them when he's not being retarded and trying to eat them. He never has tried to eat the little one. They are both some kind of cloth-like fabric and I'm wondering if there are more plastic-ish types of plants that can't be eaten but also still look nice underwater.

Any help with this would be appreciated.

[devilduck]

I find that silk plants last longer and are more difficult to shred than plastic.

[Ensley03]

Ok well that doesn't help my situation because my turtle eats cloth plants lol.

[Mr.Shenanigans]

Have you tired ALL the possible plants you could put in there? like Java fern and some moss? I believe for the most part those are two things they are not particularly interested in, but i guess it depends on the turtle but would be worth a shot, its not like they are expensive like the fake "pretty" crap you buy in the pet shops lol. try adding those and provide the plants that turtles def like to eat, like duckweed for instance, this way he has something to pick at or devour and will favor that over the other plants

[apondfortimmy]

I've got some plastic ones that look really nice. So far there haven't been any pieces missing.

And I second the duckweed. You can perpetuate the growth in a bucket and scoop bunches in when the surface of the bucket gets full.

[devilduck]

I've tried them all. A huge java fern grown on 6" of cocomat with 12 inch long leaves. I'd see missing leaves everyday. Java moss grow on driftwood fared a little better but one day she started grazing on that too. Marimo ball work the best. The first one she took a huge bite out of it and never touched it again. Took it out because the mossball started tearing itself apart as the inner dormant moss started growing and getting caught in filter.

[Mr.Shenanigans]

Interesting. I think my girl is the odd one out, as she doesn't touch the lettuce I put in for her so I hope that carries over to when I plant my 135. We'll see, since it will be a community tank hopefully she spend more time chasing than grazing. She's 6 years old. But like I said try to introduce plants you could careless about so she can tear them up instead like the the duckweed which just floats.

[Ensley03]

I bought duckweed once and he obliterated it to the point where there was shredded particles floating everywhere and clogging the filter intake. The only real "plants" I intend on putting in there are Bok Choy leaves. I haven't tried every real plant type but I'm fairly certain that it wouldn't matter - hence why he eats cloth plants.

Maybe I'll just take a leaf of it to a pet store and compare the material to some other ones and buy a different kind of fake plant.