red-eared slider problem

Question
hi i have 2 baby red eared sliders in a pretty small tank. I dont think I can get them a bigger tank anytime soon but about their diet. They are NO eating AT ALL the pellets that i give them. People keep telling me to give then like fish and worms so i gave them some raw fishs but they won't eat them! And i don't know where to buy the fish and worms specially for turtles so please help.

Answer
Turtles don't eat when they are stressed. They are stressed by small tanks and cool temps (75-80F is good.)

You can set them up in something cheap and easy for most of the day, then use the tiny bowl to show them off when you are home. Most of us use Rubbermaid-type totes for our tanks to provide at least 10 gallons of swimming space per inch of turtle shell length. This way, you can get a 30-40 gallon tote for only a few bucks and set it up as a nice turtle habitat.

You don't need anything on the bottom- and it is easier to clean that way. You should have a good water filter about 2-3 times stronger than a fish tank that size would be.

You'll need to heat the tank. A simple thermostatic submersible heater (ideally with a heater guard) will do it.

Lighting is actually the most expensive thing. You should use a little heat on the basking site, and some UVB light on the tank in general. A 'mercury vapor' bulb will do both, or you can do a UVB bulb and a heat lamp.

Using a decent quality pellet is fine for about 4-5 days a week, and you can offer the same worms, crickets, or small fish you buy at the pet shop to feed fish for one of the days, and either water plants or dark leafy greens the other day.

You can learn more at places like http://www.redearslider.com or http://www.austinsturtlepage.com