Your Reptile and Amphibian Resource and Information Site

Back to Turtles-Tortoises Forum   Forums   Home   Members Area  

Turtles-Tortoises Forum

Wingardium1   Cinderella  
 Member  Message

 #608496


Wingardium1
View Profile

 I recently got a RES and its not eating help me

i recently
bought a res and it doesnt seem to be eating well i got it yesterday so i
don’t know if its not hungry or it wont eat ive tried feeder fish oh
and its just a baby but i used to have a baby one before that used to eat
a live feeder fish but this one wont ive tried tomato pices but it just
swims around and goes under water and comes up for air however unlike
my other turtle it does not have a basking rock could that be the
problem or should i just be patient. oh ive recently cut up a feede fish and
put its guts inside the take for i know that fish guts and eyes are
high in protein that was yesterday but when i checked to day i noticed
that some of the guts were missing so could it be eating please help me any one
  
01/16/06  05:34pm

 #608829


Cinderella
View Profile



   Message To: Wingardium1   In reference to Message Id: 608496


 I recently got a RES and its not eating help me

Well the first step is a proper setup. A RES needs a basking area and proper lighting otherwise it won’t be able to digest it’s food. You need both a heat lamp over the basking area and a UVB light. A heat bulb can be a regular house bulb usually a 45 watt will do the job. The UVB bulb will run you any where from $15-$60. I suggest a reptisun 10.0 compact fluorescent. It can be placed in a regular clamp light and will put out the proper amount of UVB for your turtle. It is on the less expensive side. I highly suggest that you start your turtle on a high quality pellet diet and go from there. Feeder fish have a lot of protein in them and can cause pyramiding in a small turtle. It may take some time for the turtle to start eating the pellets, but only offering the pellets will force him to eat them. I promise he won’t starve, he can go about 2 weeks without eating. After you get him eating the pellets you can add some things into the diet like the occasional feeder fish and other live food. He isn’t going to dive into veggies at a young age, but in time he will. If you want to give it a start, start with greens, kale, collard greens, romaine lettuce. Things like that are the first things that will be eaten on the veggie side.

When it comes to habitat you need at least a 10 gallon tank with at much water in it as possible, as long as you can safely have a basking area that doesn’t allow the turtle to get out of the tank.

Leslie
01/16/06  09:05pm


Back to Turtles-Tortoises Forum   Forums   Home   Members Area