What do you feed a turtle?

Question

I don't know what kind is it but here is a link to a picture http://i38.photobucket.com/albums/e127/vero_14/100_0418.jpg

Answer 1

You have a 3 toed box turtle.

The best time to offer food is after the turtles have had several hours to warm up in the morning. Offer food daily to youngsters, every other day to adults. Since turtles are motivated by sight and smell, offer a varied, colorful diet. At each feeding, there must be both plant matter and animal products. Add vitamin supplement (such as Reptivite) twice a week.

Plant Matter.
A variety of vegetables, greens and fruits must be offered. A grated/shredded salad of carrots or orange squash, green beans, soaked, mashed high quality dog kibble, and fruit (such as strawberries, raspberries, cranberries, blackberries, cherries, plums) should be all mixed together. Serve with some cantaloupe (with the rind), mustard, dandelion and collard greens. For treats, add flowers (hibiscus, rose petals, geraniums, nasturtiums). Occasionally, offer chard, sweet peppers, leftover vegetables and fruits from your meals. (My box turtles eat the same salad that my iguanas, tortoises and omnivorous skinks eat.)

Meat/Live Foods.
Many diets recommend high quality (low fat) canned dog food (especially chicken); finely chopped cooked chicken or raw beef heart. Most turtle people, however, prefer to supplement protein by feeding several freshly molted king mealworms Zoophoba king worms or Tenebrio mealworms (the tough brown exoskeletons are not digestible); earthworms and nightcrawlers (avoid bait shop worms - these are usually raised under rabbit hutches and are filthy with bacteria and protozoa); small pinky mice; slugs and snails (if caught in your garden, feed the snails and slugs for 4 days on dark leafy green vegetables - any that have been exposed to poisons will die in that time) and crickets (which have been fed on tropical fish flakes and fresh fruit for at least 24 hours). Remember that young turtles eat more animal matter than do adults, so the amount of protein offered should decrease over time until it is no more than 10% of total food volume.

Here is a list of care sheets.

Box Turtles, North American (Terrapene)
http://www.anapsid.org/box.html
http://www.tortoise.org/general/boxcare.html
http://www.tortoise.org/general/exploit.html
http://www.tortoise.org/archives/terrapen.html
http://www.chelonia.org/Articles/Terrapenecare.htm
http://www.chelonia.org/Articles/TerrapenecareSZ.htm
http://www.sonic.net/melissk/box.html
http://www.geocities.com/RainForest/Vines/5504/
http://www.tortoisetrust.org/care/cornata.html
http://www.tortoisetrust.org/care/ctriungis.html
http://www.tortoisetrust.org/care/cgalb.html
http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/avoidbox.html
http://www.tortoisetrust.org/articles/pentips.html
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/care-boxies.htm
http://www.anapsid.org/box.html
http://www.anapsid.org/spengleri.html

Answer 2

That looks like a Three-toed box turtle (Terrepena carolina triungus).

Boxies eat about 75% 'insect meat' and the rest 'fodder', OR a good packaged box turtle mix, either canned or pellets.

"Insect meat' would be a combination of various insects, worms, snails, and other 'bugs'. in captivity, various pet shop animals work well- crickets, earthworms, land snails, etc. You can also try various 'critters' you find around the house but you gotta be a little careful there. You can use other proteins and meats like cooked chicken, good canned cat food, etc in small quantities.

'Fodder' is a mixture of the various plants Boxies can find in nature. Most of it should be hays, clover, alfalfa, flowers, leaves, grasses, and 'yard plants'- fresh or dried. Most of the rest would be vegetables (including fungi and mushrooms) you or I would eat, then the smallest part would be fruits and berries.

Check out the site below for a good starter site for more info on this fun species:

Answer 3

This is a box turtle of some kind, They eat mostly vegetable matter and earthworms. The like bananas and apples usually, They will chase you if you have a worm in your hand. This type is actually a tortoise, and can't swim, but likes to bath in a shallow pan.

Answer 4

Got to your local pet store, they will have all kinds of turtle food for regular diets, but as a treat, they love greens, go for the darker ones tho, mustard, collard, kale.... lettuce doesn't have any vitamin value so isnt best. Just be sure to leave it adequate water.

Answer 5

Wardley Reptile Food. You can get it at walmart. It is really good for Turtles and Amphibians. It is also good for frogs and newts. If you have a small turtle you will need to break the pellets to make it easier for them to eat.

Answer 6

That would depend upon the turtle. Some eat vegetables....most do actually. The snapping turtle however will eat just about anything.

Answer 7

Looks like in finger-eater to me...

; )

Actually, looking like the average land variety, it would probably be happy with fruits and veggies, and I have this memory about some loving strawberries if I'm right.

Answer 8

i have a huge turtle. he is 12 years! bigger than my hand. at first he only eat the little thing that I bought at the supermarket (don't knoy how to say in english...). but now i give him meat, ham and shrimp! good luck with yours

Answer 9

,,try feeding it leafy veggies or fruit...my green turle eats anything from Spam to Chocolate cake bits

Answer 10

First, know what species you are feeding. Diet and every other facet of care is determined by the natural habitat of the turtle. For instance, River Cooters eat a diet primarily composed of plants, while Map Turtles prefer meat. American Box Turtles are omnivores who eat a little bit of everything. The Malayan Box Turtle should eat plenty of plants with just a little bit of meat, but the Chinese 3-Striped Box Turtle eats meats almost exclusively. The red-eared slider starts out life eating mostly bugs, worms and other meats, but becomes more omnivorous as it matures. (Please note: The information on this page does not apply to tortoises, which often have highly specialized diets. For tortoise diet information visit the Tortoise Trust Website and this article on Tortoise Foods.)

