Why is my turtle refusing to eat anything but dried prawns?

Question

I've been feeding my turtle some dried prawns, corn, carrots, peas, as well as other vegetables and some fruits.

Recently the turtle had developed an inclination towards prawns, it would not eat the vegetables. I tried mixing the food, but it would just smell the vegetables and go by seeking prawns. I also tried not putting prawns it ended up not eating. I also occasionally feed it boiled chicken and it would eat them.

As a side note: can cooked chicken like escalope or just the normal chicken served with rice be fed to the turtle?

What do you recommend I do?

Answer 1

It sounds like the turtle has become addicted to the prawns. The prawns are essentially candy for the turtle, which is why I had suggested them as treats and not a staple.

Really the only solution now is to treat the turtle like a child and refuse to give him any prawns until he eats his vegetables. He might go a day or two without eating before giving in and eating what's healthy for him, but given the choice between healthy food and nothing, he'll eventually give in.

You will want some other source of protein as turtles aren't vegetarians. Chicken is good, generally it's boiled chicken that's used, but I don't see any reason why escalope wouldn't work provided you don't cook it with anything (no grease or spices).

Something else to consider is that he might have taste preferences for certain vegetables as well. If there are certain vegetables that he's avoiding, he might simply not like them. So if it's possible to replace the vegetables that he hates with some that he doesn't mind, that would make it easier than trying to out-stubborn him.