Baby snappers, why won't they eat?

Question

Over the last few days I've been watching seven snapping turtle eggs hatch. The two oldest have lost there yolk sacs and umbilicals but won't eat above or below water. I've given them worms, pieces of raw shrimp and pet store turtle food. Any ideas? RScott

Answer 1

The only thing I know about turtles is we had a box turtle and decided to let him go. The other thing is the meat of snapping turtles is quite delicious. Sorry, tell your babies I no longer eat turtle meat.
Apparently according to the links below 'Water Temperature Is KEY. Diet is extremely important about what to feed and important including "do not overfeed" it can cause shell ...deformities....
You might want to read the links below to better understand 'What to do and What not to do'
Good Luck!
TAKING CARE OF BABY WATER TURTLES
Heating
Feeding
Illness
Misc
Don't handle your baby turtles often, especially not in the first few weeks.
Wash your hands before and after handling
http://www.turtlecare.net/babycare.htm

TurtleTails.com
always feed water turtles in a separate container of water in water drawn from the water they are housed in. One inch of water is enough. There are many reasons to do this. First it keeps all the dirt (uneaten food) out of the aquarium. Secondly the water is the same temperature. We don't want to shock them with too cold or warm a temperature which can harm them or cause them not to eat. http://turtle_tails.tripod.com/raisingbabyturtles/tour10.htm
They need special lighting which will allow them to perform bodily functions that regular lighting does not do.
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/care.htm
The link below list the states click on your state to find out what the laws are on turtles/? I don't know if this is "in the wild" or what!
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Info/state_resources.htm

Answer 2

There are a few possibilities. They won't eat if they aren't warm enough. 75 to 80 Fahrenheit ( 25 degrees Celsius ) is ideal. The other possibility is that they still have remnants of their yolk sacs in their stomachs. Keep trying to feed, but don't leave the food for more than an hour, or you'll foul the water. Live food is best, the wriggling will catch their interest.

Also, once they start eating, be careful not to overfeed. They can get too fat for their shells, even to the point of splitting them open.