Feeding and Nutrition :: Turtle feeding

[emma]

how come my turtles dont eat spinach or carrots or anything that is veggies??? I try to give them some but they wont eat it!! also i have minnows in the tank with them too and they never try to eat them or anything!! they are like 1 inch big. my friends RES that is also 1 inch ate every minnow she put in there. Anyone know why my RES only like to eat pellets and bloodworms?

[powerofvoodoo]

Different turtles have different tastes, just like us. Read this because it can be a lot of help:
http://www.redearslider.com/entice_eating.html

I had to do a bit of tough love where I would only give my baby a couple of pellets but a ton of different varieties of vegetables until she started eating them (she loves red leaf lettuce and steamed green beans now).
And while it may be a great way to get tjey to start eating veggies, spinach is not recommended for turtles so you may want to try something else or if they seem to like it, just use it until they get used to eating other veggies.

[marisa]

Hatchlings (1-inch) tend to be more carnivorous and grow progressively omnivorous as they grow older. That's not so say that hatchlings won't nibble on plant matter, some start at an early age and it's good to offer some earlier rather than later. If you started your turtles on pellets and bloodworms, that's what they've grown used to.

Skip the spinach if you can. Try red-leaf, green-leaf lettuce as well as dandelion greens and romaine. Anarchris (aquatic plant) is a good started for hatchlings and can remain in the tank without going bad.

[littlesnackcakes]

My RES had so little interest in minnows that they multiplied. Started with 3, ended with about 20 or so.