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Oliver still loooooves his pellets, but I've noticed that he's leaving lettuce behind uneaten these days. He'll eat about half the piece and leave the rest floating around. There are little pieces floating too, like he took a bite and spat it out. This is unheard of for Oliver. He usually doesn't know when to quit. We are giving him just as much lettuce as we always have - a piece just a little bigger than his shell.

I'm afraid that he got picky and decided dandelion is the only thing that's good enough for him. But for the past couple of weeks there hasn't been any dandelion in the store. We have been using red lettuce instead, which he used to love.

He has been basking a lot working on a shed, so is there a possibility that since he isn't swimming around as much he's just not as hungry? Or is my turtle getting picky?

(I think this started before the traumatic escape day I posted about...he doesn't seem sick otherwise or anything. Oh my... Maybe I should have posted this in the urgent care thread...)

Just try switching it up for a while and then offer it later. If you were eating the same thing every day you would probably get bored of it too!

turtles do get bored of their food. try offering other kinds of plants

Ah HAH! I just watched the whole thing. Oliver goes after his lettuce as voraciously as ever, but the water in the new tank circulates so well that within a couple of minutes he and the lettuce have floated over to the spot where the water flows back into the tank from above, and the lettuce gets pushed down under the water flow and gets covered in bubbles. At that point he gives up on it.

The dandelion greens must not have floated that well.

This is no good because it either means I'm going to have to take him out of the tank to feed him (he hates being touched so much), or I'm going to have to turn off the filter when I feed him (isn't this bad for the bacteria in the biomedia?). In either case, I am not happy about having to give these new instructions to the person who is going to be taking care of him over Christmas.

Just use a veggie clip. I used one until my turtle broke mine.