Feeding and Nutrition :: Tough Love...

[MenTalTerYn]

Leo hasn't even touched any lettuce i've given him in the past 2 1/2 weeks nor has he touched the carrots i give him (1 small peel)
but eats his pellets just fine. So i've decided on using tough love and stop feeding him pellets till he eats his veggies.
Poor little bugger

[jenaero]

You're a brave one! They're master beggars to be prepared I don't know if I'd go for too long without the pellets for a smaller turt. Try a few days then some pellets, then a few more days, then some pellets.

[staman]

Instead of trying to starve him in to eating veggies get some aquatic plants. My turts used to ignore lettuce,carrots etc.. I got aquatic plants one day (amazon sword, grass, starhorn) and after 3-4 days they started munching on them. Now they eat rommaine,carrots,melon etc...

[MenTalTerYn]

Okay, i've tried only giving him veggies for about a week, and he did nibble on the lettuce, but once i started putting pellets back in, he wont touch it any more. I've also tried giving him grated carrots, never seen him even sniff it... atm i have a medium sized amazon sword plant in the tank, but it's been about 2-3 weeks and haven't seen him touch it either, nor does it look like he's been taking bites... any suggestions?

[staman]

My turts used to get three to four pellets daily. They would of course beg at me and sometimes I would cave in. Once a turtle gets used to eating a certain amount every day theyll come to expect it. I suggest you feed him his normal pellet routine (maybe even more) for a short while and then pull the bait and switch on him. Feed him nothing but rommaine lettuce or amazon sword for a week and hell be hapily munching on it I guarantee. When my turts got fed pellets every day they could care less about lettuce and carrot. When theyre starving--thats when they eat it. Oddly enough they learn to love pretty much anything if they eat enough of it. I cant keep amazon swords in my tank now they destroy them with all the munching.

[jenaero]

I hear the amazon sword is bitter. I tried it once and my turts wouldn't touch it either.

[marisa]

Try some venerable anachris.

[weirdalison]

i've been having trouble getting my turtles to eat vegetables. i even tried the old tuna juice trick. they go crazy when they smell it. then they go check out the vegetable and then they decide it sucks and they wont eat it. so i've been feeding them less pellets. and now they're just mad at each other.