Feeding and Nutrition :: Picky eater

[Jaysea]

So i'm pretty sure Cody is a picky eater. He doesn't touch cuttlebone at all, has bit it once and spit it right back out again. Last night i tried lettuce and carrots for the first time with him. He tried to take a bite of the shredded carrot and chewed on it for a bit then spit it out and wont touch it. He's afraid of it when i try to feed it to him now he swims underneath his dock The lettuce he wont even look at, i've tried hand feeding it to him and even left a piece in overnight in his veggie clip. He never touched it. Any ideas how I can get him interested in veggies?

[meltedspork]

#1 thing is don't give up, keep giving him veggies even if he doesn't touch them. And try different things, especially different types of lettuce. Also try soaking the lettuce in tuna juice overnight or for a few hours at least and see if he will eat it then. My Toby will only eat red leaf lettuce for some reason, won't touch green leaf lettuce or romaine or any other type. It took him a while before he would even eat the red leaf but now he eats it no problem.

If you try and try and still don't have any luck, try the "turtle shots" recipe in the "feeding and nutrition" section (it is a sticky)... that should work like a charm.

[Jaysea]

Thanks for the reply. So far I tried Romaine since it seems to be the most popular with these turtles, if that doesn't work i'll have to move onto something else. I keep looking at him in his aquarium and telling him he might as well eat the carrots and lettuce cause i'm not giving him anything else til he does Makes me feel like a mean mommy. And i'm definitely going to have to try those jello shots, i've been intending to since I joined the site here, just haven't had time yet.

[meltedspork]

Don't feel mean - a lot of people hold out on giving pellets or other food until the turtle will eat the veggies. Sometimes that's just what it takes.

[Ranger The Red Ear Slider]

Yeah I didn't feed mine pellets for 5 days only had lettuce in his tank but still wouldn't eat it.

[Jaysea]

I fail at tough love, i broke down and gave him 3 pellets tonight just so he'd eat something

[steve]

Have you tried a veggie clip? It works pretty well by keeping veggies or aquatic plants stuck to the side of the tank. If he becomes curious, he'll take bites and understand that it's ok for him to eat it

[Jaysea]

Yep, i've been putting in a fresh piece of lettuce everyday on a clip. So far i've seen pcs missing but they are usually floating around the aquarium. So apparently he's biting them off and spitting them out.

[Ranger The Red Ear Slider]

Mine does the same with his romaine.

[kellycraig125]

Mine wouldn't touch any veggies, so I started making the jello shots and he actually loves them.....I first made them with more tuna juice (so it was stinkier) and then decreased until I use very little now. And funny thing is, after I started giving him the jello shots, he became a lot more "open" to trying new veggies. He LOVES the occasional sweet potato and carrot- although I have to cook his carrot just a very little bit because he doesn't seem to like it completely raw...he will also only eat the red leaf lettuce when it by itself (not in the jello shot). But the jello shots are his main food source now. Of course, if I cave and give him any form of protein on a regular basis, he gets spoiled very quickly, so I have to MAKE myself not give it to him! He's so cute, though, it's hard for me not to give in to his begging/pickiness.