Reproducing the natural diet as much as is possible will make your turtle happier and healthier. In the wild, turtles choose from among a variety of foods that are in season and available. Variety is one key to a good diet for your turtle. Calcium is the other important key.

You can read about the complicated relationships between calcium, phosphorus, vitamin D3 and other elements at several websites. The point to remember is that phosphorus is in most of the foods that turtles eat. It is the calcium side of the ratio that demands attention. Providing calcium separately allows the turtle to decide when it needs more calcium. Cuttlebone, plaster block, boiled and crushed eggshells, and crushed oystershell can all provide calcium on demand. Just providing a good source of calcium is not enough, however. Dietary calcium is not properly utilized in the absence of vitamin D3. Turtles can manufacture D3 if provided access to UV-B rays from direct sunlight or a good reptile light (e.g. Reptisun or Reptile D-Light.) Or D3 can be provided in the diet through supplements like Rep-Cal. A few foods block the absorption of calcium because of their high oxalic acid content. Spinach should be avoided for this reason. A turtle fed spinach regularly can become calcium deficient even if a good source of calcium is provided. Chard and rhubarb also contain rather high levels of oxalic acid and should be used sparingly, if at all. (Rhubarb leaves are so high in oxalic acid that they are a deadly poison.)

High levels of protein put an abnormal stress on the kidneys, and has been implicated in shell deformities such as pyramiding. It's best to avoid excessive use of meats intended for human consumption and other high protein food sources such as cat food or dog food. When used sparingly as part of a varied diet, no harm is likely to result, but high protein meats should not be used as a staple.

Other questionably foods:

1.) Members of the brassica family (Cabbage, brussel sprouts, broccoli, bok-choi, and kohlrabi) are problematic because excessive amounts of these plants contribute to kidney disease and goiter. Turnips, soybeans, radishes, rapeseed, and mustard also contain goitrogens. These should be used rarely. However, the addition of kelp to the diet may reverse the goitrogenic effect of the brassicas.

2.) High purine foods, which include peas, beans, mushrooms, shellfish, beef, and organ meats, should be used sparingly because they can contribute to gout if overused.

3.) Head lettuce and celery are "empty" foods in that they provide very little useful nutrition or fiber. Some tortoises apparently become fond of lettuce to the exclusion of other foods. In my experience, all the turtles I've known preferred other foods over lettuce, but there are many people out there who feed lettuce almost exclusively. This is a recipe for a long miserable death. However, there may be some benefits in occasional feeding of lettuce. There is some evidence that it contains antiseptic properties. Additionally, celery or lettuce can be used to entertain a turtle that is already well fed. When a turtle begs for food after already eating some slugs, a big leaf of dandelion, some cantaloupe and a chunk of cuttle bone, it will do no harm to toss him a lettuce leaf or a bit of celery.

4.) Canned and other processed foods often are very high in salt and other preservatives. The effects of these things are not fully known, but they would not be part of a natural diet. It would be prudent to limit their use.

It all comes down to variety. If you feed just cantaloupe and crickets, there will be problems down the line. There's nothing terribly wrong with those foods. They're simply insufficient. If you feed a wide variety of foods, the occasional use of cabbage, cooked beef heart or lettuce will not cause problems. Further, feeding low calcium foods will matter not at all if a separate source of calcium (cuttlebones/ plasterblocks/ eggshells/ crushed oystershell) are always available. This is more in keeping with the way turtles feed in the wild anyway. While some keepers carefully consider the phosphorus:calcium ratio, turtles don't waste a precious second pondering the chemical analysis of their food. If it's tasty and it's there, they'll eat it! Later, they'll munch some carrion bones or birds' eggshells and get caught up on calcium. Turtles fed a wide variety of foods are happier and less likely to develop food fetishes.
what should I feed my turtle what's the best food for turtles I don't know what to feed my turtle.


Try *Many* of These Foods for Turtles

greens:

aquatic plants, collards, turnip greens, red and green leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, dandelion, chickweed, plantain weed, carrot tops, red lettuce, endive, fig leaves, grape leaves, sow thistle
(avoid spinach)

veggies:

good--squashes, peas in the pod, okra, grated or sliced carrots, sweet potatoes
okay on occasion--green beans, wax beans, tomato
(avoid cabbage or broccoli)

fruits:

good-- figs, grapes, cantaloupe, blackberries
okay on occasion-- banana, strawberry, apple, citrus fruits, blue berries

flowers:

geraniums (Pelargonium species), Chinese Lantern (Abutilon hybridum not Physalis sp.), nasturtium, borage, hyssop, carnations, daylilies, petunia, pansies, chives, dandelion, rose and rose hips,

meats:

good--silkworms, earthworms, crickets, snails, shrimp, slugs, waxworms, mealworms
okay on occasion--cat or dog food, cooked chicken or turkey, boiled eggs, lean beef
(hamburger and other fatty red meats should be avoided, and never use raw meats because of contamination dangers)

prepared turtle foods:

Tetra's Reptomin, Wardley's Reptile T.E.N., Turtle Brittle, Purina AquaMax

supplements:

Reptile Tri-Cal or Rep-Cal are the best calcium/D3 supplements by far. A jar of Rep-Cal is rather expensive, but lasts a very long time. Tri-Cal even comes in a handy shaker bottle. Use once a week. Vitamin supplements may also be used.
(Don't use any supplement that has phosphorous in it.)