General Care Discussion :: Female food suggestions

[CactusJohn5]

LONG back story and if its necessary ill post it, but the short and sweet version is ... i have had my turtles for 2 years, 1 year at one location, then moved into my own place and a year here. 2 (6inch) adult RES females in a 75 gallon with about 60 gallons of water and basking larger enough for both, 2x lights = 100w bulb and UVB bulb.



I posted a while ago about "hibernating" behaviors. which RES do not do, i recently removed the basking platform and started feeding in the tank to try and encourage them to eat! they refuse to eat anything! pellets were a GO TO and they won't even eat those! I have tried, lettuce, and different greens, a couple of fruits, strawberries, grapes, bananas, goldfish/minnows. Notta. Sadly my g/f feeds her guys deli meat, and i was DESPERATE to get them to eat so i tossed in a piece of natural turkey, and ham, and they eat them! UGH! I have tried the "starve them and they will eat anything" method, and they didn't touch anything for 2 weeks.

I took them out and gave them a once over, and there are "visually" fine, no shells issues, no mouth or eye issues.

I normally remove them one by one and feed them in a 5gallon rubbermaid. ANY food/feeding recomendations?

[SINI5T3R]

the starve them method can go for a month to up to 3+ Months. Turtles are alot like snakes when eating. They can literally go for a good 5-6 months without a Bite alltho its not recomended. They have a super slow motabolism. USUALLY you have to start a RES off young on veggies to get them to willingly take them. my RES LOVE lettuce and sweet potatos. RES get spoiled SUPER easy and processed lunch meat like you have fed them is absolutely a DRUG to them and should be a treat like 2-3 times a YEAR for them. I feed mine a high quality Koi pellet food n they love it plus Lettuce and cucumbers which they like. You just got to show them whos Boss on the food end. they r like little kids. you make spegitti n they want McDonalds. Just starv them n offer a piece of lettuce every 4 - 5 days AFTER the first week of no food n they will get the point.ALL IN ALL though the pic you posted seems like a very healthy RES. just dont offer meats for a few months. the pic pic actually looks like a Pastel. More Pics?

[steve]

Would they eat in-tank? Have you tried treats and live prey?

[SquidSox]

Try soaking the greens in some tuna water from a can or in some chicken broth. That usually seems to work also if you can take them outside and let them get some natural light mine seems more hungry after coming in from outside idk if it's coincidence or its something real causing it.

[CactusJohn5]

the i put 36 goldfish and 75 minnows in the tank at the beginning of the YEAR and they are all finally gone. I used to put in 3dozen goldfish and they would be gone in a WEEK!

Steve: they wont really eat anywhere. Used to each veggies and pellets in the bucket and in the tank, now its hard to get them to eat.

Squidsox: ill have to try that, im sure i have some tuna, somewhere!

Sinister: yeah both RES, but ill post pics for you to check out

[steve]

Are they basking normally?

[SINI5T3R]

yup both normals. The light makes it look super yellow lol. Your turtels seem to have a good ammount of fat stored up in those pics tho so they could easily go 3 months with nothing to eat, then just offer them nothing but veggies and sometimes the pellets or some cuttlebone

[CactusJohn5]

Steve: When i first got them, they basked all the time, that is all they did, they were shedding all the time (growing quickly) went from a 5gallon rubbermaid to the 75 gallon. Since i have moved into my own place the basking is sparce, i catch them ONCE in a while basking, but not as much as they should, most of the time, when i check on them they are sleeping ...

Sini5t3r: fat, compared to my girlfriends female RES they seem skinny to me, but i am glad to hear they are doing well.

I tried the lettuce in tuna, it was EXCELLENT they went right after it ... then figured out with it was and stopped, lol! I'll just continue to try different things in tuna juice!

[SquidSox]

Mine were real hyped when I did red leaf lettuce or mustard greens

[steve]

The pitted areas looked like they have healed, and they should look much better after a shed or two.