Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have a painted whos going on three years old, pushing 5 inches (measured by the top of his shell) for his first two years he ate like a pig. he had to eat every day, if there was one day you didn't feed him and went near him hed try to swim into the glass and splash alot. you had to feed him alot too or he'd start doing the same later. but now he doesn't want to eat. all the food would end up in the tank and geting stuck in the filters. but i noticed he was eating. so i started feeding him less and every other day, food is still geting in the filters and messing up the tank. should i feed him even less and more often? or is something wrong?

what are you feeding him?
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pellets, hes eaten different brands of pellets his whole life

You have to give him something more than pellets. Offer him some fish, worms, plants, shrimp, crickets, and other things. If you keep his diet diverse he will eat better, healthier.

I would reccomend some plants, I have floater type aquatic plants with my turtles, and I see them eat them occasionally. Your turtle will turn more vegetarian as it gets older anyway. You can also add dark leafy greens from the kitchen. Ive had some luck with collard greens and celery leaves.
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Is that a pic of the turtle you are refering to? Just wondering because that turtle looks to me more like a red belly cooter, or some sort of slider... not a painted turtle. I dunno just a thought. Also, if you are worried about the food messing up the aquarium, then why don't you just start to feed him in a separate container. That way when he's done you dump out the water with the left over food.

yes the turtle in the picture is the one i'm talking about, i looked in my national audobon northen american herp guide and looked at the red bellied cooter, i dont think it looks any thing like my turtle at all. out of all the sliders and painteds i'v seen and had, im very sure its a painted. but i think i am going to try puting my turtle in something else for feeding, great idea.

you may be right, it's hard to tell from the picture, but painted turtles don't usually have the yellow stripes down the scutes like that... it's more typical of a slider or cooter. It's certainly not an eastern painted(different markings on the head), southern painted(no red stripe), or western painted(they have a orange/red plastron). It doesn't appear to be a midland either, but I'm really not as familiar with that subspecies... do you have any more pics, like of the plastron or anything? I couldn't find any good pics either, which kinda stinks, but I did find two pics that look kinda similar to me, but that again I certainly could be wrong. These are both Fl. Red Bellies:
http://www.chelonia.org/Prubiventris.jpg
http://www.chelonia.org/PrubeventrisJHs1juv.jpg

I don't know, the stripes on the head and scutes looked similar to me. How old is the turtle, cooters and sliders get much bigger so maybe time will tell....

http://www.chelonia.org/PrubeventrisJHs1juv.jpg
that is my turtle! you said it's a fl. red belly? that would be really weird because we saved my turtle when he was the size of a quarter from our swimming pool. and i live in maryland, quite a ways away from florida. my turtle is a little over 2 years old now, 5 inch long shell. i feel bad that i didn't know what kind of turtle it is = but he seems really healthy. i'm going to look up these turtles now, thank you alot!

Wow, that's a crazy story. The plastron is definately one of a slider/cooter. You are right that you are far far far out of their natural habitat. They are not entirely rare to see in the pet trade, maybe someone bought it and changed their minds and decided to "let it go"... in which case you definately saved it's life because I don't think it would have made it through a winter outside in Maryland! Wow, what a cool cool story, makes this guy one heck of a lucky turtle! I definately think he's a red belly. Neat.

i took some more pictures of my turt, a good shot of his belly, shell and side. i can't upload it on kingsnake, i think i have too many pictures or something so if you'd like, give me your email adress and i'll send them to you.