# turtle not eating feeder fish?



## benito22 (Dec 3, 2008)

my turtle wont eat the feeder fish i put in her tank and also she mainly stayin in one corner of her tank jw if that is normal i have enough water in the tank for her to stand up and she can put its head out of the water soo yeh 
if she doesnt eat the fish ill just go buy some basa fillet and grind it up with some suppleament and feed that to her?


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## Gavin (Dec 3, 2008)

what type of turtles do u have? i think that is too shallow.


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## Reptile_Boy (Dec 3, 2008)

more info tank size turtle type tempreture of water acuall depth ( in foot or cm what ever suits best) turtle size and age


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## benito22 (Dec 3, 2008)

lol ok umm
its 4x1.5-2 
the turtles shell is a bit smaller than a cd 
i have only just setup the tank and im in the process of getting a heater i have one but i think the water owuld be to high 
its a murray short neck 
the water is 13cm deep 
but i think i should just rase it to what the heater needs which is about 20-25 cm


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## Reptile_Boy (Dec 3, 2008)

ok get the heater asap, and get an aqua thermometer. get the depth to 25 cm. the watter is shallow
have u got land or plattform


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## benito22 (Dec 3, 2008)

yeh i have the platform thing but it never uses it soo yeh


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## Gavin (Dec 3, 2008)

because ur water is not deep enough thats why it doesnt use it...make it like 25cm or sumfin, and it doesnt eat because ders no heat...dey are cold blooded animals and cannot digest food without the heat..just like snakes. Also, the turtle not moving is also because of the heat,... heat=active.. get one now


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## benito22 (Dec 3, 2008)

lol ok nah it mooves and stuff it just mainly sticks to that one corner ill get some more water in there and put the heater in thanx ppl


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## Gavin (Dec 3, 2008)

moves slowly yeah? maybe that corner is somehow warmer, maybe u have something near it that generates heat?


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## benito22 (Dec 3, 2008)

yeh ill put the heater in now i dont have a pump yet lol that will generate a problem lol 
im getting all the stuff as i go so i have the dock and the heater then i will probz get the pump then yeh so on so on


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## Emzie (Dec 3, 2008)

fill her water up more, get a heater

also is she trying to get them, short necks arn't the best at catching fish 

this site is good if you need answers http://australianfreshwaterturtles.com.au/

real professionals on that site


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## notechistiger (Dec 3, 2008)

Have you done the proper checks on the water as well?


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## benito22 (Dec 3, 2008)

yeh is all good ive put the heater in and i put the water up to like 26 cm soo yeh should be ok now


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## notechistiger (Dec 3, 2008)

I mean, have you checked pH levels and the like?


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## benito22 (Dec 3, 2008)

shes eating other stuff just not the fish lol and the fish eat most of it b4 her soo yer


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## Ristof (Dec 4, 2008)

I have four of these guys - the water temp in mine are about the 22 -24 mark
The heater will work better if you had a filter in it - even if it is only a small one to push the heat around.
Does it come up to you when you are going to feed it. Unless it is interested then of cause the fish are going to get the food.
My guys eat feeder fish, there not the quickest turtles but I think mine used to eat them more when the fish were sleeping.


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## gregjoffe (Jan 25, 2009)

*My short necks didn't eat the feeder fish for ages*

Hi. My short necks didn't eat the feeder fish (gudgeons) in their tank for over a year. 

Then at one point I put in some Neon Tetras for variety and colour and one night when I came into the room and turned the light on the turtles woke up faster than the tetras and ate them. 

So I guess it is just a competition between turtle speed and fish speed.


ps. they are now in a pond and haven't caught most of the fish in there either. 

Greg Joffe


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## cris (Jan 25, 2009)

Short necks arnt very good at catching healthy fish. There isnt really any need to feed them live fish and it is illegal in most states too. If you do feed them live fish you can keep them in the dark beofre they are put in, this makes it impossible for them to see the turtle thats about to eat them.


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## BT (Jan 25, 2009)

nevermind


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## Eylandt (Jan 25, 2009)

cris said:


> Short necks arnt very good at catching healthy fish. There isnt really any need to feed them live fish and it is illegal in most states too. If you do feed them live fish you can keep them in the dark beofre they are put in, this makes it impossible for them to see the turtle thats about to eat them.


 


Never heard of feeding feeder fish to animals being illegal. Do you have any sources to confirm this?


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## dailyskin (Jan 27, 2009)

Yeah you can use fish as bait and everything, so I see no reason this would be illegal?


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## cris (Jan 27, 2009)

dailyskin said:


> Yeah you can use fish as bait and everything, so I see no reason this would be illegal?



Its animal cruelty to feed a living animal to another animal in your control. In qld it is under the animal care and protection act, it would be under whatever laws you have for animal cruelty in your state. There are generally special exemptions for fishing, which would otherwise be illegal animal cruelty if it wasnt so popular as it is obviously far more cruel to use a fish as live bait. Legally feeding live kittens to a scrub python is the same as feeding live fish to a turtle(in most states anyway).


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## dailyskin (Jan 27, 2009)

cris said:


> Its animal cruelty to feed a living animal to another animal in your control. In qld it is under the animal care and protection act, it would be under whatever laws you have for animal cruelty in your state. There are generally special exemptions for fishing, which would otherwise be illegal animal cruelty if it wasnt so popular as it is obviously far more cruel to use a fish as live bait. Legally feeding live kittens to a scrub python is the same as feeding live fish to a turtle(in most states anyway).


 
Nice one on the emotive language use 

I'm not a fan of fishing either tho BTW for that reason...


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## porosus (Jan 30, 2009)

Have you considered trying anchovie, chocolate chip pizza?
Iv heard Turtles like that.


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## Sophiesue (Nov 21, 2009)

*my short neck is to slow to catch my feeder fish so if i really want to give my turtle some feeder fish i just kill them.*


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