The turtles covered on this web site are all omnivorous, which means they eat everything from insects to lettuce. However, this does not mean you can feed your pet turtle anything, i.e. table scraps, and they do require a healthy, balanced, "turtle diet".
Turtles can be expensive to feed, especially since they are exotic pets, and pet stores do not carry too many brands of turtle food. You have probably seen the words "food stick" appear quite a few times on the site, so let us explain what these are. Buying feeder fish can be quite expensive in the long run, food sticks can help keep your turtle healthy. One brand we recommend is
Among the better commercial foods for aquatic and semi-aquatic turtles are Tetra Reptomin floating Turtle sticks. Again, these are expensive, so you can get creative and mix in other fish food, and bits of meat, fruit and vegetables.
It is important that you keep a close watch on your turtle's diet, and if you own more than one turtle, make sure they both get to eat equal amounts of food. Turtles are generally messy when they eat, so make sure to keep the water clean and free of debris, as small decomposing particles of flesh can get trapped under rocks and logs and contaminate your turtle's environment.
If you notice your turtle seeming lethargic and having cloudy skin patches, or milky eyes, it may be because of poor nutrition or disease. Make sure you take your turtle to a veterinarian who knows about reptiles to determine whether the animal's diet is too blame, or if there are other factors involved.
Another good practice is to feed your turtle live fish at least once a week, to make sure it gets to exercise. Turtles like to hunt, and it is also great fun to watch them dive in after small fish.
Make sure to have a water dish in your turtle's terrarium or pen, since it will be a clean source of water from it to drink from, as its swimming water is mostly contaminated with urine and feces.
Both aquatic and terrestrial turtles have similar feeding habits, although aquatic turtles seem to keep eating meat even when they are older, whereas terrestrial turtles have a tendency to eat more vegetation. Older turtles eat less meat because they require less protein, therefore, special care must be taken not to overfeed turtles with protein rich food. As for vegetation, turtles like berries, and some leafy vegetables, including lettuce, cabbage, alfalfa, and clover.
Feed a variety of vegetables, focusing on the dark greens. Avoid all forms of lettuce, for they don't have the vitamins required. Broccoli, kale, collards, mustard, dandelion, carrots, squash, and spinach are wonderful. They like fruits, but generally fruit is mostly water, and not as nutritious as the vegetables. Do not feed fruit more than once per weeks to avoid their bloating with water. Do not feed meat, dog food or water turtle food. If you feed the variety of fresh vegetables, you do not need to supplement with vitamins or minerals. A sub-optimum diet may need powdered calcium added in very minute amounts on a weekly basis. They usually get all the water they need from the food they eat, but a small jar lid of water is nice to insure they have enough water. They often use the water dish as a toilet.
2006-12-26 05:12:54
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answer #1
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answered by Anonymous
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If you just got them a month ago, they may still be adjusting to their tank, etc. We got a turtle several months ago and I never saw him eat for at least that long. he must have been eating, but he did not go after the food while we were watching.
Now, however, he goes after his food as soon as he sees it and wants to eat 2-3 times a day!
The turtle food sticks are good --also ask at a pet store about other things your particular turtle can eat.
Be sure to keep the tank clean and don't let uneaten food stay in the tank too long.
2006-12-26 13:22:24
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answer #2
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answered by Marilyn E 4
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What kind of turtles do you have. Im gonna bet and say its a slider. How old are they? Do you have a basking lamp?
A good diet for turtles consists of vegitation(lettuce) and turtle food(reptomin pellets or some other turtle pellets).
Once and a while you can throw in a small feeder fish and theyll hunt it. Fish are fatty foods though so dont change that to their main diet.
2006-12-26 13:09:39
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answer #3
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answered by Anonymous
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What type of turtles do you have and how are they housed? Not every turtle or tortoise has the same requirements.
2006-12-26 14:43:27
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answer #4
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answered by crimsonshedemon 5
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It does not sound right, call a vet and ask him what to do, turtle are very difficult to find out if they are sick and if they are carrying some bactrias since its hard to find out they way they are- only professional can do it by looking at their color of their stomach and legs.
2006-12-26 04:10:36
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answer #5
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answered by Isabella789 4
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I have two turtles and I put gold fish in there tank, its soo intresting watching them trying to catch the fish with there mouths.
2006-12-26 15:38:06
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answer #6
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answered by Anonymous
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Someone once told me to NEVER feed a turtle lettuce, that it will kill a turtle.
2006-12-26 04:06:01
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answer #7
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answered by Anonymous
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they like worms, you can dig some up from your garden or buy some from a bait store. Cut them up if they are too big for your turtles.
2006-12-28 14:48:52
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answer #8
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answered by kookamunga 2
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We give our turtles vegies from a bag. They like green beans, carrots, and corn. Just make sure you was them and let them thaw a lot before you feed it to them.
2006-12-26 08:50:30
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answer #9
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answered by Steve A 2
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gezzzzzz they havent eten in a month WOW
ill tell u what to do buy soft chiken brest meat cut it up in to cubes that can actualy fit in to there mouth and try that im me if it works because thats what my turtle does
2006-12-26 13:03:07
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answer #10
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answered by Anonymous
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