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Baby RES feeding habits

PostPosted: Sun Feb 19, 2017 10:24 pm
by Amisi
Hi all,
I have two new RES turtles. They are about an inch and a half in length. One of them will only eat veggies. I have Amazon Sword planted and he chows down on it. I also float Romaine in the tank which he eats. He will not touch the pellets or any of the shrimp treats. I have ghost shrimp in the tank, he will swim around with them for a few seconds but he never catches them. He seems to only be interested in the veggies. My other one will eat anything near him, pellets, veggies, shrimp and managed to catch a ghost shrimp. Is this diet okay for him? He will not eat out of the tank and all I can get him to touch is the veggies. He also rarely comes out to bask. The other one spends half his time up there. Any advice is appreciated.
Thanks!

Re: Baby RES feeding habits

PostPosted: Tue Feb 21, 2017 12:43 am
by steve
Welcome to the site! Pretty unusual for hatchlings to be interested in only veggies. Do you feed them at the same time?

Re: Baby RES feeding habits

PostPosted: Tue Feb 21, 2017 1:36 am
by Amisi
They do get fed at the same time. They will not eat outside of the tank yet.

Re: Baby RES feeding habits

PostPosted: Tue Feb 21, 2017 4:25 am
by steve
Can you take the more aggressive one out while the other one tries to eat pellets? A large, clean box will do.

Re: Baby RES feeding habits

PostPosted: Tue Feb 21, 2017 11:12 pm
by Amisi
I've been trying to place food on different sides of the tank, they tend to hang out in different areas during the day, he just hasn't been touching the pellets. I tried soaking them first, and he ate one. Perhaps he was just having a hard time with them or they were just to hard. I picked up some worms today, and those, he seems to love. Shrimp he still as no interest in. Either way, I'm just happy he is eating something other than plants. Thank you for the suggestions!

Re: Baby RES feeding habits

PostPosted: Wed Feb 22, 2017 11:11 am
by steve
There's always a more opportunistic/aggressive one, its just more simpler to remove one while the other eats.

Re: Baby RES feeding habits

PostPosted: Wed Feb 22, 2017 2:10 pm
by Amisi
yeah that makes sense. I have no idea why that didn't occur to me. I suppose it will also help to make sure that my more aggressive does not over eat while my less aggressive one dose not get enough food. Also, at what age should their feedings begin to become less often on protein? I have been stic king to the amount of pellets that would fit in their head. They are eating daily at the moment.

Re: Baby RES feeding habits

PostPosted: Wed Feb 22, 2017 10:01 pm
by steve
Over the years, I've been feeling that the "head amount" is just a little too much. I'd shoot for 2/3 or 1/2 in a well-varied diet. Usually after a year or so is a good time to cut back on protein in general.

Re: Baby RES feeding habits

PostPosted: Thu Feb 23, 2017 11:23 pm
by Amisi
Okay, moving the more aggressive one away from the tank worked perfectly. The other one ate his pellets, He seems to like to leave them for a while before he will eat them, so perhaps the other one was just being a pig and eating all the food. Thanks for the suggestion.

Re: Baby RES feeding habits

PostPosted: Fri Feb 24, 2017 12:36 am
by steve
Great it worked out! After he builds more strength, he'll compete better :)