just got baby turtles THEY WONT EAT...what do i feed them????

Question

i tried some round dry food i got with them they wont even try it..i put some lettuce in the tank and they wont budge...theyre not as happy as they looked yesterday..HELPP!!

Answer 1

First of all they normally stop eating because it is a new habitat. They need some time to adjust. This could take a week or so. They will be fine.

Pellets for babies are their staple food! Introduce fruits and veggies in small amounts as a treat. This will not hurt them. THEY ALSO NEED TO BE FED IN THE WATER. Just drop the pellets in, when they get hungry enough they will munch!! Mine eat from my fingers now. Less messy, but you need to watch out that they don't grab your fingers in the process....

Here are some things to feed them. This is my diet for my 4 turtles!!

Safe Feeding List
Commercial Foods (This is just a few of them on the market)

• Tetra Reptomin
• Zoo Med’s Aquatic Turtle Food
• Exo Terra
• Wardley's Reptile Premium Sticks
• HBH Turtle Bites

Frozen/Canned (For treats)
• Spirulina-enriched Brine Shrimp
• Bloodworms
• Plankton
• Krill
• Zoo Med’s Can O'Crickets, Grasshoppers, or Meal Worms

Live Foods (Carnivorous)
• Aquatic Snails/Apple Snails/Water Snails
• Crickets (Gut-Loaded)
• Earthworms, Night Crawlers
• Ghost Shrimp
• Guppies or Rosey (no goldfish they are too fatty and have very little nutritional value)
• Mealworms
• Pinhead Crickets (for smaller turtles)
• Slugs
• Wax Worms, Super Worms

**be careful about Wild-Caught foods, they can carry parasites that can be transferred to your turtle. Freezing Wild-Caught foods for a month will help to kill off some parasites.

Fruits (small amounts for treats only)
• Apples
• Bananas
• Cantaloupe/Common Melon
• Figs
• Grapes (remove skin so it’s easier for them to pick at)
• Mango
• Melon
• Papaya
• Pear
• Tomato
• Strawberries
• Water Melon (Feed rarely)

**should be cut up in small, bite-size or match-like sticks that will be easy for the turtle to bite into and not choke on.

Vegetables
• Beans
• Beetroot
• Carrots
• Squash
• Sweet Potato [cooked - boiled/ steamed/baked]
• Peas
• Pumpkin
• Zucchini


Greens & Other Leafy Products
• Collards Greens
• Dandelion Greens
• Kale
• Mustard leaves

• Radish leaves
• Red Leaf Lettuce
• Romaine Lettuce
• Turnip Greens


**Stay away from Spinach. Make sure to cut the veggies in bite-size or match-like sticks so your turtle can eat them easily. Iceberg lettuce is good filler, but contains little/no nutritional value!

Aquatic Plants
• Anacharis
• Duckweed
• Hornwort
• Water Hyacinth
• Water Lettuce
• Water Lily

Answer 2

The most common reasons turtles do not eat are:

1. Cold water. Temps should be 75-80F
2. Stressed, crowded. Tank should allow about 10 gallons of water per inch of shell length.
3. Water dirty
4. Bad food choices. Cheap pellets are bad for turtles. Try Reptomin or Mazuri brands. Supplement chow with 'fish foods' like worms, insects, small fish, krill, shrimp, etc.

Note that baby water turtles should not eat lettuce (or other fruits or veggies).

You can learn more at http://www.austinsturtlepage.com

Good luck!

Answer 3

It depends on what type of turtle they are if they are in water try small guppies and if they are not put some salt on the lettuce also give them time to warm up trust me soon enough they will be eating....often reptiles will go a few days without eating!

Answer 4

Hopefully, they are not wild caught, or they'll never eat what I think you're feeding them.

If they are captive bred, they're getting over the stress of the new place. I'd give htem time to acclimate by covering their tank and just letting them be. Turtles can go for weeks without eating and still be fine.

Answer 5

It could be stress. I would just let them have some time. They will know when they want to eat because they will get hungry. Also, if the water is not the right temperature, then the turtles ' metabolisms will slow down. This can lead to hibernation which is hard to keep them in and it could kill them.

Answer 6

i dont know what turtles eat but if u JUST got them then just leave the food in the cage or tank and they will eat when they get used to the enviromet.

Answer 7

call the pet shop and ask thier advice, there are different types of turtles and they eatr different things, some need special pellets while some may need to feed off of small fish call and get thier advice.

Answer 8

don't worry. baby turtles tend to not eat when they're born because of their yolk sack thing.

Answer 9

make sure that all required conditions are being met, then try feeding them worms and bugs, they usually can't resist moving prey

Answer 10

what kind of turtle's do u have? they might be to lil to eat food... or they miss thier mommy.