Painted not eating

DanM

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Joined
Apr 19, 2017
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I have a painted turtle that is 20 + years old. I have always fed him floating pellets. Lately it has been Zoo Med but it has varied over the years. He stopped eating about two weeks ago. He has stopped eating for a few days before but never this long. I thought he might be having trouble with the large hard pellets due to his age so I bought some soft pellets but it sank and he didn't notice it or wasn't interested. I tried live mealworms and he really went after them! However, I know that his diet can't be only worms. He just seems to be picky. Any suggestions? I'm not sure why this change occurred suddenly.
 

Markw84

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I have a painted turtle that is 20 + years old. I have always fed him floating pellets. Lately it has been Zoo Med but it has varied over the years. He stopped eating about two weeks ago. He has stopped eating for a few days before but never this long. I thought he might be having trouble with the large hard pellets due to his age so I bought some soft pellets but it sank and he didn't notice it or wasn't interested. I tried live mealworms and he really went after them! However, I know that his diet can't be only worms. He just seems to be picky. Any suggestions? I'm not sure why this change occurred suddenly.
Your turtle may be feeling the need for missing nutrients or minerals and looking for new foods. Time of year, breeding season, etc, etc. giving mealworms, or redworms, or chicken, shrimp to stimulate appetite is fine. Try some different pellets. I have always had good luck with Mazuri aquatic turtle diet. I get 20 lb. bags so it is very inexpensive that way. An adult painted would have no problem easily swallowing the pellet. Mine suck them in several at a time! Try putting some of the pellets in with the treats mentioned above and let them sit together for awhile. Then feed together so the pellets have some of that fish or shrimp smell. I also use meal worms a bit more than most do as I get them in bulk 5000 at a time. I keep them in a container and put pieces of opuntia cactus in there for the mealworms to feed on. Kind of gut loading a higher calcium diet for the worms! ALL my turtles love mealworms so it is a treat to get the stubborn ones feeding.
 

DanM

New Member
Joined
Apr 19, 2017
Messages
2
Markw84, I took your advice and bought Mazuri but he is now spoiled on meal worms and spits out the pellets! I'm not sure how to mix the worms with the food because the worms sink except for an occasional floater.
 
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