What is a baby turtle's healthy diet?

Question

I like owning new or exotic pets every once in a while. This time, I'm thinking of owning a baby 3 inch water turtle. Two pet turtles actually. Of course, i would feel uncomfortable if I bought a turtle without researching them. So I stayed night and day researching turtles. The most bothersome topic that drills in my head is a baby turtle's diet. My only question is, what in the world should I feed my new baby turtle? I certainly would never want to see an unhealthy turtle suffer because of my actions. I won't beg, but...help me!

Answer 1

I am assuming you are talking about the Red-eared slider, the Painted turtle, or a related species.

In the wild, baby turtles are fairly active hunters, going after small fish, worms, crustaceans, small shellfish, snails, and pretty much anything else they can catch and shove in their mouth.

In captivity, you can just use a high-quality (i.e. expensive) pelleted food. (Cheaper foods use cheaper and less nourishing ingrediants.) Some companies offer baby-sized versions of the foods which work nicely, or you can just break bigger pellets.

Babies are fed daily, an amount about the size of their head. As they get older, we cut back until adults are fed every 3 days or so.

As you gain experience and confidence, you can start to add things like canned crickets, live fish foods, etc. for variety and interest.

A great site for these turtles is listed below.

Answer 2

I feed my turtles commercial floating turtle food. For the baby turtle I break the food in about three pieces. I also put is in a cup of water to get soft before feeding.

They also like worms (Break up)

Meal worms

And when they get older they love live minnows. Found this out by accident. I put some minnows in with my turtles thinking they would be fine. Actually didn't think they could catch them. Well they had a ball eating fish.

Answer 3

We have 2 baby Red-eared Sliders. They eat commercial turtle pellets, which you may have to break in half at first, depending on the size of the turtle(s). They also are carnivorous, so we buy feeder guppies (babies), and have a few adult guppies that hatch out babies for them to eat. They're doing great!

Answer 4

cantalope zukini carrots worms not fish yet

Answer 5

they love earthworms and don't forget that you can catch bugs

Answer 6

oh, that should be easy to fix. They sell comercial floating food sticks and pellets like Wardley and ReptiMin especially for water turtles at the pet store. If you really want to go all the way though, you can also feed small live goldfish, snails, mealworms, and water plants also from the pet store. You might want to feed them in a separate tank to minimize waste in the water. Also, a good rule of thumb for tank size is ten gallons per inch of turtle. You should also add the appropriate amount of a product like AquaSafe or ReptiSafe to the water to neutralize the toxic(to turtles) chemicals in tap water or bottled water, even if it is filtered. Don't handle your new pets more than once a day untill they get used to you to minimize stress. You will also need a large capacity reptile or fishtank filter, UVA/UVB and heat lights, a tank lid and possibly stand, gravel and decorations, a floating turtle dock so that they can bask, an air pump, a tank heater, and a humidity/ temperature gauge.I included the care sheet for water turtles from TurtleSale.com below.

Feeding Most turtles must be fed directly in the water; otherwise they cannot swallow. You should feed your turtle a vitamin enriched pellet food like our Bulk Food, Nature Zone Aquatic Turtle Bites, HBH Turtle Bites or Pro Balance Turtle Food, all of which can be purchased in our Food and Treat area. Variety is the key to a healthy appetite and good health, along with the pellets you should offer some fruit and vegetables like romaine lettuce, duckweed, strawberries, bananas, and kelp to mention a few. Turtles also enjoy live foods once in a while like small crickets, snails and feeder fish. Small turtles should be fed every day and larger ones at least three times a week. Always remove excess food when the turtle shows no further interest in it. Some turtle keepers prefer to feed their pets in a separate container for easier tank cleaning, but some turtles will not feed when removed for their tank for feeding.



For our full line of turtle products please visit us at http://www.turtlesale.com



To show your turtle how special he is to you feed him some treats like Zoo Meds Turtle Treat, Freeze dried crickets, bloodworms and earthworms or Can-O-Crickets and Can-O-Snails. We carry all of these in our Food and Treat section.

Calcium and liquid or powdered vitamins should be added to their food to supplement their diet. like Rep-Cal, Jurassi Cal, JurassiVite and Nature Zones Turtle Vita Vega-Min. All of these fine products can be found in our Supplement and Medication sections.






Not Eating If your turtle is not eating dont worry about it. Often turtles will not eat when you first get them. Give them time to get use to you and their new home and they should start eating. Turtles go through stages when they dont eat, just cut back on the amount of food you offer them until they start to eat again. You can also offer them live foods like small crickets, earthworms or snails. If it has been over a week and you dont suspect illness we carry appetite enhancers in our Supplement section.




For our full line of turtle products please visit us at http://www.turtlesale.com









Housing Since turtles grow fast you should get the largest tank you can afford up front. Turtlesales.com carries the All Glass Turtle Tanks which are great starter tanks. Water depth depends on the type of turtle you have. Red Eared Sliders and Painted turtles like to swim, so they should have deeper water. Musks and Snapping Turtles are bottom walkers and their water should be shallow so they can easily reach the surface to breath. One guideline is to make the water depth two times the length of the turtles shell. For example a four inch RES should have eight inches of water. As with fish it is a good idea to use a water conditioner like JurassiSafe or Zoo Meds ReptiSafe to remove the chlorine and other chemicals from the water. Also to help keep the water cleaner between cleanings try Biotize Waste Degrader. All of these fine products can be found under Water Treatment. Young turtles are often shy and should have hiding places. We carry a variety of caves and plants that make great hiding places under Cliffs & Caves and Plants & Decorations.




For our full line of turtle products please visit us at http://www.turtlesale.com









Lighting For proper vitamin and calcium absorption and shell development UVA and UVB lighting is required. Zoo Meds ReptiSun is a highly recommended bulb for this and we carry it under Lamps. A clamp-on 60 or 75 Watt incandescent light fixture with a reflector is necessary to provide a basking area that is warmer than the water. Ideal basking area temperature is 85 - 90 F. We carry a variety of bulbs and reflectors under Lamps and Lighting Fixtures.




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Basking Area Turtles must have a dry area to bask on to prevent soft shell and fungus problems. Here at turtlesales.com we carry Floating Islands and Zoo Meds Floating Turtle Docks and 2 Level Ramps under Basking Platforms. As stated above a basking area should have a clamp light with a 60 to 75 Watt basking bulb.




For our full line of turtle products please visit us at http://www.turtlesale.com









Heating Turtles are ectothermic (cold blooded) and depend on their environment to regulate their body temperature. Most water turtles do well with water temps in the mid 70s. To heat the water you can use a submersible heaters or under tank heaters like Four Paws Under Tank heaters. You should have a thermometer like Zoo Meds High Range Thermometer or Toms Aquarium Temp Alert to make sure the water doesnt get to warm or to cold. Check our Heaters and Heating Accessories sections for our full line of heating products.




For our full line of turtle products please visit us at http://www.turtlesale.com









Filtration Clean water is important for the health of your turtle. You should try to get a filter that is made for a larger tank then you have. For example if you have a 20 gallon tank, you should try to get a filter for a 40 gallon tank. The bigger the better. Turtles are very messy and need a strong filtration system. We have the Cascade 700 Canister Filter here at turtlesales.com which is a very good filter for a large tank and we also carry Fluval underwater filters and several smaller Cascade models in our Filters and Refills section. For more information on your new turtle we have several Turtle books in our Book department. If you have questions you can check our Message Board, email us at [e-mail] or call Norm at 1-727-943-2786.



For our full line of turtle products please visit us at http://www.turtlesale.com