what do you feed turtles?

Answer 1

All turtles need a varied diet, I do not know what type of turtle you have so I listed 2 common turtles. If you need additional help feel free to email me, anytime! Also come visit an awesome Pet forum http://www.turtleexchange.com/forum/index.php


Red Ear Slider Diet:Hatchlings
Hatchlings should be fed everyday for the first year of their lives. They should be given as much as they can eat in 10 to 15 mins time or as much as you could fit into their head if hollow. You can feed them all of it at once or you can slit it up into 2 feedings.

Hatchlings tend to be more Carnivorous than adults, so make sure to check out the suggestions of live and protein-rich foods below for how to supplement accordingly. (Make sure you still give fruits and veggies at this stage!)

Juveniles/Adults
Once your turtle reaches the 4" mark, we recommend that you change their feeding schedule to every other day. Giving them greens or live plants in between.

Adults tend to become more Omnivorous, so make sure to check out the suggestions of fruits and vegetables below.

Vitamins and Calcium
You should supplement your turtle's diet with both vitamins and calcium, every third feeding or once a week. To give them vitamins many people will give them a Vitamin Bath once a week. You can also either soak the pellets in a liquid vitamin or dampen them and roll them in a powder vitamin before feeding.

It is recommended you have a light that supplies UVA and at the very least a 5.0 UVB output. The UVB is necessary for the absorption of calcium and vitamin D3. Turtles need both calcium and Vitamin D3 for strong bones and shells.

**Feeding Tip Feedings should be done in a separate container so that you do not have to frequently change the water nor the filter media.


Common Diet Errors

Feeding Cat or Dog Food
Despite what some pet store employees may tell you, turtles should not be fed dog or cat food (Sounds insane, but we've heard it!)

Pellet Only Diets
Pellets provide many benefits, but variety is key!
Supplement their diet with veggies, live foods and some fruits. Check out our safe list below.

Giving in to Beggars
Turtles will always beg whether you give in or not- they know you are the supplier of food!
Supplement between feedings with greens or live foods they have to chase to eat. ( Iceberg lettuce is a common filler that doesn't contain much nutritional value, but will keep them content.)


Safe Feeding List

Commercial Foods (This is just a few of them on the market)
* Tetra Reptomin
* ZooMed's Aquatic Turtle Food
* Exo Terra
* Wardley's Reptile Premium Sticks
* HBH Turtle Bites

Frozen/Canned (For treats)
* Spirulina-enriched Brine Shrimp
* Bloodworms
* Plankton
* Krill
* ZooMed's Can O'Crickets, Grasshoppers, or Meal Worms

Live Foods (Carnivorous)
* Guppies or Rosies Reds (no goldfish they are too fatty and have very little nutritional value)
* Crickets (Gut-Loaded)
* Pinhead Crickets (for smaller turtles)
* Earthworms, Night Crawlers
* Ghost Shrimp
* Aquatic Snails/Apple Snails
* Slugs
* Wax Worms, Super Worms

**Be careful about Wild-Caught foods, they can carry parasites that can be transferred to your turtle. Freezing Wild-Caught foods for a month will help to kill off some parasites.

Fruits (small amounts for treats only)
* Apples
* Bananas
* Grapes
* Melon
* Tomato
* Strawberries

**Should be cut up in small, bite-size or match-like sticks that will be easy for the turtle to bite into and not choke on.

Veggies
* Squash
* Zucchini
* Carrots
* Greens- Red Leaf, Romaine, Collards, Kale, Dandelion Greens

**Stay away from Spinach. Make sure to cut the veggies in bite-size or match-like sticks so your turtle can eat them easily. Iceberg lettuce is a good filler, but contains little/no nutritional value!

Aquatic Plants
* Anacharis
* Duckweed
* Water Hyacinth
* Water Lettuce
* Water Lily

**For lists of plants that are poisonous to your turtle, please follow this link: Edible & Poisonous Plants


Box Turtles:Box turtles have specific dietary needs to ensure good health. A well-balanced diet is easily provided from a combination of common grocery store items and backyard biota. Following is a list of foods to give your box turtle. Each feeding should include a food item from several food groups. For example, include a protein, a vegetable and a fruit, or a protein, a fruit and a green leafy vegetable. By varying the kinds of food you give your turtles, you are increasing the chances that they will get the mineral and vitamins necessary for good health. You also lessen the chances of them fixating on just a few foods.

Feed young turtles a small amount daily or every other day. Adults can be fed every 2 days in late spring and summer. Diet for hatchling box turtles is discussed in the reproduction chapter. Regardless of the age of your box turtle, a feeding schedule should be made in advance. During the summer months when I’m trying to strengthen and add weight to my box turtles, my schedule may be like this: Monday, Wednesday and Saturday are full meal days. I may feed young turtles on Tuesday and Friday also. It may just be a small snack where they might get a beloved treat like bananas or tomatoes sprinkled with vitamins. On Sundays the turtles receive no food. A day of fasting will not harm a healthy turtle. Of course, use your own best judgment. You may want to feed more or less often depending on the health or activity level of your turtles. However, clean water should be provided daily.


