I know feeding a turtle the same food is bad because it does not provide a variety. But I bought an older turtle (atleast 10 years old) about 3 years ago and she loves to bask, swim in her tank, and just stare at me(yeah, she's doing it right now) but she refuses to eat anything but commerical pellets. I've tried worms, veggies, crickets, duck weed and other things through the years but she won't try anything else. She does eat a lot of food though (about 1/2 cup of commercial pellets a day) and would probably eat more if i gave it to her. How can i get her to eat more of a variety or since she's been fine for 3 years, should it be a problem she only eats commerical food.
2006-10-29 11:01:43 · 8 answers · asked by Kathleen D 2 in Pets ➔ Reptiles
I have tried goldfish. I buy a dozen at a time when they are about an 1 and a half long. She eats about 7 in one night and then keeps 3 or 4 as friends. I bought some about 6 months ago, and the ones that are in there have grown to about 4 inches long. HUGE common goldfish.
2006-10-29 12:54:06 · update #1
1/2 cup a day of ANY food is quite a bit for a 10 year old turtle. Try it every 2 or 3 days, instead. In the wild, they rarely eat daily.
At 10 years old, it should eat about 50-75% proteins and the rest veggies, mostly dark leafy greens. You can basically just give it some alternatives and skip the pellets for a week. After a week, offer a few pellets if it has not eaten anything else. A week without food is absolutely nothing ot a healthy turtle!
A decent captive diet can include about 25% pellets... except a lot of zoos, etc. raise them pretty well on a diet of mostly trout chow- which is just a good quality low-fat protein with some other stuff mixed in- trout eat about the same diet as pond turtles.
As far as the fish go- turtles 'size select' prey. They will only eat fish (and other food) within a specific size range. Too big or two small and they are 'invisible' as potential prey.
Bottom line- I would try once in a while, but I would not worry a ton about this.
2006-10-29 14:31:26 · answer #1 · answered by Madkins007 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Madkins is right... That's way too much food. And contrary to wat people are told by pet stores, anyone who actually READS the nutritional information on commercial turtle food can see that it is WAY too high in protien for an adult RES, and the first few ingredients are just filler... not a nutritional diet. An adult RES should be eating a lot more vegetable matter... Since you need to scale back on food anyway, a "starvation diet" may prove successful. If she gets hungry enough she'll experiment with the new stuff... My turtle changes his mind about what he likes constantly. He often tends to go off his veggies in the winter, and just munch on his pellets. Once the weather warms up he'll eat almost everything in sight! Though his favorites are constantly changing, like he can't make up his mind. Once he "swore off" the pellets he always ate and would only eat another brand that he previously refused! Turtles are finicky.
2006-10-30 04:05:10 · answer #2 · answered by snake_girl85 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Good commercial turtle food is usually nutritionally complete, and a turtle that eats only this shoud be fine. Older turtles usually have a very limited diet anyway, although 10 is not very old for a red eared slider, as they can easily live 30 and even more years with good care. Have a nice day!
2006-10-30 01:02:25 · answer #3 · answered by xraygil1 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
She sounds fine, but try out some feeder goldfish. She might like eating those. They are baby comet goldfish. Just drop a few in her tank or in a bowl and see what happens. If nothing else, you have some more color in the tank, but I think she will like the company and extra interest, and the extra food as well.
2006-10-29 11:15:20 · answer #4 · answered by craigrr929 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Madgins is correct! That turtle is being fed too much. Gold fish are not good to feed they are fatty and have way too much protien, try Rosie Reds or Minnows or Shiners. Overfeeding leads to pryamiding which is bad for the turtle. And yes you are also correct, she needs a varied diet. For more info please com check out http://www.turtleexchange.com We have friendly staff willing to help! Sorry I can't go into more detail right now, it's really late! lol But please stop by the forum and we can help ya more!
2006-10-29 19:25:00 · answer #5 · answered by Julia F 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i saw you tried veggies, have you tried fruits, especially fresh apples and pears, i dice mine in about half inch cubes, also dandelion greens, i go pick the leaves and rinse them off and even my sliders eat them, if that doesn't work, try different kinds of pellets, for a variety. they love cantelope too!!
2006-10-29 22:48:17 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 1⤋
i feed mine only commercial food. it provides a full nutrition. i do get him some minnows once in a while so try that, good luck
2006-10-29 11:30:50 · answer #7 · answered by bullshiznit39 1 · 0⤊ 0⤋
she should be fine just a picky eater
2006-10-29 12:11:13 · answer #8 · answered by hawaiicatlynblue 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