irnbru@erols.com
Rowena, If a hatchling isn’t eating pellets I put her in a container of live brine shrimp that I buy at the pet shop. The hatchling will snap and swallow lots of brine shrimp for about 1/2 hour. It is great sport for hatchlings! After only a few days the hatchling will begin to snap and swallow floating (softened) reptomin. If you try this, store the brine shrimp in the refrigerator or provide aeriation otherwise the brine shrimp will die in a couple of days at room temperatures. I’m not sure if the live brine shrimp trick will work with your juvenile or not because brine shrimp are really tiny. But it’s worth a try. The whole idea is to put something live and wiggling in front of them to stimulate their hunting and eating instincts. But, if live brine shrimp doesn’t do the trick maybe small refrigerated meal worms from the pet shop might work. They will wiggle around when they come up to room temperature. I’m not sure if dbts like meal worms or not – I do know that red eared sliders and red belly turtles do. Otherwise, see if she will eat frozen smelt from the grocery store thawed briefly in some tap water. But, if she gets “hooked” on the smelt you will have quite a time getting her back on pellets. Also, you said the turtle only gets a limited time in its pond because of the recent contamination there. That could also be the reason she is not eating. If she is used to only eating in the pond and that is what she knows as “home” she may go on a hunger strike if you try to feed her in some other container. She will probably eat in another container only after she feels at home there and she is good and hungry. When I switched aquariums for my dbts they went on a one week hunger strike. Eventually they felt at home in their new surroundings and got hungry and began eating. Hope some of this helps, Bob