Feeding and Nutrition :: Turtle only eats meat

[Larry the Turtle]

I just got my frist RES from a friend that no longer wanted him. The only problem is he has only been fed meat! I've read all about proper feeding, and have tried lots of different foods (pellets, carrots, etc.)

He refuses to eat any of them and I'm afraid he'll starve to death. What should I do? My friend said that he's about four years old now, and I'm pretty worried that if I give him meat he'll start to pyramid (if he hasn't already started to).

Any suggestions on how to get him off the meat?

[Kallistos]

You'll have to slowly wean him off of the meat, the RES won't quite cold turkey. Feed him some of the meat and also give pellets and vegetables. If he still refuses to eat that, try dipping the pellets/vegetables in tuna juice or give them the scent of his favorite meat by rubbing the good food w/ it.

[grey goose]

Don't worry, he wont starve. Meat is very bad for him. Too much protein and fat. Like Resowner34 says, keep trying to tempt him by "flavoring" the pellets with juice from tuna or meat. Don't give in to the constant begging! Also clip a piece of romaine to the side of the tank each day, and check for little bites. Sooner or later he'll come around, and recognize the pellets as food....

[industrial_girl_2000]

Check out this thread on how I got my turtle to eat veggies (read all the way down since there are updates on how she did later):

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3998

She LOVES veggies now. If I can get a turtle who ate meat for 16 yrs to eat veggies after all that time, anyone can do it! It's actually kinda fun.

[Larry the Turtle]

So mixing veggies + cat food worked for you?

[industrial_girl_2000]

So mixing veggies + cat food worked for you?

Yup. Sheba LOVES her veggies now.

I started off mixing some dark green lettuce (romaine) with a little bit of canned cat food to make the lettuce "smell" & taste like some kind of meat (so you don't need much of the catfood, just mix it in to coat the lettuce & make sure the lettuce is in bite-size pieces). Any kind of canned cat food works fine, but I tend to use fancy feast because the can is smaller (less waste since after about a week of being open in the fridge you have to throw it away since it spoils). I have also mixed in some pieces of cooked carrot as well.

Sheba's fav foods are boiled sweet potato & blueberries (or raspberries). I never mixed the sweet potato with the catfood to get her to eat that though. I used the catfood mainly for greens, to get her used to the texture of eating plants. It was just after she got used to the lettuce/catfood mix, then I one day tried the sweet potato (with no catfood). It was amazing how she took it right away!

And you can get creative too. Feel free to mix in some crushed/ground cuttlebone into the soft catfood/lettuce for extra calcium. I also mix the calcium into her sweet potato, or stuff the open end of the raspberries with powdered cuttlebone.

It only took me about 2 weeks to get her to eat veggies with no catfood mixed in. Now she loves them & when I leave for work in the morning, I toss in a romaine lettuce leaf (or maybe give her a berry or two once in a while). She gets REALLY excited about her veggies! This really works.

[SpotsMama]

For a long time my turtle wouldn't eat anything from the plant kingdom but fresh basil. I grow in the summer so it was no problem getting it to him. This winter, though, the basil supply ran dry and Spot had to learn to eat other green things. He was very slow at first - I kept fishing slimy lettuce out of the tank - but he finally caught on that this was it, and he's been eating it like there's no tomorrow for the last couple of weeks. It just took him time to get used to it.

Also, Spot has always been fond of water plants - especially anacharis. It's easy because it lives in the water until eaten and doesn't get slimy like the lettuce.

I think Spot's being older has made a lot of difference in how he responds to vegetables. Now that he's grown, he's become a real salad eater.

[da sAUCE!]

trust me. Once the turtle gets hungry, they'll eat. offer the pellets, and don't give them much of anything besides maybe cuttle bone til they take it.

[JNZBCBnLIL]

maybe try different pellets as well- I've read on here that some turtles can be picky eatters so it's good to find out which ones they like the best! Also use the veggie clip idea- Leo hated carrots- until one day I clipped one to the side and he was so curious he latched on, tugged away, and went flying backwards! Even if they don't like it in the end, it's great entertainment! I do find he eats his romaine a lot better when it's anchored to the side for him! Maybe he's gotta get used to the change from owner to owner he's had to go through as well and eventually he'll warm up and see you as the food provider and realize that what you put in the tank is his food and he better like it!

[Ozzyy]

paco wont eat lettuce either i got him to nibble a it once.... but he spit it out and then swam away... i did liek anachris at one point... but now he refuses to eat it.

[Turtle addict]

Feeding cat food to a turtle causes liver damage. There is something in it that kills the turtle liver. NEVER feed it to a turtle for anything.

The original post...a 4 year old res should be only getting pellets about every 4 days to begin with. Put greens in the tank and nothing else. It may take two weeks but it will eat them.You may have to remove them as they go bad. The longest I would go for a baby has been a week and a half and they were fine. For a 4 year old two weeks is not that long. After it starts eating the greens then you can add pellets, but only a few. By 4 years old that turtle should be about done growing and NOT NEED protien like a baby would.

[industrial_girl_2000]

Feeding cat food to a turtle causes liver damage. There is something in it that kills the turtle liver. NEVER feed it to a turtle for anything.

Oh wow! Where did you get that info? Just curious. I wonder what it is that causes the damage? Is it the high levels of protein or maybe some kind of additive? Just wondering where we can get more information on this. Thanks!