# Sinking Turtle Food (UK) Razorback/Common Musk



## Northern_Escapism (5 mo ago)

So, brief introduction here (skip to second paragraph if you're not interested). I have kept turtles for over 5 years now, I rescued 2x hatchling Yellow bellied Sldiers scheduled for destruction (EU invasive laws species made them illegal to sell and pet store was planning to euthanise them). Also picked up two Musk's (one Razorback and one Common Musk). I have the 2 YBS in a 1000 litre aquarium running two FX6 filters and two Fluval E300 heaters. The two Musk both have 200 litre tanks (filled to the top) and 1 FX6 filter each and 1 E300 heater each. Musks have large rock formations at the opposite end of the tank from the filter output they can crawl up to their basking areas so are happy, the deep water is not and has never been an issue (even when they were smaller) because of this design.

The problem...

Sliders eat anything, including me if I'm not paying attention! So I buy 10 litre buckets of Reptomin floating sticks for turtles for their main staple food and feed them various other foods to keep their diet varied.

But the Musk's, they are really fussy. It has to be food that sinks to the bottom and they turn their nose up at certain foods (Zoomed sinking food for example).

I recently found Arcadia TurtleGold (about a year ago) and they love it, it's expensive at £15 a 300g bag but they ate every scrap and so less excess food to clean up so I was happy.

Unfortunately out of 4 bags I have purchased 2 have been Mouldy (I could tell it was bad the second I opened the bags, it smelt of mildew, was swollen as if exposed to damp and the turtles refuse to touch it), even bought from different sources (Arcadia's Amazon Store and Pets at Home online).

I have contacted the manufacturer and asked them to look at that their quality control but I get the feeling they might be phasing the food out as it seems to be running low on stock in their store, that and I can't be getting new food in at such high prices when it's mouldy and returning it every few months.

Does anyone have any suggestions for a good quality sinking food for Musk turtles in the UK?


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## Cr3do (Jul 9, 2014)

Hi there,

I currently use Arcadia Turtle Gold, my Loggerhead Musk absolutely loves it. I hope they don’t discontinue it.

I also supplement with Hikari carnivore sinking pellets, which he goes mad for. These were recommended by the breeder I got the turtle off.

Zoomed do a sinking pellet for Mud and Musks, but seems impossible to get hold of in the U.K.

This has some advice on how to make floating pellets sink, although I’ve not tried it.








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Let me know if you find anything else.
Thanks


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## Northern_Escapism (5 mo ago)

Appreciate the response, I found nothing else. Fortunately it does not appear that Arcadia are retiring the food and after contacting them directly they shipped me a replacement for the mouldy one (although it took them two weeks to ship it).

The new pack was fine, dry and had a strong normal smell. My Razorback musk ate it straight away, prior to that because I could not wait on the free pack I bought two more packs from Amazon, opened both and both are fine.

I'm going to stick with Arcadia Turtle Gold and try to buy one pack a month, check it's ok, seal it back up and hopefully build up a stock of it.

Shame my local Pets at Home don't stock the pellets in the stores or offer collect in store as I have worked out the difference between mouldy food and dry food just by squeezing the bag, you can tell mouldy food as it's stuck together, it's like the difference between a pouch of microwavable rice and a bag of dried rice.

My turtle won't eat pre-soaked pellets or the Zoo Med sinking pellets so that's no good, but I did find the bit about the Hikari sinking food (fish food) being good for turtles interesting, from my experience keeping fish that stuff usually smells pretty strong and I think the Turtles would love it.

Thanks again.


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## Shellsfeathers&fur (Jan 18, 2009)

Not sure about opening it and then resealing it - would even doing that momentarily cause it to deteriorate?

Carp sinking pellets from a fishing tackle shop are also a good food source too.


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## Northern_Escapism (5 mo ago)

Shellsfeathers&fur said:


> Not sure about opening it and then resealing it - would even doing that momentarily cause it to deteriorate?
> 
> Carp sinking pellets from a fishing tackle shop are also a good food source too.


That is a risk, but I'll have to see how it goes. I know the food was good when I opened it and the bags are resealable so fingers crossed.

Good tip about the carp sinking pellets.


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## ClaudineM (9 mo ago)

Northern_Escapism said:


> So, brief introduction here (skip to second paragraph if you're not interested). I have kept turtles for over 5 years now, I rescued 2x hatchling Yellow bellied Sldiers scheduled for destruction (EU invasive laws species made them illegal to sell and pet store was planning to euthanise them). Also picked up two Musk's (one Razorback and one Common Musk). I have the 2 YBS in a 1000 litre aquarium running two FX6 filters and two Fluval E300 heaters. The two Musk both have 200 litre tanks (filled to the top) and 1 FX6 filter each and 1 E300 heater each. Musks have large rock formations at the opposite end of the tank from the filter output they can crawl up to their basking areas so are happy, the deep water is not and has never been an issue (even when they were smaller) because of this design.
> 
> The problem...
> 
> ...


Musks id only ever go to a guy called Keith Parker he’s a legend with his knowledge owns a turtle rehoming sanctuary. He creates his own food mix for the type of turtle & Terripan 
I had 2 stinkpots . mine absolutely adored it constantly begging for more . They use to be super fussybefore it , last time I got it it was 15£ but it lasted best part of 5-6 months . Didn’t need to add anything in as his food has all the goodness and things they need
.


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