General Care Discussion :: Diet Issue

[wcrimi]

My turtles are around 17 years old. They have generally eaten a good variety of food including pellets, lettuces, carrots, worms, occasional grapes or a treat of boiled chicken. Typically, I feed lettuce the most. A year ago we bought a 2nd house and started going away for long weekends. When I do that, I leave the turtles with an automatic pellet feeder. The problem I've run into is than now when I come back home, they are refusing lettuce. They are waiting on pellets because they are so used to them being available in sufficient quantities for several days in a row. At most they'll nibble a little bit. They'll still eat carrots and grapes, but not lettuce. I tried green leaf, romaine, red leaf, and radicchio. What's the best approach to try to get them to eat more balanced again or if I can't what should I do?

[steve]

How often do you go on these weekends? I would just give it a few more days rather than give in to the begging. Have you tried a veggie clip to hold their lettuce?

[wcrimi]

To answer your question, I go way almost every weekend on Thursday through Sunday.

This is still an ongoing issue.

From time to time they'll eat a little lettuce, but they mostly just ignore it. I'll leave it in overnight and when it starts to wilt put some fresh lettuce in, but they ignore that also. Then after a few days where they look a bit lethargic I give in and give them protein, carrots or a grape treat. Now they are even getting picky about the Reptomin pellets and carrots. They seem to prefer some dried worms and crickets I have and will still eat green grapes. I haven't had live worms available for awhile, but I'm sure they'd like that also. I'm not sure how to turn the tide back. Maybe I just have to not feed them for 3-4 days until they are sufficiently hugry to eat their veggies.

[Midnightbast]

It sounds like your turtles have become overly reliant on pellets due to the automatic feeder. Try reducing pellet availability and reintroducing a variety of greens gradually. Experiment with different textures and flavors to entice them back to a balanced diet. Patience and persistence will be key!