PROTEIN makes up about 50% of the diet. Protein foods should be cut up small enough so the turtle cannot get its fill of food with just one bite of protein. Mix the protein with the vegetables and fruits. All meats should be sprinkled with calcium supplement that contains no phosphorus. Cuttlebone given to birds may also be shaved onto food stuff or left in the turtle's home so the turtle can forage on it al will. It is high in calcium.


REGULARLY—Natural live, whole foods like pesticide free earthworms, slugs, waxworms, beetles, grubs, sow bugs. Boiled, chopped chicken, feeder fish or beef heart.
OCCASIONALLY—Low-fat soaked dog kibble, soaked puppy Milkbones®, low-fat premium canned dog food, cooked lean steak, mealworms and crickets that have been gutloaded with enriched food. Prepared box turtle food products.
RARELY—Boiled egg, tofu, low-fat cat kibble.
NEVER—due to the possiblity of contamination, fat content and salt: Raw meats, fatty meats or processed meats.


VEGETABLES make up about 30% of the diet. Use only the part of the vegetable that is colorful as it contains the most nutrition. Use fresh vegetables whenever possible, and steam or grate hard vegetables before offering to the box turtle.


REGULARLY—Summer and winter squashes, peas in the pod, sweet potatoes, okra, grated carrots, green beans, wax beans and cactus pads with ALL spines removed.
OCCASIONALLY—Mushrooms, corn on the cob and tomatoes.
RARELY—Sprouts, broccoli, cabbage, beets and cauliflower.


FRUITS make up about 10% of the diet and are dessert for your turtles. Most turtles love fruits and each seems to have a favorite. Try to find your turtle’s favorite. If it is a finicky eater, use the fruit to entice it to eat other foods. Chop the fruit into small pieces and mix it with things the turtle should eat but won’t. This way, with every bite of fruit it will also eat the required food. I sprinkle vitamins on the fruit as well.


REGULARLY—Grapes, fresh figs, blackberries, raspberries, mulberries, apples, crabapples, strawberries, cantaloupe, kiwis, cherries and persimmons.
OCCASIONALLY—Bananas and watermelon.


LEAFY DARKY GREENS make up the remaining 10% of the diet. Dark leafy greens contain fiber and many minerals and vitamins. Greens help keep the turtle gut healthy through their cleansing action. Always provide your turtles with greens.


REGULARLY—Collard greens, mustard greens, dandelion greens, carrot tops, wheat grass and turnip greens.
OCCASIONALLY—Romaine, red leaf lettuce, endive.
RARELY—Parsley, kale, Swiss chard.
NEVER—due to the high oxalic acid content or poor nutritional value: Spinach, rhubarb leaves and iceberg lettuce.


Following the above diet I have produced healthy box turtles with smooth shell growth and strong immune systems.

By Tess Cook. Disclaimer: Please use all information that is contained on this web page and all other pages on this web site at your own risk.



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Answer 2

What type of turtle are you talking about?

I feed my water turtles:

Commercial Turtle Food
Worms
Live Minnows
Dried Shrimp

Answer 3

Depends what size and species of turtle. Try a lot of things, including insects and other small arthropods, worms, bits of fruit, etc. See whether any of it gets eaten. Be sure to remove anything that DOESN'T get eaten after a day or so because it will rot and may poison the turtle.

Answer 4

When I had my little turtle growing up, we use to kill flies and feed them to him. We would kill a bunch and freeze them for the winter. Gross isn't it? But it worked!!

But that was for the turtle I found in the creek.

Answer 5

It is very important to vary the diet of the turtle to assure its overall health. Do not feed it just one sort of food! You can feed her a variety of life foods (crickets, earthworms, aquatic snails, mosquito fish), fruits and vegetables, one commercial food such as Tropical Magic from L&M Farms or Reptomin, and vitamin supplements.

Answer 6

Turtle pellets/ petsmart sales something that has 3 varieties, turtle food/shrimp and krill. you can also give it baby goldfish/feeder fish. They love to catch their own food (make sure the fish is small)

Answer 7

not daily turtle food, before check what's its favorite flavor food. It's too important. Try two or three kinds...

Have a nice day!!

Answer 8

we would need to know what kind of turtle you have first
they eat different things

Answer 9

They eat anything...but if you want a healthy turtle, buy pellets from the store.

Answer 10

Most turtles like fresh leafy vegetables like lettuce since they are moist inside. Also they like tuna.

Answer 11

TTUUURRRTTLEE FOOOOOODD! TURTLE TURTLE