Animals, just like humans, may prefer some foods over others, and you may see this in your turtle. But if your turtle only eats shrimp then you may start to worry
This article looks into why your turtle only eats shrimp
Table of Contents
My turtle only eats shrimp:
A diverse diet is needed for turtles but discovering that your turtle only eats shrimp will be very worrying and concerning
As a turtle raiser, you’d want to give your pet a varied diet as they are omnivores who would benefit from eating a wide range of food but they may not want to eat a wide range of food. Understanding why this is happening with your pet should help tackle the problem
Here is what you need to know if you are in this situation:
Turtles and shrimp:
The reason why your turtle likes shrimp is the same reason why children like sweets and crisps and crackers and the like, they are a tasty treat.
Shrimp, just like junk food, has some nutritional properties, but, the nutrients that it offers are nowhere near how much your pet should be getting from its diet.
In addition to this, shrimp has a lot of protein which is technically good but in large quantities, it isn’t. Your pet will develop shell problems if it keeps eating a lot of protein-rich food like shrimp.
Here is how you get around your pet eating only shrimp:
Feed it other treats:
In addition to the treat of shrimp that you may be feeding your pet turtle, it is recommended that you also give your pet other treats including can-o-crickets or can-o-grasshoppers.
If your pet turtle likes the color of the shrimp then feed it “aquatic turtle bites’. These are bright red in colour so the animal will think that it is shrimp and will eat them. The turtle bites are also appealing in smell and sight to the reptile.
Mix in pellets:
While treats have their benefit you can’t only feed your pet treats, but what you can do is mix in the treats with the animal’s real food.
Mix some shrimp and other treats into your turtle’s pellets before feeding, this should encourage the animal to eat the pellets because they are mixed into the treats.
Getting your pet to eat mainly pellets and only eat treats on occasion may take time but is it possible. You can achieve this by weaning the animal off the treats by reducing how many treats you put in the animal’s food over time.
You can also soak the pellets in some tuna to get the reptile to like the pellets more. Doing this will get the taste and smell of fish into the pellets and this will be attractive to your pet
Once your pet is used to the pellets it will eat them like there is no tomorrow
Go cold turkey:
Another way to remedy this problem is by not feeding the animal shrimp at all and going cold turkey.
These animals can go days without food so don’t worry about them starving if they don’t go for the pellets for a bit.
Drop one pellet a day, into your pet’s tank, to see if the animal eats it. If it doesn’t then scoop the pellet out and try with a new pellet the next day.
Continue doing this until the animal eats the pellets.
Your pet will not starve itself just to get shrimp, its natural instincts to survive will kick in and the animal will eat the pellets. You as the turtle keeper simply need to be strong and not give in.
You may need to repeat the process of feeding your pet only pellets a couple of times as they can be stubborn, but you’ll have to be more stubborn
If you enjoyed this article then you may also be interested in other turtle/tortoise related articles. Here are some articles that you may be interested in: My Turtle Has A Hole In Its Shell, Is My Turtle Underweight?, Can Turtles Overheat?, My Turtle Keeps Scratching His Eyes, My Turtle Is Spitting Up Blood, My Turtle Only Laid One Egg, My Turtle Only Eats Lettuce, My Turtle Tank Smells Bad, Why Does My Turtle Tank Smell Bad After Cleaning?