General Care Discussion :: Finding Food

[ladyraider]

I have my baby, "Buddy" in a 150 gallon aquarium and I have a rock water fall that recycles the water on one side of the tank(He loves this) I also have a couple of big rocks that he can bask on. One on one side of the tank and one on the other side of the tank. My question is if I put the food pellets on one of the rocks that is half above water (and on the other side of the tank) Will " Buddy" be able to seek them out when he is hungary? HELP?

[megcornell]

You should be feeding him in the water. Turtles can't eat on dry land. My turtle is always begging when I go to feed her so she always knows when the pellets hit the water. Even if Buddy doesn't see that, he can sniff out the pellets.

[ladyraider]

I just cleaned the water and it just seems like the pellets cloud it up real fast and I did read "somewhere" that they would take the dry pellets and put them into the water to soften them? Is this true??

[Safdar]

Draw Buddy's attention and place the pellets infront of him
It goes much faster
Usually the pellets will drag themselves to the glass and will stay there ( do you get what i mean)

[Skadica]

You could get a bowl and feed your turtle in it.

[megcornell]

I just cleaned the water and it just seems like the pellets cloud it up real fast and I did read "somewhere" that they would take the dry pellets and put them into the water to soften them? Is this true??

So what difference does it make if you or the turtle places the pellets in the water if it's the pellets that cloud up the water? What you heard is not true. If you want to avoid that problem (personally I've never had a problem with pellets adding too much to the dirtiness of the tank) you can feed your turtle in a separate container. But in a 150gallon tank, if the filter is big enough you shouldn't notice any cloudiness from the pellets alone... what size filter are you using?

[ladyraider]

well that is the problem I am in the interum of finding the appropriate filter system for that size tank

[marisa]

I'd feed him in a separate feeding container (of water) so he'd be more focused on eating.

[ladyraider]

THANK YOU VERY MUCH I WILL TRY THIS AND LET YOU KNOW

[marisa]

If you feed him in a separate container of water, have it the same temp as the tank water and give him some privacy while he's eating.

[industrial_girl_2000]

I agree with Marisa & Skadica. Feed in a separate bowl with water. After a while, he will get used to it (he may not like being out of the tank at first). I have been doing this for 17 yrs with my Sheba with a lot of success. Her tank stays cleaner & she is no longer stressed when I pick her up because she thinks I am taking her to get fed.

[ladyraider]

well seems as though Buddy really likes to eat in the tank(awsome how he grabs the pellets and eats them) so for now I will cont feeding in the tank and get a filter that is adaquate to the tank size. (thank you again everyone)

[untsmurf]

Also, it will help your turtle if you start giving him a signal for feeding time and if you feed him in the same area of the tank. Mikey knows that when I shake his green can of food (his signal) to go to the front left side of the tank (where I always feed him). If he doesn't respond to the can, I don't feed him. I've been doing this everyday for two years though, it takes a while to build up a routine.

[meandmyturtles]

routine geez everytime my guys see me they think I am the food fairy and I have to close my eyes to thier cute begging, I can't believe how much they beg , and take the food right out of my hand the good thing about that is I know how much they are getting, which by thier begging doesn't seem enough, although I go by the head size thingy