Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi from Mn, I have a 3 inch painted turtle,from the wild, "it's" doing good, had it about 2 months, It dose'nt like floating sticks/meal worms/crickets/earthworms/ect, so far he/she only eats thin sliced fresh fish/shrimp, how do I get him/her to eat the good food? Thanks for any help

Hey,

I got the same problem with my first painted. It only liked to eat shrimp but gradually became accustomed to eating anything and everything I put for him. I think you can always mix foods together if the turtles tend to associate by smell..meaning, chop some earthworms/shrimp/foodsticks together and offer the mix. And be patient, keep offering and most turtles will turn around. As for veggies, I usually have less luck with that...

Johnny

every turtle likes the meat best, but if you leave other things in there for a while, he will eventually eat them.
I have a largemouth bass that eats cichlid pellets, so eventually they will figure out that if theres nothing else, they have to eat the sticks.
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i have had a painted for about 2 years, he never ate sticks, only worms, fish, meats etc. he ate the plants i had in there too. i stopped trying to offer sticks for years. if yours is anything like mine, it sees me and know right away its feeding time, so he chomps at anything i hold over the water, including my hand. i tried the sticks and he spit them out as usual, then i softened them up for a little bit and he eventually took them, now he eats them no problem. i think it was the hard texture of the the sticks that he didn't like at first.