Feeding and Nutrition :: Feeding help

[CuriosityCuredTheCat]

Hello everyone, sorry this is a bit long but.... I just adopted a three legged, foot long, 6yr old female res from a reptile rescue. They were feeding her nothing but big frozen anchovies from the walmart bait section twice a day. The anchovies are twice the size of her head, is giving her that much over feeding her? I read here that anchovies aren't really good to feed turtles. The water always had oil floating on it and the smell was HORRIBLE. I have had her for about two weeks and she will eat reptile sticks now but wont touch veggies at all. I can't give her feeder fish since she is missing a leg and wont even try to go after moving things, and even gives up if the sticks float too much. What can I do to help her to start eating healthier food? I just saw the post about the turtle jello shots and am thinking of giving that a try. Thank you for helping out a noob to the forum!

[steve]

Hi, welcome to the forum and congrats on the rescue!

I'd skip the anchovies and stick with the pellets. It might take some time to get her to take her veggies, so you can try using some freshwater aquatic plants in your tank (they'll stay alive if not eaten). You can also use a veggie clip (can be found in local pet store), which will hold the leaves in place with a plastic clip and suction cup. If those don't work, the jello recipe is worth a shot to customize her diet.

[Miss Tee]

try jello shots-Miss Tee LOVES them...and I know she never had a vegetable before in her life until I got her. She wouldn't touch vegetables until I made this recipe. Now I'm happy, cos she's getting all that good stuff that she's supposed to have..dark greens, apple peel, carrot, broccoli. When I made them I sprinkled the tiny size pellets on the top of each one before they gelled.

She gets one everyday (1/2 headsize) for breakfast, when I come home from work she gets a blueberry (her shell needs to shed), and then later a midnight snack of 3/4 pellets.

[marisa]

Along with pellets, you can also give her a trout worm or two from the Walmart bait section---they're fine as part of the diet. At her size, though, plant matter is important, so getting her used to accepting leafy greens would be good. You might try "marinating" them overnight in the water from tuna to get some of the fishy scent on the leaves.

Kudos on the rescue . Which leg is missing? They can do just fine with a missing limb.

[CuriosityCuredTheCat]

Thank you everyone for the tips! I made the jello shots a few days ago out of greens, tuna, cuttle bone, carrot, apple peel, and pellets. She just spits it all out every time and has been hissing at me since I stopped feeding her the anchovies. I guess it will take some time for her to warm up to veggies. My other rescue turtle LOVES it though and he's a picky little guy so I was very happy to see him going crazy for the jello shots, he begges now because of them!

It's her front left leg thats missing, she can get around pretty well but she just likes to act like she can't. That girl can run pretty dang fast when she thinks no one is looking.

[marisa]

You could try a small batch of the jello concoction again, but this time include anchovies in some of the blocks. Gradually cut down on the amount of the anchovy in the blocks until they're not an ingredient. This might be a smoother transition to new foods for her.