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  1. #1
    BPnet Veteran wnateg's Avatar
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    Alligator Snapping Turtle: Wait out, Give in, Or... ?

    So my hatchling (around 6 months at this point) alligator snapping turtle has pretty much reserved herself to only eating rosy red minnows. I'd like to vary her diet some, shrimp, pinkies, etc, but she does not seem interested. She will not swim for it or act interested at all. She's very shy and if I put it to close to her, she will swim away. I have no problem with just feeding rosy reds, but I am not sure it's a healthy habit. I see a couple different options, but I was wondering if anyone had an opinion about it.

    1. I could try to wait her out and leave food in her tank every night until she eats (maybe shrimp or dead minnows at first), though I would be starving her, so that seems pretty risky.
    2. I could give in and just keep supplying rosy reds. Not sure it's totally healthy, but if it works, it works, at least until she's older and more hardy.
    3. I have read about putting them in separate feeding enclosures, but she's very shy, not sure it would work too well.

    Any opinions? Somewhat niche question, so I am leaning towards keep providing rosy reds, at least until she gets older.
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  2. #2
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    Re: Alligator Snapping Turtle: Wait out, Give in, Or... ?

    IIRC from when I kept garter snakes, rosy reds have high amounts of thiaminase so if you are going to feed them you need to somehow get a B vitamin supplement into your turtle.

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  4. #3
    BPnet Veteran wnateg's Avatar
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    Re: Alligator Snapping Turtle: Wait out, Give in, Or... ?

    Quote Originally Posted by bcr229 View Post
    IIRC from when I kept garter snakes, rosy reds have high amounts of thiaminase so if you are going to feed them you need to somehow get a B vitamin supplement into your turtle.
    Okay, thank you. I will try frozen fish to see if the fish scent hits and I will try earthworms.
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  5. #4
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    Re: Alligator Snapping Turtle: Wait out, Give in, Or... ?

    Now that mines a little bit older (around same age) it is pretty shy as well. I've been keeping guppys in there but the amount of fry I have is rediculious. But my local aquarium sells frozen shiners which I'll cut the head and tail off and it will eat them. They also sell bigger Alaskan shrimp about the size of a rosy red that it also will eat.

    Sent from my SM-G930T using Tapatalk

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  7. #5
    BPnet Veteran wnateg's Avatar
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    I tried pretty much all different types of food and she wasn't taking it. Then I had an issue with petco that prevented me from getting fish, so I decided to take the opportunity to starve her out. There were a few fish in there, but they're too quick to net them out; I figured it wasn't enough to sustain, so she would still seek out more food, even if she did catch one or two. The first night I didn't give her anything; the second night I put 2 pinkies in there, and she didn't eat them; so last night I added a shrimp. I checked this morning, and she ate it!! Woo!! Very satisfying when I saw that. Not sure that means we're over the hill, but it has been established that she will resort to eating it.
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  8. #6
    Registered User Meghenebk's Avatar
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    I hope she stays willing to try new food. Will she eat dead fish? You can always stuff them with supplements and pieces of other prey to keep her on a varied diet if she gets reluctant again.

    Are you digging a pond outside for her eventually? Our dispay snapper has about 500 gallons plus the rest of his space, I can't imagine that's tenable in most houses.

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  10. #7
    BPnet Veteran wnateg's Avatar
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    Re: Alligator Snapping Turtle: Wait out, Give in, Or... ?

    Quote Originally Posted by Meghenebk View Post
    I hope she stays willing to try new food. Will she eat dead fish? You can always stuff them with supplements and pieces of other prey to keep her on a varied diet if she gets reluctant again.

    Are you digging a pond outside for her eventually? Our dispay snapper has about 500 gallons plus the rest of his space, I can't imagine that's tenable in most houses.
    I've tried fish parts, like salmon, but not whole. Yes, I'll be moving to a house at some point, maybe as soon as this year, but more likely next year. At that point, I can pretty much build whatever I want for her, which is the plan, but she's growing pretty slow, so I have time. I'd like to build like a huge pond but with a glass front, like this: https://i.pinimg.com/564x/c8/97/a4/c...fb3bd4f169.jpg. Do you have pictures of your 500 gallon?
    Last edited by wnateg; 01-21-2020 at 03:28 PM.
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  11. #8
    Registered User Meghenebk's Avatar
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    Sorry, no pix, I work at a museum.

    Think rockwork pond in the (very good replica) woods with a waterfall into a shallower pond which then feeds into the deep one. Fronted by a three foot tall two inch thick acrylic slab (plus taller thin acrylic as a visitor-poking-things-barrier). We have a varied population of turtles at our outdoor property, too.

    His window slab goes right near floor level, I can't count the number of times I've seen some kid or adult sitting on the floor just staring at him in awe from six inches away. He likes to hang out with his mouth gaped hoping a fish will swim close.

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  13. #9
    BPnet Veteran wnateg's Avatar
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    Re: Alligator Snapping Turtle: Wait out, Give in, Or... ?

    Quote Originally Posted by Meghenebk View Post
    Sorry, no pix, I work at a museum.

    Think rockwork pond in the (very good replica) woods with a waterfall into a shallower pond which then feeds into the deep one. Fronted by a three foot tall two inch thick acrylic slab (plus taller thin acrylic as a visitor-poking-things-barrier). We have a varied population of turtles at our outdoor property, too.

    His window slab goes right near floor level, I can't count the number of times I've seen some kid or adult sitting on the floor just staring at him in awe from six inches away. He likes to hang out with his mouth gaped hoping a fish will swim close.
    Yea, that sounds exactly what I would like to do. And yea, so does Deborah:

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  14. #10
    Registered User Meghenebk's Avatar
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    Re: Alligator Snapping Turtle: Wait out, Give in, Or... ?

    She's adorable! In that terrirying prehistoric ambush predator sort of way.

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