Well, okay. Maybe I should've worded the title better. Shelly has been eating all of his life--I hope, but for the first time since we found him in 2000, I've watched him eat.
This all started Sunday afternoon. I fed the turtle right after raking the obnoxious leaves out of the pen (not my favorite job), his usual corn and fiber-licious pellets that, since I began feeding him this, I had believed the squirrels ate. I always put his food bowl right underneath the tree that's in his pen, and I figured he never touched his food and the squirrels ran down the tree to feed on his food and Shelly just ate slugs. WRONG! Apparently this entire time I thought this, he was actually eating his food. I went to check on him Monday, to clean out his food bowl and feed him again, and he ate his food. I knew this because he had his fiber-licious pellets on his face. I ran back to the house shouting for my brother, "Shelly ate his food! Shelly ate his food!"
So today I decided to experiment. I brought his dish into the house, poured some corn on top of his new fiber-licious pellets, took it back out to him, put him by his food, and waited. Sure enough, he ate his food. I think I almost cried. I've never watched any of my turtles eat their food before--the first time I ever watched a turtle eat was at Petco.
Anyway, as I watched him eat his food, I began to wonder, now that I know he actually eats the food we give him instead of just eating slugs and worms and stuff, how often should I feed him? Normally I just feed him daily, but he seemed really hungry this morning. Should I be feeding him twice a day?
Also, I'm leaving tonight for a Disney Expo in Anaheim, CA, so my brother will be in charge of feeding him until I return next Wednesday. (I'm so mean)
Thanks for taking the time to read my super-long-excessively-proud story/question thing and answering
This all started Sunday afternoon. I fed the turtle right after raking the obnoxious leaves out of the pen (not my favorite job), his usual corn and fiber-licious pellets that, since I began feeding him this, I had believed the squirrels ate. I always put his food bowl right underneath the tree that's in his pen, and I figured he never touched his food and the squirrels ran down the tree to feed on his food and Shelly just ate slugs. WRONG! Apparently this entire time I thought this, he was actually eating his food. I went to check on him Monday, to clean out his food bowl and feed him again, and he ate his food. I knew this because he had his fiber-licious pellets on his face. I ran back to the house shouting for my brother, "Shelly ate his food! Shelly ate his food!"
So today I decided to experiment. I brought his dish into the house, poured some corn on top of his new fiber-licious pellets, took it back out to him, put him by his food, and waited. Sure enough, he ate his food. I think I almost cried. I've never watched any of my turtles eat their food before--the first time I ever watched a turtle eat was at Petco.
Anyway, as I watched him eat his food, I began to wonder, now that I know he actually eats the food we give him instead of just eating slugs and worms and stuff, how often should I feed him? Normally I just feed him daily, but he seemed really hungry this morning. Should I be feeding him twice a day?
Also, I'm leaving tonight for a Disney Expo in Anaheim, CA, so my brother will be in charge of feeding him until I return next Wednesday. (I'm so mean)
Thanks for taking the time to read my super-long-excessively-proud story/question thing and answering
