Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok I have been reading a lot about RES hatchlings and I know that they usually won't eat for several days till they get settled into their new home but I am getting worried. One of my hatchlings is blind and hasn't eaten in two weeks. I can't feed him in the tank because it is too big he can't find the food and won't eat it when I push in front of him so I have been putting him in a salad bowl with a rock and giving him food there but he won't eat. I have tried ham, turtle sticks, and evne fish food (read some hatchlings may start on that) nothing. He is pretty active and likes to swim around the tank but spends a lot of time on his basking rock. Today I started with a softening agent to try and get those eyes open no luck (I don't think his ever formed). If he can't see how can he eat and is switching him to the smaller bowl causing him stress so he continues not to eat. I think maybe he is atleast getting some nutrients from the water the food dissolves in after he doesn't eat it. I don't know what else to do. Now the other three hatchlings aren't eating either (its been 5 days) 2 of them had eye problems but I got their eyes open with the medicine today so maybe now they will eat. I just don't know what else to do I have never had this problem with any of my other turtles they all ate right away. They just aren't that active and spend most of the time on their rock with their eyes closed. What else or where else can I feed them? Any help would be appreciated.

N/P

i too have a problem with a blind RES, i noticed that the other turtles that i have in the tank try to gulp up the food before the blind one could eat, i started taking the other turtles out,up the temperature in the tank to 86, and started feeding him small crickets! i noticed by increaseing the temperature it made him nip at everything and when he feels a small cricket around his head he will start nipping at it until he grabs ahold and eats it! It took a while before he started doing this, the temp. rise is what made him hungry! hope this works for you

Thanks I have red eyed tree frogs who are just a few months old so I have small crickets. I will try heating up the water and see what happens.

If the water is too cool, they will become inactive and not eat. Tank water of 78-80 F would be OK, water in the feeding container slightly higher.

Will the turtle eat from your hand if you hold it under his nose so he can smell it? Try some boiled white chicken meat, hard-boiled egg white, or something smelly like sardines packed in water to get him to start eating.