When will my turtle eat?

Question

My baby 4month old slider turtle wont eat, but yet ive only had him for 2 days, when will he eat? Is this normal? I was also told since he is only 4 months to take extra care so i clean his container everyday!!

Answer 1

get some guppies and drop them in his tank and leave the room and watch him so he doesn't see you.

They don't like people much at all . I know I have had my 2 slider  girls for 36 yrs. Plus an 8 and 5 yr old and now a 2 yr old adopted from this site.. Been in a pond for almost 7 yrs now. Got them on my 18th birthday! What a long lasting gift! This is allot of responsibility for all these years. My kids aren’t even that old!

The bigger the environment the bigger the healthier the turtle. Remember 10 gallons for every inch of turtle. I have used kiddy pools and plastic pond liners from most nurseries and worked great.

Did you know that they need to bask under a reptile light UVA/UVB 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.

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

Males have the longer front nails and are used in mating. And are considered mature at about 5 yrs old. You can’t start sexing till about  3” across.

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 in a few days!

This way when they swim for their dinner they get exercise also!

They sleep at the bottom of rivers, streams. lakes or ponds or your tank to avoid predators like coyotes,  foxes, owls, hawks, possums, raccoons and even some wide mouth bass.

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 worms, meal worms, crickets, flies, crayfish small frogs, dragon flies and  anything that moves only as a treat.

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 from their nose.

**Swollen cloudy eyes means lacking in Vitamin A. Which we all need for good eyes. Google ‘vegetables with Vitamin A.

Contact the “www.anapsid.org/societies, for a turtle vet /  rescue in your city and state.

I wish you luck.

Answer 2

why are you keeping him in a container? Don't you already know red eared sliders require at least a 50 gallon tank, you are going to stunt his growth by keeping him in a puny "container".

make sure....

1. the water is warm enough, in the 76-82F range for babies, make sure with a digital thermometer.

2. daily cleaning is not enough, you will need to upgrade the tank size, and buy a canister filter to deal with all of the waste that builds up!

3. make sure you have a good basking light, the basking temperatures should be 90-95F.

4. make sure you have a GREAT uvb light, such as Reptosun 5.0

5. feed him mostly protein now since he is a baby, but in a couple months start feeding him leafy greens and vegetables. for now feed crickets, meal worms, earthworms, krill, shrimp(not too often!), and occasional feeder minnows and guppies.

Answer 3

take out ur food put it in front of the turtle and see if it wants to eat

Answer 4

I've had  a slider for almost 6 years, they do go thru a hibernation period when they won't eat they just sleep a lot. However you might want to check out some of the web sites for slider care.