painted turtle not eating lately

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M

mudskipper

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Feb 16, 2006
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Hastings, NE
my female painted turtle is ignoring her food lately. see has been doing this for about a month. she is in a 10G with a slightly larger female common snapper, who can't get enough food. i tryed putting them in a plastic tub that was slighly larger than the ten. she did this there, too. i think it might have been that even though it was larger, she could actually see her boundarys, and felt trapt. the snapper was just the same.
so whats going on?is ita slower motabilism due to weather, or need of separathion from the other turtle/more space? i know i could keep the snapper in a tub, and she would not mind. i would give them each a kitty pool in the basement, but its cold down there, and the stupid cats keep going down there
 
First of all what is the temperature of the water? Do you have a submersible heater in the tank? Second, a 10 gallon tank is way, way to small for each of those turtles, let alone keeping them together in. I would separate them as soon as possible and pick up some Rubbermaid tubs for each of them. If the water temp is too cool your turtle probably won't eat for that reason. Plus, she probably is stressed from the larger snapper.
 
do you have a basking light and full spectrum lighting. the changing of the seasons might cause it to slow down. i would put the tank in a room away from windows, check your water temp (should be 75-82), make sure you have a basking light with a basking spot of 90-100, and have a full uv bulb on them. also, i would take the snapper out. if its already larger, its only a short time til it starts biting the painted. they are aggressive turtles. he may already be bullying the painted when you are not looking. how big is the painted? if its still like a 50 cent piece, a 10 gallon is ok, but any bigger a 20 long would be better and if its like 5-6 inches i would do a 40 breeder......also, what are you feeding it? they will eat pellet foods like reptomin, trout chow, they also eat insects, fish (no goldfish), and worms. painteds will also eat some veggies. try a little greens or anacharis
 
there is a heater in there, but it is old, dose not work half the time. the lights are cheap wal-mart blue lights. the painted turtle hates tubs. it see the edges and knows its boundaries
 
has this problem been resovled...if not i would recommend buying a new heater they are relatively inexpensive. second i would seperate the painted and the snapper...for the sake of the limbs of the painted. Third both those turtle need larger enclosures. The tub idea works great and is cheap its no different then them being in a pond and seeing the edge( its just a small pond i guess) you can get two 55gal tubs for like $10 each and one would probably suffice for the painted and the other would hold that snapper till you figure out a permanent situation. Back to the feeding situation once you have solved the heating problem you can try offering up meaty foods like defrosted shrimp meat or crayfish meat...i would take the snapper out while you try to feed the painted so the snapper doesnt claim all the food and intemidate the painted...


ps. dump those blue lights and get some uv lights turtles need uv to synthesize calcium/D3 unless your supplementing them but even with the supplement i reccomend uv lights.
 
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