Feeding and Nutrition :: RES purely Carnivorous? Is it entirely posible?

[TurtleboyPR]

Hi Everyone!

Guita, my adopted RES comes home straight from the wild, after getting hit by a careless driver. Very informative posts here, comments from members and general info on RES.com have indeed showed me a wide variety of insights regarding nutrition...but; There's a problem: Guita will only feel free to indulge herself in devouring raw meat. I did get her some fruits, lettuces and vegetables and she didn't even look at them.


Some of the fruits: White Grapes, Mango, Nectarine (Apricot), Apple, Pear

As soon as raw meat hits the water anywhere in her feeding tank, she strides furiously and gets it.
Is it possible that she grew up solely on raw meat as a hunter/scavenger on her natural habitat?
Is there really any hope for a 9.5 inch (possibly 6 y/o) RES on a Tropical Caribbean Island regarding better food intake and a healthier life prognosis?

Thank You All!

Ricardo.

[meltedspork]

Don't give up! It can take a while for your turtle to eat the veggies, so you have to have patience. Don't stop offering them to her, she might find something she likes. You can try soaking lettuce in tuna fish juice for a few hours and then giving it to her. You can also try the turtle "jello shots" recipe - there is a sticky topic under the feeding and nutrition area that has the recipe. Have you tried feeding her pellets? If worse comes to worse, just don't offer her any more raw meat, and she will have to eat the pellets/veggies when she gets hungry enough. Sounds mean but it's not, turtles WILL eat what you feed them if they get hungry enough.

[TurtleboyPR]

Thank You Melted!
I'll insist with the better stuff.....It's just that worries struck me right away when I read about renal problems arising from a meat only diet. After I have taken the chance to care for this little fella, I wouldn't want to risk it by feeding her improperly.

Thanks!!!

[marisa]

If your RES is from the wild, it's only natural that he is interested in eating foods that he would find in the wild, at least in the beginning (he's not recognizing all that fruit as food). This would be more insects, aquatic plants, some fish, worms, etc. That's why the meat is so appealing (they will eat carrion). However, I wouldn't feed any raw meat. You could try boiling some white chicken meat and occasionally feeding that, but skip any raw meat.

I would concentrate more on trying to feed a "wilder" diet if the turtle isn't interested in that fruit, etc. Then, slowly introduce other foods once the turtle is eating. Foods that have a strong smell and/or are moving are attractive to most turtles.

[TurtleboyPR]

Thank you Marisa!!!

Indeed I might've strayed a bit in the beginning from what I had gotten from the Vet and the forum friends....well....maybe thinking that some food....was better than no food....
You see....apparently....both traumas....the physical one and maybe the emotional one (She was an All Natural Turtle...) that relates to beeing "captive", made her not to eat at all for several days. Then the story gets better....the Local Government knows where this turtle is, who has her...and if anything bad happens to her....guess what....I get to call them up and notify.....you see....Guita....is a protected species here too....her species local name is "Jicotea" (Hee-coh-teh-ahh).

So...Sgt. Atienza, a Vigilant from our Natural Resources Department suggested, as a preventive measure, to give her some 1cm chunkies of raw meat. That would get her kind of "Started". Then move on to the next step. Problem was....She didn't want anything else....

Well...I think we're more than ready to start up onto healthier dieting....now that she has eaten something at least....and in doing so....I'll take all the advice the Vet and you all have been giving me....
Now that Guita has me to take care of her.....I'll do everything in my power to keep her going healthy and strong...

Bear with me...I'll get there...hahah

Thanks again Marisa!!! Good advice...I appreciate it very much...

[theartbook35]

Have you tried cuttlebone and/or jello shots?

[TurtleboyPR]

Thank you Artbook!

I read the recipe on the sticky note....very ingenious treat.....

I'll try that soon....


Ricardo.

[VanishingReality]

Just keep trying. It took my little guy months of veggies offered every day to get him to eat them and he was born in captivity. Just keep trying and eventually she will take to it. At first it helped if I fed him veggies in the morning and pellets at night since in the morning he was "starving" or seemed to want me to think that. After having his veggies just sit there all day every day he would get hungry enough to eat them.

Also he seems to prefer red leave to anything else, maybe she is just picky.

[theartbook35]

Thank you Artbook!

I read the recipe on the sticky note....very ingenious treat.....

I'll try that soon....


Ricardo.

Let me know how it goes.

Sometimes, when a turtle is injured or sick, I think they tend to crave a little more protein. When I first got my turtles, they were pale, and giving them extra protein did help a lot. But still, aim for the cuttlebone and jello shots, because turtles, just like humans, can't live on one thing forever. (Of course, now, by circumstances completely out of my control, my turtles are pale again. All that work I did... grr) Yesterday I gave them pellets, and they didn't finish them all. I gave them dried shrimp, and they ate all of it, plus their lettuce.

[dantevillain]

^i am doing the same thing just like my upper post is^