why is my red eared turtle only eating turtle pellets it won't eat anything i try feed it?

Answer 1

When I first got my slider as a baby, she would only eat pellets. As she got older i introduced her to fish and crickets. At first with the fish I had to hold they by the tail so she could get a hold of them.

Answer 2

If your turtle is only used to eating pellets, it will probably ignore anything else you try to give it.

You should try to add other things to the diet (notably, vegetables, especially if the RES is a bit older along). You can do this a couple ways...the semi-starvation method, in which you stop feeding it pellets, or only feed it a few to leave it hungry, and put in other foods (try carrots or bright red vegetables, my turtles like colorful things). After a while the turtle's curiosity will get the better of him and he'll taste the other things you put in the tank. It sounds kind of cruel ("semi-starvation") but you'll need to try something else if your turtle refuses to eat healthier things.

You can also rub something with a strong meaty smell (or mix it together) with some vegetables and give to your turtle. When I say strong meaty smell, I mean something along the lines of soft canned dog food or canned tuna (NEVER raw meat). He'll probably like the smell and start eating the veggies. After a while, you can limit the meat you put in and just start feeding him veggies when he's conditioned to eat them.

If all else fails and he adamantly refuses to eat anything else, there's reptile vitamin powder (I have Repti-Vite) you can dust onto the pellets before dropping them in. Enough of the powder sticks to the pellets for your turtle to get some in his mouth when he eats.

Sick turtles completely refuse to eat, so as long as he's eating, even if he's not on the healthiest diet, he's okay.

Answer 3

Pellets are good but should only be about 25% of it's diet.
Have you tried any of these?

Items to Feed Red Eared Sliders

* Feeder Items: live feeder fish (guppies, goldfish, minnows), earthworms, crickets, waxworms, earthworms, silkworms, aquatic snails, blood worms, daphnia, shrimp, krill, mealworms. For very small turtles, prey may have to be cut into smaller pieces. Larger turtles can be offered larger items like tadpoles.
* Leafy greens: collard, mustard and dandelion greens, kale, bok choy. Head (iceberg) lettuce should never be feed as it contains very little nutrition, but dark green leaf lettuces (e.g romaine) can be feed sparingly
* Aquatic plants: in an aquarium or pond you can add aquatic plants on which turtles usually love to snack. Submerged plants like anacharis are often eaten, as are water hyacinth, water lettuce, duckweed, azolla (fairy moss), and frog-bit.
* Other vegetables: carrots (tops are fine too), squash and green beans.

Answer 4

1.) What have you tried to feed it? Try live or frozen/thawed 'fish foods' like fish, worms, custaceans, etc.

2.) If you are trying to 'hand feed' it you are probably spooking it- they don't usually take food from people's hands (although some will sometimes)

3.) Check the other cares- tank size, water temp and cleanliness, etc.- all of that affects diet and feeding.

Try these sites for more info:
http://www.redearslider.com
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com

Answer 5

Check out the turtle health and diet forum at kingsnake.com

There is also a "red-eared and other sliders" turtle forum.

Answer 6

my reds love apples, i cut them in very small chunks and they go crazy over them. they also eat feeder fish, mealworms and earthworms, (If mealworms are large, you have to cut their heads off) that's why i only feed small ones, they love pears too.

Answer 7

if its a baby dont worry,thats all they eat when they are young,mine was the same!

Answer 8

Cause it is only use to eating that.

Answer 9

maybe it is sick or is just is sick of the food you give him/her take him/her to the vet right away