Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My 11 month eastern won't eat anything other than Reptomin pellets. Any suggestions for getting him to eat other foods?

Offer lots of variety. Stay away from iceberg lettuce.

Keep offering variety every feeding. Eventually he'll try some. Fresh fruits, vegetables and unseasoned cook meats.
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Tracy

You could also try mixing veggies/fruits with the pellets, changing the ratio little by little until he's eating the amount of whatever you'd like. The other post is a great idea, too. Try that first, I would say. That'll probably be enough to change his mind.

Actually I should have said that.

You never stop one food that they eat when trying to introduce new foods.

You'll have a lot more food waste during this time but it'll be worth it.

Good luck and don't give up. It won't happen over night.

Search the internet for food recommendations. There are a lot of other forums and informational pages with a wealth of knowledge.

Surf, find, read and learn.
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Tracy

Don't feed him for 2 days and then offer him some small worms or chopped nightcrawlers.This worked for me with my yearling Eastern.

I'm assuming you have already tried nightcrawlers and or garden worms.

Boxies are unique but try this.
*Aquire a frozen small pinkie mouse..with very little fuzz.

*Soak your boxie in 90 degree water for an hour. At the same time in another separate container soak your pinkie mouse in COOL water.

*Make sure the sides of his home are covered so that he cannot see out.

*Remove any enclosure mates that might intimidate him.

*After an hour cut up the pinkie into 1/4 inch pieces. Place the boxie back in his enclosure. Give him the cut up pinkie on a PLASTIC LID OR IN A SMALL CERAMIC DISH.

Leave the area for 20 minutes. Keep us posted.

Ric

It's so interesting to read the little tricks that experienced keepers have learned over the years. I never would have thought of doing anything like this, but I'll be that it works! My suggestion, give this a try. Ric's got skeeeelz!

I find it very suprising that people have had such a hard time getting hatchlings to take anything but Reptomin. It seems that I've read posts to that effect a dozen times. I have such a struggle getting certain hatchling species to accept non-living prey I almost think that you guys are lucky to have a hatchling that eats an "easy" food item. How a hatchling can pass up a juicy earth, phoenix, wax, meal, super -worm boggles me.

One of the greatest things about prepared diets like Reptomin is that you can soak it in water, mush it up, and mix it 1:1 with other things you'd like the turtle to eat. Greens are a good example. I put collards into a food processor and chop them into fine granules (smells like freshly cut grass). Then, I mix mushed Reptomin and the collards in a 1:1 ratio by volume. The turtles hardly seem to notice that I've doped their breakfast. I do the same thing with squash, carrots, sweet potatoes, rose hips, and other items that it's hard to feed baby turtles.

I might add that in trying the above it may prove more effective if you withhold feeding him his expected meal of reptomin for two days. Also thinking about it; you may need to cut the pinkie up a bit smaller.
Ric

Today I grabbed some waxworms on my way home from getting my truck inspected. I put some calcium powder on one and put it in a dish with reptomin. He took a couple bites at the waxworm but didn't break it's skin. Then he just ate the reptomin. At least it's some promising progress. I'm going to try again tomorrow with just a waxworm or a redworm.

Well, after he ate the reptomin, I put in another waxworm and he ate it. He was looking for more, so I got a worm for him, but by the time I got back he was hiding under his mulch pile.