General Care Discussion :: One of my turles not growing

[jackie2015]

Hi Everyone. My name is Jackie.
I have two turtles that I got in December. When I first got them, they were both about the size of a half dollar coin. One of them is now about 3 1/2 to 4 inches long and is the size of my palm. The other one hasn't grown at all. He (or she) is active, has a good appetite and seems healthy, but is just not growing. Could there be something wrong with him or is it normal for some turtles not to grow? I feed them reptomin food sticks and they also eat ZMG turtle food that has shrimp, mealworms and cranberries in it. At the suggestion of the pet store, I bought some zoo med hatchling formula food. Attaching a pic of them in case that helps.

dory.jpg (6.02 KiB) Viewed 5223 times

raphi.jpg (12.8 KiB) Viewed 5223 times

[steve]

Are they fed together? One turtle usually outcompetes the other, so you might want to feed them separately.

[jackie2015]

I've been taking the small one out to feed and he seems to eat quite a bit. He just hasn't grown at all.

[steve]

How long have you been doing this? The turtle in the top pic looks like it's growing too fast, you might want to re evaluate their diets and how you feed them

[jackie2015]

I've been feeding them separately for about a month. The clerk at the store said to feed them as much as they will eat in 15 minutes. The big one gobbles almost everything down right away and then begs for more. Is there a set amount I should be giving them? Also, neither one will eat any type of veggie except the bigger one will eat some of the cranberry in the food. I've tried giving them greens but they just ignore. The small one won't eat anything but the pellets and I have to break those up b/c he's so small.

[Samkit]

Hi! It takes time for them to move on different diet. Generally they require around 4-6 months to start accepting other foods in the diet. It happened with me too. Stick to giving 5-7 pellets only per day to each. Also, sometimes, try introducing veggies like lettuce, colllard green, etc once in a while. And don't worry about their begging. They will keep on doing that for the rest of their lives. Don't give in!

[jackie2015]

Thanks for the info. I have definitely been overfeeding - she's been eating at least 15 of the pellets a day plus the worms and shrimp.

[steve]

Yeah, you need to scale back big time. Check out www.redearslider.com/plants.html and www.redearslider.com/pellets.html for ideas.

[jackie2015]

Hi. It's been awhile since I posted about my little guy. I got him in December and he still hasn't grown any at all. He doesn't seem to want to eat very much. He won't eat any veggies/fruit at all. He spends most of his time basking and it seems like he doesn't swim very well. Is there anything else I can do for him?

[steve]

Is he still fed at the same time with the other one?

[jackie2015]

He's been in his own tank for a little over 2 months, so he's fed separately. I moved him b/c the larger one was trying to attack him.

[steve]

What are you feeding him now and how much?