General Care Discussion :: attack of the turtle! owch!

[blackforces get you]

i got bitten by my turtle kitty nails today!. since i was feeding her and i didnt give her food for a week because i was away when i fed her about 5 pellets she ate them all and my 2 inch also. when i stuck my finger inside she bit me!. before she would sniff my hand and then would continue swimming. idk what to do now im scared of her biting me again. maybe the smell of the pellets went on my fingers and she thought it was pellets. good guess but its still swollen. she bit my baby bro too

[imderanged]

My trtle bites me when I hand feed him too. I think the only thing to do is keep your fingers out of her mouth!

[packfan1]

Did I understand that you did not feed her for a week? Seems like a long time to go without food. I plan on being away for a couple of days and will be buying some feeder fish for my guys so the will at least have something to eat while I am gone for a couple of days. Your turle may be really hungry if it has not ate for a week. Maybe thougth your finger was more food and being hungry took a bite. Just be careful not to get bit again and clean any wound well as turtles carry salmenela(sp) LOL.

[blackforces get you]

yeah my baby bro got bitten. she was scared and i understand. anytime i put her in the bathtub my baby bro would always pick her up after the day she bit him he wont touch her again. and when i plan to be away for 2 weeks ill have to get about 24 feeder fish for my 5 inch since ill be gone for a while. i usually buy 30 rosy reds a month but 24 seems much better a month. once i started feeding her fish she got a little bit chunky. showing that she will eat anything she comes across i would plan on getting fish before we go. my 2 inch doesnt like fish since he doesnt know how to hunt. when he was brn he didnt have no hunting skills all he knew was to eat pellets but since my 5 inch was raised in the wild she had better abilities to hunt. im gona have to put a lit of turtle pellets but im scared that he will eat them alla t once and hell be hungry for a week

[imderanged]

maybe a feeder on a timer would work out better, especially for the little one?

[blackforces get you]

well i never had a feeder before. since im new to these guys i dont know that much all i know is that they need basic things but the small things are what i dont focus on. i know about the feeder timer but they usually have those for fish dont they?

[imderanged]

honestly, I have never used one myself, but someone else was just mentioning on another thread that they were able to use a fish feeder like you could get in the petstore to feed their turtle.

[blackforces get you]

well maybe i would get a feeder but if thy cost a lot then theres gona b a problem because i doubt my dad will get me 1 after the day i told him to spend 50 dollars.

[TheComputerGremlin]

24 (or 30) feeder fish seems like WAY too much for one turtle, whether it's for a few days or a whole month. My almost 4" turtle gets no more than 3 feeder fish a month. You want to stick with the head-sized rule and not over do it, or you will see significant pyramiding.

The automatic fish feeders are pricey, but if you will be gone for a significant amount of time, it's a necessary cost.

[blackforces get you]

since they sell 15 rosy reds for a dollar the small fish get eaten and i buy about 30 a month. but i heard goldfish are very fatty and i avoided that. the head size rule still applies since the feeder fish dont grow. im going away for 2 weeks and i doubt anyone will take care of them for me

[megcornell]

Blackforce, it is your responsibility to make sure the turtles are taken care of. This means you either need to find someone to feed them or look into an automatic fish feeder.
You cannot simply dump a large number of fish into the tank. Turtles cannot "budget" their food and responsibly eat a few a day. They will gorge on the fish and then starve.

[imderanged]

Do you have a friend you could have come over and feed your turtles for you while you are gone? My neighbor went away for a week or two and left a key with a neighbor kid and he fed the dogs and took them out while they were gone.

[industrial_girl_2000]

Do you have a friend you could have come over and feed your turtles for you while you are gone? My neighbor went away for a week or two and left a key with a neighbor kid and he fed the dogs and took them out while they were gone.

This is what I do too (have a friend come & feed my turt when I am gone). I always make up pre-measured little bags of food so my pet sitter doesn't have to think about "how much" to give my turtle. They just dump one bag in for a feeding. And all the lights go on a timer. Timers are very cheap, usually around $10 and that way the lights will go on/off without anyone having to manually turn them on/off.

[blackforces get you]

yeah i guess i can get a nieghbor to feed them. but my uncle lives with us and i doubt he will be going with us. so maybe he can but the reson being is hes blind so he might not know how many pellets to put in

[Take-One]

Why was your baby bro's hand in the tank. And also did you say your turtle was raised in the wild?