emergency turtle help plz come!!?

Question

my 2 baby red ear sliders arnt eating ive had them for 5 days. they do have a lamp and good almost everything they love to bask in the light but they arnt eating i get them t-rex aqutic turtle food and they dont eat it. i read somewhere ecurage your turtle by giveing them treats. so i give them zoo med turtle treats (basicly just krill) what do i do to get them eat.



p.s sometimes they just like smell the food and ignore it like its bad.

p.s.s also i crush up there big pellet food so it is smaller

Answer 1

They're babies. Try some meat. The babies are mainly carniverous. Try feeding them a little bit of meat or something and then the pellets so that they associate the pellets with food.

Commercial diets (No more than 25% of total diet)
Trout Chow, commercial floating fish, reptile or turtle food (pellets, sticks or tablets). The pellets and sticks have the advantage of being formulated specifically for reptiles and don't decompose in the water as fast as other foods.

Animal Protein (No more than 25% of total diet)
Live feeder fish--do not feed defrosted frozen fish; they are deficient in thiamin and excess consumption will cause a thiamin deficiency in your turtle. Earthworms--buy them from a reptile or aquarium store; do not feed the ones from your yard as they may contain bacteria, parasites and pesticides against which your turtle has no immunity. Finely chopped raw lean beef, beef heart and cooked chicken are okay for treats, but are not appropriate as a major part of a balanced diet for whole prey eaters. Raw chicken and beef is too often riddled with Salmonella, E. coli and other food-borne organisms. High quality dog kibble can be offered occasionally as treats, too; like muscle meat, dog and cat foods are not appropriate when used as a significant portion of a turtle's diet.

Plant Matter (50% or more of total diet)
Offer leaves of dark leafy greens such as collard, mustard and dandelion greens. Offer shredded carrots (and carrot tops), squash and green beans. Thawed frozen mixed vegetables may be used occasionally, but care should be taken as some frozen green vegetables develop thiaminase which destroys that all-important B vitamin. Fruit can be offered raw; shred hard fruits like apples and melons, chopping soft fruits such as berries. To help keep their beak in trim, let them gnaw on pieces of cantaloupe with the (well washed) rind still attached. Check out the edible aquatic plants sold at aquarium stores, too. You can drop these into their enclosure for them to free feed upon.

Vitamin Supplements should be added twice a week. Use a good reptile or turtle multivitamin. Turtles must also be supplied with additional calcium; they often enjoy taking bites out of calcium blocks and gnawing on cuttlebone, so always have some available to them.

Answer 2

1. Turtles often do not eat for a week after a stressful event, such as a big move or new tank.

2. "Good almost everything" does not tell us anything useful, but the phrase 'loves to bask' suggests that the water is cold. If turtles spend all their time in the warm area, the rest of the tank is cold and vice versa. Boost water temps to 75-80. If already there, boost another 5 degrees.

3. By the same token, make sure the tank is big, the water clean, and there is not much noise, vibration, or giants staring at them.

4. Diet-wise- try live foods like small crickets, bloodworms, etc., or frozen/thawed krill.

5. Go to http://www.austinsturtlepage.com for everything you ever wanted to know about these guys!

Answer 3

you have a uvb strip bulb over the entire tank
you have a filter for the tank
you have a basking bulb
you have the water relativly warm
you have a day bulb and a night infared bulb
you do weekly 25% water changes
you feed not just pellets and freeze dried food
you've looked on websites like wnyherp.org to see what else you can feed them

if you have or have done all these things you should be fine

Answer 4

It could be that the food is too large for them to eat. You can try fresh veggies (not tomatoes unless you take the seeds out first) or depending on the size of your babies, some really small feeder fish.