redearslider.com

Hello everyone,

I have a red-eared slider named Frank (Frankie she was named before I knew she was a girl). Anyway I have had her for 8ish years and she is doing great. My aunt had three red eared sliders and no longer wanted to deal with them ( it is aggravating when people don't realize that turtles are a 20-30 year commitment.) So I told her I would take them I was given a 55 gallon tank, a heat lamp, some rocks, a filter, and the three turtles. I brought them home and cleaned everything brought in a UVB light along with the heat lamp. Added to small water heaters and increased the water depth from like 4" to probably 12". It was sad when I first put them in the water they tried to lift their heads to get air and stretched all the way out and couldn't reach the top and fell backwards. They had never been in water that deep and didn't know what to do. So on to my question, they were of course eating pellets and meal worms their entire lives. I have tried to feed them jello shots, blue berries, tomato, romaine lettuce, and strawberries. They ate a bite out of a blueberry and a bite out of the strawberry and that is it. I have kept putting in some pellets just because they are barely eating and I am concerned. It there anything else I should be trying? They were shedding skin really bad the first couples of days which seems to be getting better now. This is the first I have had to deal with potentially sick turtles that won't eat so any advice would be great. Thanks.

How long have you had them? Do they appear healthy despite their previous diet?

steve wrote:How long have you had them? Do they appear healthy despite their previous diet?

I have had them for a week today. They seem healthy other than the lack of appetite and the skin shedding.

They should still be getting a minimal amount of pellets, so I would continue with that just lay off any extra. Keep adding veggies or whatever you're trying but try to keep it at a schedule… maybe pellets at night and the other stuff in the morning.

Okay I'll try that. Thanks. I will report back with any details/progress. I am not sure if I mentioned it or not but they hardly eat the pellets either.

Whats the water temperature and what kind of pellets are you using?

water temp is between 76 and 78. I have reptomin pellets and freezed dried mealworms that they have been eating kinda....

How big are these turtles? Maybe a more colorful pellet would get their attention? Soaking pellets in tuna water could also be something to try.

The biggest is 5ish inches and the smallest is probably 4. I will try the tuna juice thing today. I would really like them to start eatting the jello shots though. Think I could soak those too?

You can add it into the ingredients. The turtles seem to be of a healthy size, so I wouldn't give in very easily to the treats.

Sounds good thanks. I will be making a new batch of jello shots probably over the weekend. They seem to be trying the blueberries now and I have seen them take a bite of the jello shot. It is just so different from my other turtle, food doesn't last 5 minutes, I was concerned.

Hopefully it's just an adjustment period and nothing serious.

The turtles are doing much better. They seem to be eating almost as soon as I put in the food and are even eating the jello shots. Thanks for all of the help.