Feeding and Nutrition :: Picky eaters?

[bobbeym]

Neither of my 2 hatchlings (about 1.5" each) will eat pellets, no matter what we've tried. We've tried both Reptomin and Turtle Bites, and all the tips on the enticing eating page - we even dusted them with shrimp powder - but nothing. They won't eat cuttle bone or vegies either. All they seem to like is dried shrimp and dried tuna.

Is it possible for them to really be that picky and if so, any ideas on what I can do? Both of them will actually bat the food away from them, and Dory once spit it out and wiped at her mouth after accidentally eating a little bite of a pellet.

My husband thinks that they're (almost) brand-new hatchlings and they just need the extra protein. I thought that sounded kinda weird, but I know very little about turtles (other than what I've found here) so I couldn't really disagree with his theory. We're going into week 4 of this battle and it's about to drive me nuts because I worry that they're being over-proteined.

[grey goose]

Turts can be picky...and stubborn.....but as hatchlings, you must keep trying to introducing veggies and pellets into their diets. Shrimp should be only a rare treat (or bribe if they stop eating). Greens should be offered every day, pellets every other day.......You can try hand feeding Reptomin pellets soaked in tuna juice (water not oil) at first, and see if you can wean them off of the "treats" they have grown used to.

[erinemcgreevy]

I recently had the same problem with my own babies. I'm afraid the only thing that worked for me was to stay strong and only feed them pellets and veggies, eventually they got hungry and ate (this did take about a week). Now they eat their pellets like good little turts!

[industrial_girl_2000]

What's the water temp? Do you have a heater?

Turtles won't eat if the water is too cold. For hatchlings, the temp should be around 80 degrees F. Make sure you also have a thermometer handy so you can verify the temp.

[FLhaven4strays]

I recently had the same problem with my own babies. I'm afraid the only thing that worked for me was to stay strong and only feed them pellets and veggies, eventually they got hungry and ate (this did take about a week). Now they eat their pellets like good little turts!

Ditto. When I first got Liza she was a shrimp ADDICT. I forced myself to ignore her pleading looks & offered her pellets twice a day. I didn't know I was supposed to offer greens too but I did have water lettuce & water hyacinth in there for her to munch. It took around 4-5 days for her to begin eating the pellets at all, and about 2-3 weeks total for her to accept them readily each day. (When she began eating them I dropped back to once a day) Now she begs for them everytime I walk by.