Feeding and Nutrition :: Turtle not eating anything?

[steve]

Do you have gravel in the tank? Can you list what foods/plants he ate before? Can you list what you have tried (including live prey)? You will need to use a thermometer to accurately measure the temperature.

[Silvermist464]

There is no gravel in the tank. He has eaten wild grasshoppers, Canadian Night crawlers (Worms) broken into 4ths and one a day at most, ReptoMin Baby food, maybe some turtlebites pellets, and possibly fish food as he used to live with my fish. My mom refuses to give me a thermometer..

[steve]

They sell stick-on lcd type thermometers in pet stores for 1 or 2 bucks. I think 99¢ stores will have thermometers too.

Some more ideas here: http://www.redearslider.com/entice_eating.html

[Silvermist464]

Okay, I will check for some next time I'm in town. I'm just finding it strange that he's not eating the worms like he normally does. Do you think it might be because the worms are starting to die now? There at least a month old..

[steve]

Live prey should be fresh.

[Silvermist464]

Okay. I'll try to find something else that's alive and that he'll eat.

[vear]

Hey - sounds like his aquarium is pretty small. Also, why do you only have 4 inches of water in there? How often are you doing water changes? Such a small amount of water and such a small filter will lead to poor water quality. Remeber, they poop in there, but that's the same water they drink too. Sounds like he's sick, so I would turn up your water temperature, if you don't have a heater, it's very important that you get one. Also, if you just have a regular bulb or if the bulb doesn't say "UVB" on it, then you need to get a UVB bulb. Regular light bulbs only give off heat and UVA. Also, you should get a thermometer to accurately measure the water and basking temperatures. Last but not least, do you have gravel in your tank? Turtles can eat the gravel which can get stuck in their gut. Is your turtle pooping? Anyway, for now, please turn up the temperature in your tank and make sure your water is clean.

[Silvermist464]

No, I have not notice any poop from the turtle. There is not gravel in the tank, not yet.. There was some smaller peices of gravel in his old tank, but not anymore.. The water is perfectly clear, as of now. I will change it as soon as it gets too dirty.

[steve]

How is he doing today?

[Silvermist464]

He's still not eating, and he's just laying up on the basking rock, sleeping..

[steve]

Did you get a chance to try live fish or the ideas here: http://www.redearslider.com/entice_eating.html

I'd also bump up the water temp to 80F. Any other symptoms?

[Silvermist464]

I'll try some live fish... He wasn't interested in my goldfish before, so I don't know...

[steve]

Hold them by the tail and let it wiggle in front of him.

[Silvermist464]

Sorry, but I won't feed my gold fish to my turtle, if that's what you mean. For one, all of them are WAY too big for him and second, I've had some of them for 2 or more years. They're as much my pets as Skit is. But if you were talking about feeder fish, yes thank you for the advice. I don't think I would have thought of that.

Now, I've recently found mosquito larva in my turtle's tank. I don't know how they could have gotten in there but... These won't hurt Skit, will they? I've also found some tiny, even smaller than the mosquito larva, maggot like things in the water also. Do you know what these are? I'd put a picture up, but they'd be too small to see...

[Kurtni]

^Goldfish are actually not very nutritious for turtles, so I think Steve was actually suggesting feeder fish.

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=25780
That thread has a lot of good information on bugs in tanks.