softshell turtle that doesnt eat much

Question
HEllo,  we have a baby softshell turtle an he seems to be very lithargic more oftenthan not , we've tried to get him to eat  an he seems to only like cut up shrimp. We;ve tried  quite a few kinds of food but nothing seeems to work.    Can you suggest some kind of food that he might like thats a more well rounded diet an reasons why he doesnt seems to move from the corner or the tank to often.    We have a large softshell an hes an eating machine an is very active thats the reason for the concern.   Thanks for
your time and information.  
  Jeff


Answer
Hi Jeff,

I'm not really an aquatics person so the help I can offer is limited, but there's a couple of things I would look at.  Are you keeping the smaller turtle in with the larger?  Bullying is pretty common among turtles and tortoises, and especially with a species like softshells I would consider separating them at least until the smaller turtle has caught up in size.  You might not see anything obvious, but bullying can be as subtle as simply not allowing the smaller turtle to behave normally as far as swimming, basking, and eating goes.  

If the hatchling is kept by himself, check to make sure the filter is working well and the water is very clean.  Check temps, basking area, substrate, etc.  You can put live fish (guppies, mosquito fish) in to see if he's interested in those; also try redworms or bloodworms.

Hope this helped.  Good luck with your turtle.