Hooray for pot roast!!! ;)

[Moozillion]

My Eastern Mud Turtle, Jacques, has become a VERY picky eater. He used to eat his carnivore pellets like a little pig, so I was happy. But then I started him on "real" food and suddenly the pellets weren't good enough. His favorite food (other than live guppies, but we're not going there) is salmon. This happened because whenever I got sushi I would bring home a piece for him. He almost leaps out of the water to grab it from me! I have offered him other fish (also sushi grade) such as white fish and even tuna (EVERY carnivore likes tuna, right?) but NO GO!!!! He grabs the fish, drops it and sniffs it very carefully from one end to the other, then STEPS ON IT as he walks back into his cave! EVEN THE TUNA!!! I couldn't believe it. I've tried giving him chicken, but although he loves to tear it up, he doesn't seem to actually eat much. And apparently the pellets he used to love no longer qualify as food, in his opinion.

Every day he comes up to the front of his tank and does the "feed me" dance, but won't eat what I drop in unless it is salmon. So now we call it "The Salmon Dance." I know I need to be strong and to hold out, and not buy sushi-grade salmon for the dang turtle- but I'm such a wimp.
Most recently he had gone 3 days with begging for food but refusing to eat, since it wasn't salmon. Tonight hubby took me to Cracker Barrel for dinner and I got the pot roast, which was quite good but I couldn't eat it all. I brought my left overs home and dropped some pot roast into Jacques' tank: COWABUNGA!!!! He couldn't eat it fast enough- even used his front feet to cram it into his mouth!!! Every body is happy now!!!

 

[Big Charlie]

Yay! Pot roast is a lot cheaper than salmon! I'd love to see a video of his salmon dance.

 

[Speedy-1]

Glad he likes it !

As long as your not spoiling him !

 

[Moozillion]

Yay! Pot roast is a lot cheaper than salmon! I'd love to see a video of his salmon dance.

I have figured out how to post photos here, but can't figure out how to post videos...

 

[Moozillion]

Glad he likes it !

As long as your not spoiling him !

Of course not!!!

 

[dmmj]

I've heard of turtles being spoiled before but this is a whole new level. He's trained you well

 

[Moozillion]

I've heard of turtles being spoiled before but this is a whole new level. He's trained you well

Yes, he has!!!

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Hilarious, Bea!
Tidgy goes crazy for her little tortoise treats and will stretch to grab titbits from my fingers til i'm sure she's going to burst out of her shell.
Sometimes, when she's not eating I offer her cheese or pizza to get her to stretch and open her mouth with her eyes boggling and then pop in a piece
of greenery which she will then eat happily.
Silly tort.
(i never actually let her eat the cheese or pizza and don't have the option of fish or pot roast, either.)
I wonder if pot roast is on the Tortoise Table database ?

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Oh, and to post videos, I post them on You Tube first, and then just copy and paste it to the Forum.

 

[Speedy-1]

Of course not!!!

Ha Ha ! We are all good at "spoiling" at least it wasn't fillet mignon !

 

[AZtortMom]

No kidding!
I thought I was bad!

 

[Moozillion]

Ha Ha ! We are all good at "spoiling" at least it wasn't fillet mignon !

Oh, if it was filet mignon he'd be out of luck!!!! I'm not THAT nice!!!

 

[Tidgy's Dad]

Oh, if it was filet mignon he'd be out of luck!!!! I'm not THAT nice!!!

We know.

 

[Yelloweyed]

I feel silly when grocers give funny looks to me when I ask for just 2 scallops and 5 shrimp.

 

[Lemonade]

So itś cooked pot roast, right? Hmm . . . My mud turtles get very picky too. They refuse pellets. Usually they will eat dead guppies, mealworms, and raw chicken. Then last year and again this year I noticed they wouldn´t eat any of their faves. I´ve decided they´re going through some kind of yearly cycle because the outdoor turtles stop eating also at this time of year. Even though at least one of them seems to be doing the food dance, she won´t eat what I give her.

They have a basking light, but I don´t use a water heater. In-house temps never drop below 60 degrees.

Maybe Iĺl try some pot roast.

 

[Moozillion]

Try raw salmon (sushi)!!!!

 

[Lemonade]

I forgot to mention snails. But last year, the snails were really taking over the aquarium in the spring when the turtles were eating other things. I was worried that I would have an snail overpopulation problem, when suddenly the turtles started eating every snail in sight. They drive me nuts sometimes. Too bad they can´t speak out loud.

 

[Moozillion]

I'd like to try snails for Jacques- I bet he'd like them.

 

[Lemonade]

I found someone on craigslist who had ramshorn snails, and that's how I started my population. I keep a separate aquarium to keep their population from completely devoured.

Once I bought some bigger type snails from Petsmart for a dollar or so each, but they didn't last long.

 

[dmmj]

I'd like to try snails for Jacques- I bet he'd like them.

knowing your turtle he would probably only eat escargot