General Care Discussion :: Fat or Not

[zeek]

Hi guys,
How can you tell when a RES is getting fat???

[marisa]

S/he would have difficulty fitting inside the shell. There'd be flesh (not just skin) pooching out when the limbs were retracted.

Do you think there's a bit too much of your RES?

[zeek]

oh [----], umm I guess mine is getting fat then. the thing is, she will not eat anything else other than pellets...so stobarn. once in a while she will pick at the lettuce. so what should I do, I don't really wanna not feed her anything.

[marisa]

Got a picture of her? How big is she?

When you feed her, how many pellets does she get? How often do you feed her?

If she's overweight but healthy otherwise, withholding the pellets for a bit and feeding her plant matter (veggies) for a few days wouldn't hurt her. If she's hungry, she should eventually eat them.

[zeek]

no recent pics, ive had her from last christmas, got a lot bigger tho. Umm when I feed pallets I give her one at a time, she eats most of them with one bite, and she can continue to eat to about 10 pallets, which I think is too much tho but she refuses to eat veggies. But ill try tho, ill shred up some carrots and lettuce for her.

[blackforce247]

well im having the same problem too. it seems that my female red eared slider is starting to pyramid on top of its shell. even though its not falling off i can see a small amount of gained weight. same with my baby red eared slider too. seems like they both get along but dont seem to share space

[Sgt. Pepper]

Zeek: Last Christmas as in about 4 months ago? I'd say 10 pellets is waaay too much. My turtle hardly gets that much and she's almost 4 inches now. Do you know the hollow head rule? Estimate how much you think would fit into her head if it was empty like a thimble, not counting the neck. Give her veggies every day and cut back on the pellets to about 5 or 6 a day. If she's hungry she'll eat the veggies.

Blackforce: It's not a good idea to have two turtles in one tank, especially if one is an adult and one is a baby. The adult could seriously injure or kill your baby turtle. If it looks like they're not getting along, separate them immediately before it's too late.