Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a brand spanking new baby 3 striped mud turtle that I just got on Tuesday. I have done my homework and put him in a 20 gal aquarium with about 1 1/2 inches of water in it, plenty of rocks to climb on, a filter, a heater, a UVA/UVB lamp and a basking lamp. I have tried taking him out of the aquarium and putting him in a tupperware container half filled with water and feeding him there, but he just tries to swim through the plastic and doesn't even acknowledge that there is food in there. I have been feeding him (or trying to) freeze dried bloodworms since the regular pellet food is bigger than his head and he doesn't acknowledge that either. How long can he go without food? Should I be worried yet? Is there something else that I should be trying to feed him? Am I just worrying too much? Also, I am turning on the UVA/UVB and the heat lamp when I leave for work in the morning and turn it off when I get home, is that acceptable? (I am gone from 6am - 5pm) Thanks in advance for any info. I used these boards to get all the info I needed to set up my little guy's new home, so I know you guys know what you are talking about!

Tracy

Tracy,
First of all don't worry!
The feeding in a seperate container may have to wait till the guy (or gal) begins associating you with food and is rolling along--which won't take long.
Your 20 gallon tank is really a bit too big right now for a hatchling but that's OK it will get along.
Try feeding it live brine shrimp from an aquarium store if you can get it....just a few at first. The hatchling will recognize it as something to eat. Blood worms will work too but once the turtles is spooked (as it seems to be when you put it in the Tupperware) it will ignore food and just struggle.
Another item that they will go for is a little chunk of cooked shrimp or chicken.
Three striped muddies are about as easy a turtle as you can get. It will be fine...you'll see.

Reptomin pellets are the best food out tehre for aquatic turtles. And reptomin sells pellets for hatchling turtles, called Baby reptomin. And even if the pellets are still too big for him, you can always break them in half... and also, the water softens the pellets and the turtle can bit on half of it, it doesnt matter how big it is, the turtle will be able to rip them apart especially when they get wet. I agree with the other person also, you just got him so hes still getting used to his aquarium, taking him out of the aquairum to feed will just spook him even more. If you have a good filter theres really no reason to feed in a separate container.

The "twenty gallon is too big" is nonesense; in fact, i think it borders on too small. I have never seen a hatchling afraid of too much space, especially if the surface is broken up with logs, piles of rocks areas of shallow and depths and water plants. They wander quite a bit.
F eeding in a separate container is a bad idea for muds and musks. They are scavengers and spend long hours looking amongst rocks, mud and plants for carrion and slow moving invertebrates . You should feed him in his house and he will be more comfortablke there. I would use live blackworms and ghost shrimp and tiny crickets. as he grows i would add sinking wafers and algae wafers and sinking koi pellets and sinking cichlid pellets and maybe turtle brittle. Also increase the size of live foods to include red wigglers, small earth worms larger crickets, wax worms and other grubs and then perhaps andoccassional piece of dead fish. Try feeding in the early morning or early evening . Many kinosternids are crepuscular (if you have ever searched for them in the wild you will knwo the best toime to find themactive is dusk or dawn)I agree with the other poster and wouldn't expect him to eat in a different container anyway as he is still probabaly afraid of you and most every thing else.