All Turtles Message Board

Hewwo2u2 · Level 3 Joined: 04 Mar 2006 Posts: 105 Location: SC

My RES spent the first 4 years of her life in a 35 gal tank with no UV B lighting whatsoever (only a regular basking bulb instead) and her diet consisted of Zoomed's aquatic turtle pellets alone. Now that I have her she is in a 75 gal with a 48in UVB light as well as her basking lights. I brought her to the vet (who does do reptiles) last week for a check up before bringing her into my home. She has a couple spots on her shell and was having some trouble shedding it; she is also a little overweight (from the coomercial diet that she has been living on). The veterinarian removed some loose scutes which made the shell look much better (which is good meaning the shell "problem" didn't seem to be going deeper into her shell) and told me to apply a diluted betadine solution as well as a tripple antibiotic ointment to the parts of her shell where the scutes weren't ready to shed. As for her weight, I was told to give her more veggies since mature diets should consist of mainly this and only supplemented with the pellets. She said that overtime, with the veggies and the UVB rays, her shell should shed better and other than that she looked like a healthy turtle -her eyes were clear, she's responsive and active,her shell is hard, etc (hard to believe since it's a turtle who has never seen the sun nor a green vegetable) but I guess I am just lucky ...My problem is getting her to eat veggies! I still feed her the pellets once a day which she eats in a matter of seconds. The greens are in her tank all the time. Right now she has Romaine lettuce and celery leafs. I've tried giving them to her by allowing them to float in the water as well as laying it on the basking rock. she just ignores them and i have to eventually remove it since it gets old and slimy rather quickly. I feel like it's a lost cause since it is only dirtying the water more quickly. It seems to me that she just doesn't know to eat it since all she has eaten for 4 years is floating pellets. I can't help but think if it only looked like the pellets she eats she would swallow it in a heart beat. I have looked through the different foods at the petstore trying to find one that is made of only veggies or has some in the ingredients but i've had no luck...just the regular diets that consist of fish meal, weat starch, shrimp meal, corn gluten, etc. (and even if I did find one it probably wouldn't be near as good as fresh ones). I bought a couple of those little vitamin blocks that are in the shape of a turtle that you drop into the water every 40 days...and now i'm out of ideas. The only other thing I can think of is to go to petsmart and buy some aquatic plants to replace the plastic ones i have right now, but I have a feeling that if she wont eat leafy lettuce that floats around she won't eat these plants, but atleast the plants wont die and rot as quickly. what eles can I do to get her to realize she is supposed to eat veggies? I know it is supposed to make up like 75% of an adult turtles diet and she is getting none! Is there a way I can ball it up into little floating pellets? If so, please tell me how, and how much to give her since she will eat pellets until she pops. Any ideas will be greatly appreciated! thanks!

Jess

deesygirl · Moderator Joined: 12 Sep 2002 Posts: 1200

OK firs tof all zoomed is complete so that ligts are not needed strange but true it is nutritionaly balanced in this way. however it does cause some secondary problems like what your vet has seen.

I like pellets as a suppliment but I am sure glad you vet encourages a whole food diet, I wish more did.

OK on to your question. First of all get rid of those turtle blocks. When you feed a balanced diet those just cause your tank to foul and the only suppliment you will need is calcium in the form of a cuttle bone. Romaine is good so is kale and napa cabbage. Take a carrot and grate it like you are going to peel the outside, this is so they don't choke on the big pieces. Carrot is matabolized in their system as Vit A. VERY important for herps. in the summer mine love dandilions out of my yard but I haven't used any chemicals for years. (I have ducks and chickens) You can start a window bed of dandys just for your turtle. They are easy to grow and when you cut them about 1" above ground they come back very quickly. Your turtle won't starve herself but she might let herself get pretty hungry before she finally breaks down and eats her veggies. Just make sure that once she does she continues to get a balance. She still needs about 30% protiens lean cooked chicken or fish pieces and parts are very good choices. Some people like tuna but I only recommend that as more of a treat. So my recomendation is to cut her off all pellets for a week. It won't hurt her at all really. Turtles can go for long periods without eating and like I said she won't starve herself but by giving her pellets everyday she definatly won't eat the veggies either.

Leave the veggies in the water, RES can't swallow outside the water.
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http://www.anapsid.org/reslider.html

Hewwo2u2 · Level 3 Joined: 04 Mar 2006 Posts: 105 Location: SC

thank you, I will try this... I'm thinking she might eat shredded carrots...I haven't tried that yet. Should I let her eat as much as she wants? how much is too much?

Also that's interesting that a light is not needed when feeding a zoomed diet. where did you hear this? could you give me a link with any information about this? I'm curious...since everything that I've heard and read have stressed that no supplements, etc can replace what the actual UVB rays do when it comes to meeting their metabolic needs and that no turtle should be without it...just curious if this is something Zoomed claims... I would really like to look into this if they do for the sake of any other turtles out there.

BTW, Anapsid.org is the site my veterinarian said was a MUST for me to go to before setting up my tank. she has a great respect for the lady that wrote it and said she knows ALOT. that is where i got my info on the best lighting to use, etc. It's nice to see in in your signature!

One more thing...would adding aquatic plants be a good idea? If so, which ones do you think are the best? Thanks!

deesygirl · Moderator Joined: 12 Sep 2002 Posts: 1200

Hewwo2u2 · Level 3 Joined: 04 Mar 2006 Posts: 105 Location: SC

thank you so much for clearing that up for me. I hope I didn;t come across as rude. I am going to buy the plants today!

About the veggies...should I give her as much as she will eat or will it end up like the other foods where she is always ready to eat? if so, how much carrots and lettuce, etc is too much?

deesygirl · Moderator Joined: 12 Sep 2002 Posts: 1200

You weren't rude at all. I know what you ment " how can all this research tell me this can't happen but my turtles shell is solid and this lady just said the food was complete Rolling Eyes

" it was confusing and I am sorry I did a poor job explaining the first time around.

She will like the plants when she finds them. PetsMart carries them and they are usually in good shape and I trust them more than some of the other places. I had a whole tank of fish die when I put a Wal Mart anachris in, so I don't recommend them.

I would let her graze on the lettuces. They don't have the dense calories to them that the pellets do. I have a small 2 1/2" juvie in a single tank. She eats a whole napa lettuce leaf or two full peels of carrot daily and a couple of pellets every other day. That is another thing. Adult turtles don't eat daily. They can graze on a little romaine but save the pellets for every two days; once she has gone to her veggies of course. Smile

And also she will get to where she loves her veggies and will eat them readily. Mine all beg more for lettuce, carrots and other veggies and almost ignore the pellets. They float around alot in my tank Surprised

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http://www.anapsid.org/reslider.html

Hewwo2u2 · Level 3 Joined: 04 Mar 2006 Posts: 105 Location: SC

I went to Petsmart and did not find anachris so I bought some frozen turtle veggies instead (which she loves). I'm going to the other petsmart today to see if they carry the plants. Any other types that turtles like to eat that I should look for? Thanks, you've been a great help!

dixieee · Posted: Sat Mar 11, 2006 5:20 pm Post subject:

Hewwo2u2 · Level 3 Joined: 04 Mar 2006 Posts: 105 Location: SC

thnak you I've printed this list and I am going to buy a few of them