Turtle Question

[SnakeWrangler]

Hey,

I picked up my baby common long neck turtle yesterday and just have a question.

The person we bought it off said it has been observed eating frozen bloodworms, so far we have tried frozen bloodworms, frozen brine shrimp and floating pellets, but it won't touch anything.

How long should I wait for it to feed before I start getting worried?
What tips can you give to help get it going?

I have its home setup according to the info in this Caresheet regarding hatchlings.

Cheers.

 

[ashley_morris22]

mine took pellets 2 days later not counting the day i got them. i found that mine had no hesitation( cant spell) in eating live fish and yabbies also mine are big to and i have been only keeping turtles 1 month now so i am now way near a pro at it. thats just what happend to me.

hope that helped

 

[Already_Gone]

Give them a bit before you worry about it too much. Moving house is a big stress on them.

 

[instar]

They often wont touch pellets at all. They just dont find pellets in the wild! Please try live blackworm, pinhead crix etc, usually live does the trick. How old is baby? They should be eating within a week of hatching, the yolk can nourish for a few days prior to that.
Most importantly, once it starts eating, be sure to varie the diet as much as possible, because like some other young animals, they "imprint" and get hooked on one type of food and this can be difficult to correct. Im sure live will do it! :wink:

P.s. stick to that caresheet, its a good one! :wink:

 

[instar]

P.P.S Its very nice to see more and more people get into turtles, they are an excellent pet and very unique reptile. Heres hoping they become as popular (mainstream) as pythons and lizards if they arnt already!

 

[SnakeWrangler]

Instar, I will get some live blackworm tomorrow, hopefully that will get him going. The turtle is around 2 weeks old and I was told by the breeder that it was eating frozen bloodworms, the stress of the trip and new home must be the cause.

Thanks everyone for your advice.

 

[instar]

Id say so snakewrangler, give him places in the water and out to hide and try to minimise traffic past his tank for a while, hell settle. Yup, im sure if left with live blackworm, hell eat. Will you feed in a seperate icecream container? It does help you to be sure how much it eats and poops , and minimises pollution in the main tank, BUT it may also stress the hatchy. I waited for a month or two before I did that, but I had no concern mine were eating or not. See how ya go good luck and welcome to Turtle mania !!!