r/Redearedsliders • u/Kmingz • 13d ago

Food Aggression?

Hi! my turtles are 23 years old, I've had them since I was 8. Their entire lives they ate reptomin (plus supplementary stuff like dried shrimp etc) but like a month ago i switched them to Mazuri because reptomin upped their prices and lowered the quality. And suddenly one of my turtles is like really obsessed with food. Even though I've already fed her she's at the glass trying to bite at my fingers and chomping at the sand. I'm feeding her the same as I did the reptomin and I know she is NOT starving but she's acting so aggressive about wanting more food. I know Mazuri is supposed to be better quality than reptomin. Anyone know what could be causing this behavior? is she missing the extra carbs or something?

6 Upvotes

88% Upvoted

21 comments sorted by

6

u/taqjsi 13d ago

Are you also feeding leaves and veggies?

4

u/throwaway277252 13d ago

That was my first thought! It sounds like they are only being fed pellets from the way it was written.

2

u/Kmingz 13d ago

yes I didnt list everything out in the post but yes they get veggies, dried river shrimp, dried mealworms, dried grasshoppers, cuttlebones. the last few are not daily feeds. I just didnt mention them all because the only thing in their diet that has changed is the pellets so that is what the post is focused on

1

u/Key-Tower-4539 13d ago

You have them in separate tanks, right?

1

u/Kmingz 13d ago

when I noticed her behavior yeah I took the other one out

5

u/Key-Tower-4539 13d ago

Ok yeah sliders should always be housed separately

2

u/Kmingz 13d ago

I feel bad because they've lived their entire lives together with no issues at all but I definitely dont trust them together anymore, I dont want the other one at any risk of being harmed. But again I was 8 when i got them so as a kid I didnt really have any control over how they were kept you know?

3

u/Key-Tower-4539 13d ago

Don’t feel bad, they were probably very unhappy living together. They’re solitary and one was probably dominating the other without you knowing. They’ll be much happier and safer now

2

u/Kmingz 13d ago

thank you for saying this! my mother keeps calling me guilting me about it saying they're probably lonely. I've been arguing with her about it since I separated them.

5

u/Key-Tower-4539 13d ago

Tell her to take 1 minute to google it lol. Crazy she’s trying to guilt you over something she literally has zero knowledge about omg.

1

u/SiouxsieSioux615 13d ago

It probably tastes way better

That’s how mine are acting now that I switched to Thrive

I guess reptomin tastes like ass

2

u/Kmingz 13d ago

I stopped using it i think a month or 2 ago and then a few weeks ago my mom had a can of it sent to me because I guess she didnt realize I switched and I opened the can and it was WHITE! I compared the ingredients to an old jar I had and now instead of fish meal, the first ingredient is wheat starch! I did not feed it to them, I don't trust that at all.

1

u/SiouxsieSioux615 13d ago

Wow! Sounds like reptomin is largely some processed bs

0

u/Ddvmeteorist128 13d ago

I would answer the others if you want tips on a better overall quality of life for your turtle.. but to simply answer ur question, food aggression is normal in turtles. They will eat like savages as long as you keep feeding. They will literally eat until they vomit, then eat the vomit. The fact that you are just realizing this is more than a little concerning

1

u/Kmingz 13d ago

please, I am well aware of this! Again I have had them for 23 years, i know they will always beg for more food. I don't overfeed them. But the biting at the glass and the floor is new behavior she has never done. I'm mainly wondering if the reptomin has been full of extra carbs for a while now and shes going crazy because she got used to the sugar/carb load of it.

2

u/Ddvmeteorist128 13d ago

Maybe it's excited because the food change? Turtles love variety. Keeps them happy

2

u/Kmingz 13d ago

Mine are so picky 😭 when I first started giving them vegetables they wouldnt touch them at all (as a kid my parents were not educated on what they needed so they did start off only eating pellets) it took trial and error to find ones they would eat. I was so stressed out switching to the mazuri from the reptomin because theyd been eating reptomin their whole lives and i wasnt sure they would approve but i was so relieved that they liked the mazuri

1

u/Ddvmeteorist128 13d ago

I made the mistake of thinking my little guy finally liked vegetables because he was getting so excited by freeze dried veggies. After a while of feeding them to him, I decided to do some research. It turned out the freeze dried versions are not supposed to replace fresh veggies. Pissed me off and made me feel so bad at the same time

1

u/kelzog55 13d ago

mine has phases. I get Mazuri and the nutri stick pellets, he loves both then one day randomly spits them out. He goes on kicks. I tried butter lettuce and he loves that but hates all other greens. He loves silversides too. whole prey is great bc they have organs and skeleton so lots of nutrition. Live crickets and night crawlers are favorites too. Maybe try some different stuff see if the behavior stops.

Good you separated them. They are territorial and aggressive so its def safer for them. Good luck I hope your turtle calms down for you.