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How do I get Sheldon to eat the vitamins he needs when he won't eat the jello shots or the cuttlebone? He bites into the jello shots and then pushes them away. He completely ignores the cuttlebone. I gave him some kale, just loose. He bit it, tried to eat it but mostly spread it around his tank.

He adores his pellets and red lettuce but that's not really enough vitamins is it?

I just leave the cuttlebone in the tank. Toku will nibble at it as needed. Turtles can tell when they need something or not. So I would just let it sit in the tank for a while he will nibble at it when he needs to;)

I left cuttle bone in Sheldon 's tank so many times and he never even nibbled on it. Did you have tuna water in your Jell-O shot recipe?

another thing to do is change the lettuce everyday. It takes Toku a day to finish two leafs of lettuce so what I do is put a leaf of romain and red leaf in the tank then the next day I will do green leaf and dandelion leaves. Then so on and so on, I alternate the greens all the time. Plus I buy what is in season at the store so he gets all kinds of different greens not just lettuce. I don't do jello shots I have had great success without them:) Thats just me tho. I just varie the diet as much as possible via to the seasons and availability. Hope this helps. Oh and getting water plants is another good way to get them their vitamins. I do all kinds of water plants that would be found in the rivers and lakes of North America. I mainly go for the plants that grow in the Rio Grande region. But it is easier for me to pin point where Toku is from than most RES owners that have the common Red Ear Slider. I just do alot of reserch to find out what is available during the different seasons in the Rio Grande River Valley. And then thats what I use to pic the foods for him. Hope this helps.

happycamper wrote:I left cuttle bone in Sheldon 's tank so many times and he never even nibbled on it. Did you have tuna water in your Jell-O shot recipe?

I did. They smelled pretty nasty so I figured he'd love it.

slider_keeper wrote:another thing to do is change the lettuce everyday. It takes Toku a day to finish two leafs of lettuce so what I do is put a leaf of romain and red leaf in the tank then the next day I will do green leaf and dandelion leaves. Then so on and so on, I alternate the greens all the time. Plus I buy what is in season at the store so he gets all kinds of different greens not just lettuce. I don't do jello shots I have had great success without them:) Thats just me tho. I just varie the diet as much as possible via to the seasons and availability. Hope this helps. Oh and getting water plants is another good way to get them their vitamins. I do all kinds of water plants that would be found in the rivers and lakes of North America. I mainly go for the plants that grow in the Rio Grande region. But it is easier for me to pin point where Toku is from than most RES owners that have the common Red Ear Slider. I just do alot of reserch to find out what is available during the different seasons in the Rio Grande River Valley. And then thats what I use to pic the foods for him. Hope this helps.

I feed him pellets every other day and then lettuce on opposite days. I switch between red leaf and green leaf. Where do you get water plants?

I haven't tried breaking the cuttle bone up. Should I try that?

Ha, Yeah they are stinky! It sounds like you have him on a pretty healthy diet. It took Sheldon a couple times to figure out that the Jell-O shots were delicious... I would keep trying both the Jell-O shots and broken up cuttle bone

I know! I'm just concerned because he's getting those spots that he had when I got him. The vet said it was a calcium deficiency that he was getting over. I'll definitely try the broken up cuttlebone. Thanks!

yeah I agree cutting it up could help:)

You could also try getting the pellets wet, with water or tuna water, and rolling them in the dust of the calcium powder/crushed cuttlebone... Then let it dry? Random idea...

^^Good thought. Worst comes to worst, I can be sneaky.

I will be cutting up the old cuttlebone and giving it a shot.

Thanks very much!

Don't forget to pry the back of the cuttlebone off before giving it to him. You can see it when you start to break it up you will see it.

^^Thanks for reminding me! I just learned about removing it the other day which could be why Sheldon didn't like it.

Anyone have any recommendations for the powered calcium? I cannot get Sheldon to eat the cuttlebone. I break it up and he puts it in his mouth and then he spits it out. The jello shots are still not going over. I think he depises carrots. lol

What recipe are you using for the Jello Shots. Also how old are they. How do you store them?

I used the recipe given here on the forum. I made them this summer and put the leftovers in the freezer. Although I must admit that I'm not sure how to defrost them. Perhaps that's part of the problem. Either way, I think I would feel better if he was actually eating calcium soaked pellets.