troubles getting my turtles to eat

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RevDaniel

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I feed my three juvenile Maquarie short neck turtles the frozen blood worms of a night time dinner but when i try to give them the premium reptiles sticks in the morning they are not interested in even looking at the little pellets.
I brake them up into small pieces so that can fit them into their mouths but still they shouw no interest toward the pellets. What could i be fedding the in the mornings instead?
 
I found my eln were never intrested in pellets full stop and the murray only began to eat floating food after a few months. There are a variety of alternate and healthier foods for turts.
two turtle caresheets outlining foods/feeding can be found here. on the left of the screen at the top look under "feature articles"~ 'caresheets'~ 'other'. cheers :D
 
I have found that thawed Gambusia is an excellent feed for turtles. A friend of mine raised a turtle from a hatchling on a diet consisting almost exclusively of thawed Gambusia and he grew very quickly and healthily (no UV was given, by the way).

I actually use thawed Gambusia for many of my reptiles, they're very versatile (good for frogs, turtles, lizards and some snakes, as well as insects, spiders, some mammals.....) and highly nutritious. I was thinking about supplying these commercially as they're more nutritious than pink mice and I could supply them for half the price, perhaps less.
 
How old are they?? One feed a day should be sufficient for them. If they are over 6 months you may even reduce it to 5-6 times a week.
Maybe even get them on to turtle dinners and give them blood worms as a treat??
Take care. Have fun.
Megan
 
Just wondering, what is Gambusia and how did you give it to a snake??

Gambusia is the common name for a small exotic fish. The common name Gambusia comes from its generic name, the link Ashley put up will give you a swag of information.

I've given them to fish/frog feeding snakes such as keelbacks by impaling the fishs' tails with a wooden skewer and offering them head first. I've given them to small pythons as you would a pink mouse, but I wouldn't recommend them for pythons. As well as colubrids, they're great for some elapids. I've given them to dragons, skinks and goannas, by hand, on tongs/skewers or just left in a dish in the enclosures. Lizards and turtles in particular really love them and they're so nutritious. Also loaded with calcium. I think they are definately part of what helps my pygmy mulga goannas to tripple clutch :D
 
Sdaji the gambusias are great stuff ide also recomend garden worms for young turtles cause they wriggle and stimulate the feeding response,like gambusias they are full of nutrients and free my young long neck which is about one third grown would not eat dried turtle food pellets etc some short necks may also require vegetable matter and water snails.
 
Have you tried little bits of roo or chopped liver dipped in calcium powder? my tortoises used to love that
 
When I use to have my saw shelled and krefts turtles. I would give them raw steak cut up in small peices and a combination of lettuce. And they loved it and grew from about a shell size of about 5cm to about 15cm in 6mths.
 
That kind of growth is not really a good thing Bredle. Slow steady growth is best, they can grow faster in captivity than is healthy and end up with skeletal deformaties, weak bones, shell etc.
A wild turtle would be lucky to make 15cm in 5 years !
 
i used to have two nothern snapping turtles and i fed them chopped lamb heart
 
Full food items must be best fo nutrients worms,gambusias,fresh water shrimps and others if you can get it and the purple lettuce ay bredli i will try that sounds good.Need one of those very fine scoop nets to lay into some gambusia (mosquito fish). :D
 
Re: RE: troubles getting my turtles to eat

Sdaji said:
I have found that thawed Gambusia is an excellent feed for turtles. A friend of mine raised a turtle from a hatchling on a diet consisting almost exclusively of thawed Gambusia and he grew very quickly and healthily (no UV was given, by the way).

I actually use thawed Gambusia for many of my reptiles, they're very versatile (good for frogs, turtles, lizards and some snakes, as well as insects, spiders, some mammals.....) and highly nutritious. I was thinking about supplying these commercially as they're more nutritious than pink mice and I could supply them for half the price, perhaps less.

Sorry Sdaji but Im going to have to take you to task here. As someone who has dealt with turtles raised exclusively on single item diets and no UV(sunlight included) I can attest to the deformities that regulary occur and to the shortened life expectancy of the turtle. Yes gambusia are great but a turtle needs more than that especially shortneck turtles which as we know are omnivores. I am surprised that you would be promoting poor keeping practices.

On to the initial post. As to turtle dinner, well! Make up[ your own mind and they obviously did.
 
i agree with sdaji on the gambusia, i have reared many, many hatchings on a diet of mainly these guys (fresh), I have been breeding them in the turtles tanks and simply scoop up as many as I need and kill & feed, My monitors also love them as a treat, I do feed other thing's as well but I think with a diet built around them they should grow up really healthy.
 
RE: Re: RE: troubles getting my turtles to eat

My turtles are eating the frozen blood worms but i cannot get them to eat the pellets which i give them in the morning. Remeber that the turles are a little bit bigger than a fifty cent piece.
 
RE: Re: RE: troubles getting my turtles to eat

Rev Daniel, try 'Wardley' Floating Cichlid Pellets, mine have taken to them well as a part of their diet.
 
RE: Re: RE: troubles getting my turtles to eat

The thing is that they may not like dried turtle food.
They also will not eat if the temp is too low in the morning(???)
Have you done any research into what they eat naturally?That way you can compensate their diet to that end..
If you follow the link below you will find several hundred turtle orientated souls who can help you along.
 
RE: Re: RE: troubles getting my turtles to eat

Hi RevDan,
If they were eating pellets from the person you bought them from......get the same brand as I have found that they are hard to get to eat a brand that they have not been used too!
 
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