yellow bellies

Question
i have just inherited two yellow bellied snapping turtles and iam a bit worried as they are not eating i have got a dry mix called king british complete food they are housed in a pond like lining about 3 foot round they have a pump and filter and heater with some rocks i have been told they are 2 years old they are about the size of a adults hand how often should you feed them and what do you think of there habitat

Answer
Hi Darren,

You have yellow-bellied sliders, not snapping turtles, which are an entirely different species.  I'll link some information below for you, but I'll go over the basics, too.

If they're about 5" long, they're older than two years, but may not be quite mature.  Males will grow to 7-8" long, but females can get up to about 12".  That means two turtles need quite a bit of room.  You should have, optimally, about 100 gallons of space, with excellent filtration to keep the water quality up.

Water temperature should be about 75 degrees, with basking temperature about 90 degrees.  The basking area should also have a source of UVB (specialty reptile bulb).  

Feed them a variety of animal protein (whole feeder fish, insects, worms, etc.) and chopped veggies/greens (squashes, peppers, mushrooms, turnip greens, kale, collards, cos), along with a good pelleted diet like Reptimin or ZooMed (not sure if Reptimin is available in the UK, but I'm pretty sure ZooMed Natural is).  I don't know much about the King British food, but it doesn't seem to be too highly recommended.  Feed once a day, and it won't hurt them to fast a day a week.

For more information:
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/cs-yellowbelly.htm
http://www.redearslider.com (this is a RES site, but has good information that's applicable to YBS)
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/care.htm
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/waterquality.htm
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Articles/filtration.htm
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/housing.htm