How many pellets should i feed my turtle

This means that you can give them slightly more than the size of their heads, as a lot of this food is not quite as dense and nutritious as the turtle pellets.

Grab a handful of kale and drop it in your feeding tank or your tank, and let it float. This is because turtles, in the wild, are able to feed on vegetables at any time, and generally only do so when they are hungry. Notice how much was eaten throughout the day, and that should be a general measuring stick of how many leafy greens to give them.

For vegetables which you should usually cook , I would also follow the head-size rule but still give a little leeway. Turtles can gorge a bit on vegetables, and they will still be healthy.

If you have a snapping turtle, you should check out my article on what do snapping turtles eat? You will want the leafy green portion of their diet to be a staple food, so I would keep trying the following things until you hit on something that they enjoy eating on a daily basis:.

For vegetables, I would recommend that you steam or cook them first to soften them up, and place them in a feeder bowl as they usually will sink to the bottom. When it comes to baby turtles, I would recommend that you simply follow the empty-head rule, just as with young and mature adults. The only difference this time is that you will be feeding them pellets or protein sources every day, instead of every other or every third day.

With baby turtles, it can be quite easy to overfeed them, so I would err on the side of caution, and be quite strict with the amount of pellets that you feed them. The best times of the day for feedings are usually during mornings and afternoons.

When it comes to buying food, check out why I buy my turtle food on Chewy. Oh, OK. My bad. You should float the leafy greens on the water at all time for free graze. They are actually a good source of vitamin A. Even my diamondback terrapin will nibble on the leafy veggies if leave out for him; this species is considered to be carnivorous.

My mud will not touch the stuff. Thats really helpful thank you very much. More thoughts on food and supplements cuttle bone, wheat germ for vitamin E! I have a yellow bellied slider, but the feeding recommendations are the same for RES She did not eat greens when I first got her, but I kept green leaf lettuce floating in her tank for weeks and she finally discovered it.

She nibbles on this daily and I don't feel so bad — she has a snack when she wants it. I also give her other veggies on non-pellet days to keep her happy and her diet varied. She still begs quite a bit every morning, but I think that's just a turtle thing. I also keep some cuttlebone in the tank and she takes chunks off of it.

I always felt uneasy about guessing what quantity that would be and worried that I was under- or over-feeding her , until I thought of this: I filled the corner of a plastic sandwich bag with pellets, added and removed pellets until it was roughly the size of her head kept holding it up next to her head to gauge , then measured the quantity with my measuring spoon. Two teaspoons! I plan to periodically recalculate this as she grows. All days: I float green leaf lettuce her fave for grazing and cuttlebone for calcium.

I also have anacharis floating and growing in her tank. Saturday- sometimes nothing extra, sometimes a few pieces of grapes or tomato or sweet potato as a treat.

I feed her in her tank since she and her fish friends don't leave any leftovers. I also make sure she's eating her greens, but not devouring them. I thought that made a lot of sense. A 5 inch Slider will get a mix of high and low protein pellets that is more even, along with the steady dose of greens. Turtles are omnivorous and different species have different eating habits.

For example, the green sea, snapping turtles and red-eared sliders turtles are carnivorous, loggerhead turtles like plants and meat both. Now you have to find out which species are your turtle. Then you can understand the feeding habit of the turtle.

Now you have to get proper food that promises a healthy diet. It is better to introduce a diverse diet that will meet different nutritional needs. You can use Purina, which produces one type of turtle pellet from the mazuri branch for different types of turtle species.

Rep-cal provides pellet for omnivorous, herbivorous and carnivorous turtles. For omnivore and herbivore turtle, you have to give different vegetables and fruits. Strawberries, lettuce, carrot are good for turtles. When turtle urges for meat diet, try wax worms, snails, earthworms, and crayfish as diet. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Featured Video. Related Topics. Article Sources. The Spruce Pets uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles.

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