Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My baby yellow belly is usually always at the front of the tank waiting for food. She normally has no problem eating. All the sudden this morning, she didn't seem interested in the food, and she has been in the corner of the tank all day. But when I picked her up she walked over my hands like she always does. Does anyone have any suggestions? My RES is acting like she always does.

Are the turtles together? Are they the same size?
My first thought was that the RES may be intimidating the baby.

My second thought was based on my own experience.
My yellow mud did that- stopped eating & started behaving strangely once, several years ago- he had parasites. Got him treated for that & in a week or so he was back to normal.
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PHRatz

Yes, they are together but the RES is the smaller one and they seem to get along fine. The first day we noticed her acting funny she did not eat at all. But then yesterday she didn't eat in the morning, but she ate a good bit in the evening. Could it be because she is getting to the point where she is starting to eat less because she is getting older? She's only like 2 inches long.

Oh they are tiny babies ok.. that brings one more thing to mind.
When my aquatics were growing babies they would go through what I called growth spurts. They would eat like hogs every day.. like they were just starving to death.
Then the growth spurt would end & they'd stop eating so much- just all of a sudden.
They would eat but not like they were starving to death.
They'd go like that for a little while then all of a sudden out of nowhere they acted like they were starving to death again. Each time that happened they did grow.
Maybe yours was in a growth spurt & that's over for the moment?
If the baby does eat some & doesn't get too lethargic I'd be inclined to chalk it up to the growth spurt thing.
I hope that's all it is.
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PHRatz

yep. my RES are undergoing this phase right now.. but how am i suppose to know if the growth spurt starts again? hom can i get him to eat well again?
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well my YBS has started to eat again, but she doesn't seem like she is starving like she used to. when i come over to the tank she swims to the front so i can feed her. i guess eventually they will start eating again like she did. and when she is starting another growth spurt, she might start eating a lot more.