Feeding and Nutrition :: romaine lettuce

[cheech&chong]

So tonight I introduced Cheech & Chong to romaine lettuce.

They didn't even touch it... They actually got scared of it... Dumb lil' turtles...

[xsavingsaturdayx]

It will take some time for them to take it. How big are your turtles? Young turtles dont always go for vegetables until they grow more old - that is when the herbivore in them comes out!

A trick I used to get my guys to eat lettuce, was..take a leaf of it, leave it in a can of tuna in the fridge overnight, then in the morning take it out and try feeding it to them. It worked for me, so maybe it will work for you too?

NOTE: vegetables arent my turtles favorite food, and one of them eats it alot less than the other, but I dont let that discourage me from offering it to them.

[DavidY]

Maybe try this...
The next time you feed them, give them only half as much as you usually do. Then the next feeding after that, feed them like an hour or two later than you normally would. Then drop in a couple of small chunks of their favorite pellet food. Now they should be in a good feeding frenzy mode. Drop in a few small bite size pieces of lettuce then sit back and wait a few minutes. They should start to eat it. If they don't then just finish feeding them the rest of their normal food. Then keep trying it at every feeding. They should eventually become more familiar with the lettuce and associate it with feeding time. Eventually they should take a chomp at it, at least for sheer curiosity. Hope that works.

[RunninWideOpen]

It took my bigger turtles about week before they would eat the lettuce. Just keep offering it to them. Eventually they'll get curious and discover it's edible. I can put a whole leaf of romaine in my tank now and it'll be totally gone in 15 minutes.

the pigs! sometimes i expect them to start snorting.

[Tenodera]

You should also try to keep it underwater with a suction cup veggie clip or a hold it under a rock.

My turtle never ate lettuce until I placed it under a rock on the bottom of her tank! Now she eats them floating or underwater!

[pumpkinsherbet]

i think it's kinda strange the veggie problems people have... i guess i have done some major lucking out b/c i never had a problem with my little ones eating veggies. they scarf them down like they're starving or something. maybe try dipping them in tuna juice to make the smell stronger?

[octpusgirl8]

Boy you are lucky, maybe it's because you introduced the veggies at an early age. My turtle wasn't exposed to the vegetables till he was about 6 years old, and he only eats them when he realizes he's not going to get any pellets that day, even then he doesn't eat a ton. Except for carrots, for some reason he loves the carrots. His poop is orange it's funny!

[pumpkinsherbet]

mine will fight each other for the carrots. they can be eating their own, the other one will swim by with a carrot and they'll drop it to go after the other one's carrot. strange turtles, i have to be around when they eat them. their little beaks turn orange every time they eat them =Þ

well, yeah they are babies and they've been eating the veggies since i got them, so i guess early conditioning is to thank for that

[DavidY]

I notice my big female is especially fond of anything red, like radiccio lettuce.

[industrial_girl_2000]

I had my big adult RES for 16 yrs before I found out I could feed her lettuce. She wouldn't touch it till I cut it up small & mixed it with something. The tuna is a great thing to mix the romaine with & you can eventually add less & less tuna till all they have is romaine. It took my RES less than 3 weeks to start eating the romaine without anything mixed in. Nowadays, I just throw in a handful of romaine before I leave for work in the morning and she LOVES it. She gets so excited about her lettuce & chomps all of it!!!!! She has been eating lettuce & other veggies for a year now!!!! Makes my life so much easier & I know she is much healthier because of it!!!!

If my big baby could get used to it after NOT having any lettuce for 16 yrs, then ANY turtle can get used to it. Don't stop trying. They will eat it eventually.

[DavidY]

16 yrs?? Did you notice any problems with her growth during that time? What kind of pellets did you feed her during that time?

[industrial_girl_2000]

16 yrs?? Did you notice any problems with her growth during that time? What kind of pellets did you feed her during that time?

I got Sheba when she was already 6 inches long (she's now 9" long) & she is my big Reptomin baby...! I fed her other things once in a while for treats like worms, tuna, cooked fish/chicken or cooked shrimp for some variety. She always had access to the water-neutralizer calcium blocks as an additional source of calcium (she *hates* cuttlebone & won't touch it).

No problems with her growth & her shell is fairly smooth....NO pyramiding)....she has been the same size for many yrs now, so I think she stopped growing (thank goodness).

I was lucky....whoever had her before me did a wonderful job with her. I can't picture Sheba ever being a tiny hatchling. I sometimes tell Sheba that I *wished* for her and that God *breathed* her into existence as a 6" turtle in time for me to acquire her!!!!!

[marisa]

cheech&chong, you might try a bit of red leaf lettuce. The leaves are more tender than romaine and the reddish color might be more attractive to them. Red leaf is also a bit more nutritious than romaine.

[SpotsMama]

Since he grew up - about a year ago? - Spot's been a fair vegetable eater. He'll eat some every day. For about the last two weeks I fed him nothing but green leaf lettuce (I happened to have a bunch on hand). He stopped eating it a few days ago - I think he got tired of it. Last night I put some beautiful strands of anacharis in there and he just attacked them! He loves his anacharis!