Soaking my turtles food

[noblequintin]

My baby turtle is around 1-2 inches and has a hard time eating her pellets hard. she is blind and i have to hand feed her. becasue her pellets are hard and she cant eat them i let them sit in the tank before feeding her. this morning i noticed the back side of her shell above her tail is soft and bendable. IS THIS BECAUSE I SOAK THE FOOD? or because the food doesnt supply proper nurtirents?

 

[TheLastGreen]

@maggie3fan @Yvonne G are the experts on this. Baby turtles shells will be soft, almost bending like a plastic lid so it seems normal. Soaking the pellets is recomended to make it easier for babies to eat. Can you please send images of your turtle and its habitat?

 

[Yvonne G]

Reptomin and Zoo Med both make baby turtle pellets. They're very tiny little balls and easy for the small turtle to swallow. Maybe we need to address the reason this baby is blind. Can we do anything about it or is it genetic? For instance, a baby suffering from too little vitamin A has stuck shut eyes, and we can fix that.

 

[DoubleD1996!]

My baby turtle is around 1-2 inches and has a hard time eating her pellets hard. she is blind and i have to hand feed her. becasue her pellets are hard and she cant eat them i let them sit in the tank before feeding her. this morning i noticed the back side of her shell above her tail is soft and bendable. IS THIS BECAUSE I SOAK THE FOOD? or because the food doesnt supply proper nurtirents?

Nah. Soaking the food simply softens it. If it's an aquatic turtle, the food is designed to soften. It could be that there isn't enough uvb, not enough calcium, or you may need a tank heater as well. What kind of turtle is it?

 

[Yvonne G]

My baby turtle is around 1-2 inches and has a hard time eating her pellets hard. she is blind and i have to hand feed her. becasue her pellets are hard and she cant eat them i let them sit in the tank before feeding her. this morning i noticed the back side of her shell above her tail is soft and bendable. IS THIS BECAUSE I SOAK THE FOOD? or because the food doesnt supply proper nurtirents?

You do know, right?, that water turtles can only swallow food under water.

 

[Toddrickfl1]

My baby turtle is around 1-2 inches and has a hard time eating her pellets hard. she is blind and i have to hand feed her. becasue her pellets are hard and she cant eat them i let them sit in the tank before feeding her. this morning i noticed the back side of her shell above her tail is soft and bendable. IS THIS BECAUSE I SOAK THE FOOD? or because the food doesnt supply proper nurtirents?

Water turtles cannot swallow unless they're in the water. So they should be soft pretty quickly after you throw them in there anyway.

 

[noblequintin]

Water turtles cannot swallow unless they're in the water. So they should be soft pretty quickly after you throw them in there anyway.

I do know this and she’s blind because of genetics she is a morph so inbreeding is sadly common among perfect turts

 

[Maggie3fan]

I do know this and she’s blind because of genetics she is a morph so inbreeding is sadly common among perfect turts

What species is she? That's important for us to know...