Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My painted is sick because of a wound on his shell and abcesses on his plastron. I have him on systemic antibiotics and topical sulfadiazine, and i'm dry docking him 10-14 hours daily. Because of all this stress, he is not eating as much. In the past few days he has only had 3-4 turtle pellets and 1 small minnow. The vet says to let him eat as much food as possible with out over feeding for the next few weeks. My main concern is getting him to eat more live fish though because he doesn't seem to be interested. Is there any way to maybe spark his appetite and get him to eat more live fish?

Any help would be greatly appreciated,
Matt

Being sick he might have a hard time catching fish. Maybe try something easier and a bit more tempting the pellets. Mealworms, waxworms, earthworms, some cooked chicken, stuff like that. My painted goes nuts when I give her a piece of salmon or catfish.

Mine also loves those but are they at all high in calcium?

Matt

No but at this point isn't the main thing for him to eat? You can also try water packed canned salmon and sardines which have bones. Rinse under cool tap water to remove excess salt