Feeding and Nutrition :: new RES and they won't eat

[kblivinglegend]

i recently bought 4 RES 6 days ago, but they have yet to eat. i have them in a 10 gallon tank (half water half rocks), with the proper lighting. i attempted to feed them pellets and dried shrimp, but all of them won't eat. i even separate them when i want them to eat, but none of them budge. any suggestions?

[taurusgirl]

they are still scared and will probably eat soon
you might want to try tuna juice
give them time
its not uncommon

[kblivinglegend]

tuna juice and what? and should i feed them altogether or in separate tanks?

[taurusgirl]

you soak their food in it
and i would feed them seperate

[megcornell]

You didn't mention having a heater.
What is the water temperature? Hatchlings need about 78F water to eat.
Also, 10 gallons is woefully small for four turtles, I hope its only a very temporary set up until you can get them situated.

[kblivinglegend]

i do have a heater, and the 10 gallon is only temporary until they grow a bit.


any other suggestions other than soaking their food in tuna juice?

[Kemul]

After you make sure that your turtles aren't ill, you can try worms just to entice
them to eat. If they eat, try the pellets next gradually. That's what I did when
my turtle recovered from RI. Ramen only ate worms since, I guess, it was born.
That's the only food it knew. Now Ramen likes the Reptomin baby pellets

Oh, Ramen at a half of a guppy once. I wonder how it managed to catch that
quick little fish

Oh, by tuna juice, I think it means the water that canned tuna is soaked in.
Remember, water, not oil.

Good luck!

[kblivinglegend]

hey kemul, i took a look at your tank setup that you had on photobucket and i see that you dont have any land area for your RES. is that how it should be becase i have roughly 25lbs of gravel on one side of my 10 gallon tank for my RES to hang out. is that too much?

[Kemul]

Well, the "land" area is an inverted soap dish that's attached to the side of the tank.
You can barely see it from the photos, but it's on the left side, under the lamp.
I want to maximize swimming area, so I go with minimum things in the water.
Eventually, when Ramen gets bigger, I plan to build an ATBA.

For now, my turtle likes to hang out by the plants, thermometer, or basking on the
inverted soap dish.

I'd suggest that you don't use gravel. It's alright if its size is bigger than your
turtle's head, but it'll be dangerous if it's not. Your turtle might swallow it and bad
things will happen. Besides, gravel traps debris, making it hard to clean. Also,
10 gallons is pretty small and you want the valuable swimming space more

[SpenceMasta]

i hope you're an experienced turtle keeper cause 4 are gonna be a lot of trouble, you have an extremely high chance of having to raise them in separate tanks because they will start fighting unless you got a pond