My baby red eared slider won't eat?

Question

I have a baby red eared slider that I got on August 7th and he had been eating fine since then. I have been feeding him reptomin baby floating food sticks and he loved them. I would feed them to him twice daily....about a few sticks each time. Then on August 19th he refused to eat his second meal of that day. And he also didn't eat August 20th or today (August 21st) at all! I'm getting really worried! He has a 15 gallon tank setup, he's about an inch long now, a good filter, a basking dock, and a basking lamp. The water is currently 77 degrees F. He also rarely goes onto his basking platform unless nobody is in the room with him, although i have seen him on it many times before but as soon as I enter he jumps off. Please help me and tell me what I can do to make him eat! Thanks!

Answer 1

Try eating once a day...

They might be bored of the same food...

or it could be sick. aks your vet or local petstore...

Answer 2

I had a similar problem with my baby painted turtle, with turtles you need to give them a variety of foods so with him give him some worms or minnows then switch back to the food sticks and keep alternating.

Answer 3

hii i should be a good help because i used to breed turtles. now i have seen this often because i have had about 100 something turtles including red ears. now when some of my turtles wuoldnt eat i would go out an buy different types of turlte food for them to see what they ate and i would seperate them from the others untill i found the right food. now i tried all sorts of things like sinking pettets, floating pellets,baby shrind, minows/guppies/baby goldfish. jus go out an get different types of turlte food and try them till i works and if not take him to a herp vet.and once they get used to u they will swim torwards you when they no the are bein fed and will sit in your hand

hope i helped

Answer 4

feed him meal worms and you dont really need to feed him two times a day an red eared sliders diet needs 50% veggies 25% meat  and 25% floter sticks and mine did  the same thing with the basketing spot dont worrie it just takes a little time for him to get useto you mine turlte will now get on the basketing spot with me in the room so just let time work  ........fyi idk about where you live but in utha it is aligal to have a turtle under 3in soo only buy turtles of that size babies are muck hared to care for

Answer 5

They only bask while no one is around cause he thinks you and everyone else is a predator like in the wild. I have 5 sliders and 2 that are 36 yrs old. And untill about 6 yrs ago they still zipped into th ewater. Its like come on you have seen me for 30 yrs daily. About 6 yrs ago one of my females does swim towards me and just sits in my  hand in the water..silly.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/29035692@N0...

Total Body length: 5-8" average, up to 12 inches max. Life span: 15-25+ years

Males have the longer fore claws.. And are considered mature at 5 yrs old. You can start sexing at 3” across.

Sliders, cooter, painted, map, yellow bellied all are basically the same and require the same basic care.  

They need fish daily. Did you know that they need to bask under a reptile light UVA for 8 to 10 hrs a day for the vitamin D that they need to grow. So that means getting a turtle dock also.

Leave the heater on 75 to 78 degrees always.

Their water needs to be clean otherwise they get sick easily from dirty water cause they p**p allot.

You need a good filter system! Gravel larger than they can swallow.

You need to feed them feeder guppies, goldfish or minnows for protein and calcium daily drop 20 or so in the tanks and watch them disappear! This way when they swim for their dinner they get exercise also!

TOSS in a bird cuttle bone in the water for calcium. it will dissolve real slow and if they eat it that’s fine!!

They can have garden worm, meal worms, crickets, flies, crayfish and  anything that moves!

They need leafy greens Romaine, Butter lettuce. (Iceberg and cabbage are bad for them, any other leafy greens will do) for vitamin A that they need at least 3 to 4 times a week.

You probably already know that they get sick easily, shell rot, respiratory sickness, lopsided swimming, coughing, blowing bubbles, Swollen cloudy eyes means lacking in Vitamin A. Which we all need for good eyes. Google ‘vegetables with Vitamin A.

I wish you luck.

Answer 6

go to the doctor

Answer 7

He needs meat. Try feeding him small bits of crickets, worms, and fish.

Answer 8

It might be time to cut him back to one meal per day. You might also want to vary the food a bit: earthworms, fishes (not goldfish), and soft-bodied insects. When you can't get live food, cut strips of liver and dust them in bone meal. Introduce small earthworms away from the turtle so as not to frighten him. No turtle can resist them and he will soon outgrow his tank.