Willing Temptation...

[flippynipps]

Hi, everyone...

I've read in many places and have spoken to pet shop owners that turtles like different types of food.. but I'm having a bit of a problem trying to get my guys to try others foods. The little green monsters can be very arrogant and stubborn. My RES turtles are about a year old.. before I got them they were raised on nothing more then just pellets.. since I've gotten them I've been trying to change up their diet and try new things.. So far I've tried lettuce of all shades, tomatoes, dried shrimp and banana's. Biggie (4") will try everything once but wont try it again... and Little Houdini (3 1/2") will press his nose to them but not take bites or he'll just ignore them completely. They like to hunt the minnows and eat them which is great.. and they do like the dried shrimp and both will tear up their plants in the tank which I feel its good since they enjoy both playing with them (floating on the branches) and eating them..

but my question is how could I entice them to eat different types of foods that are healthy for them?.. I would like to change up their menu's daily if I could but they have such a small selection of likes at the moment. Any advise and ideas are truly welcomed... and always, thanks in advance...

 

[dannel]

Try mixing what you feed them now with other foods and they'll soon develop a liking for the good foods.

 

[lori12386]

I have 13 aquatics 4 being Red Ears. The only turtle that will eat just about anything is my Cooter. I have had her MAYBE two years and she is over six inches. None of the others will eat lettuce except her. I give them pellets, dried shrimp, dried krill, dried meal worms, and occasional feeder fish. They dont like to catch them. The Cooter loves all lettices, kale, endives... Just keep trying and they might adjust. All my others except 5( 3 stinkpots, 1 map, 1 softshell)are all adult(1 painted, 1 map, 4 red ears, 1 unknown)rescues. So who knows what they were fed before coming to me.

 

[lizbeth490]

My RES's LOVE frozen blood worms

 

[flippynipps]

Ok I see that it's really up to them to decide exactly what they want to eat but I will not give up and will try to keep introducing them to new foods, but I will take all your advise into consideration thank you all so much...

To all other readers your advise is greatly appreciated..