What time should you feed your Red Eared Slider? Should you times all the food times 2 if you have 2 turtles?

Question

If you dont understand my second question this is what I mean: Ok, I just got two baby red eared sliders today, Ive started to do some research and I saw that people said x amount of food will feed ONE baby turtle so should I times that by two? I hope I made you understand:)

Answer 1

Feed once a day.
All the food they can eat in 15 seconds.
It will take some time and experimentation, but toss some in and count to 15. If the food dissapears before then, put a little more in, if it's still floating around after that, use less the next time.
That's for pellet food.
For fresh food, they should get small fish and worms once a week. Again, watch them, if they don't show interest, take it out, and try again the next day.
Vegetables should be offered every day as well. Get a vegetable clamp (cheap at pet stores) and put Romaine lettuce, and other vegetables out for about an hour then remove it.

Hope this helps

Good luck

Answer 2

Where to start??? First, the turtles must be able to eat UNDER water. They cannot eat on land. They use the water to get the food down. However, they MUST have the availability of somewhere to get out of the water.

The water must be free of chemicals (ammonia, chlorine, chloramine, etc.). Turtles are messy. A filtration system is a must. Not just a small aquarium filter either. Something that can cycle the water often. You will have to clean the water and filter frequenty. Mine is generally a weekly endeavor.

They like small crickets, ghost shrimp, cut up earthworms, meal worms, wax worms, small fish, some plants (e.g., anacharis), plus the normal turtle sticks or pellets.

You need to feed them at least twice a day until they get older. Make sure that each one is eating a decent amount. Yes, you need to feed twice what you would a single turtle. Usually, that's about 4 sticks per turtle when they're little.

They need sunlight and/or articial UVA/UVB lighting. They need a calcium supplement that you add to their water. They do not do well with temperatures under 65 degrees. Make sure their water is warm even if that means putting a heater in the tank.

My experience: two red ear babies in 2001. Grew from 10 gallon tank to 20 gallon tank to 100 gallon pond on patio. Both are about the size of a salad plate; the male is mean and often attacks the female. They are now separated by lattice that allows the flow of water and fish, but keeps him from picking on her. Both have their little islands for basking. The pond is filtered and is it's own ecosystem of plants and fish. The water is changed every two weeks with water added weekly for evaporation. pH is kept as neutral as possible with tablets.

They will shed their scutes several times a year. This is normal. You want to make sure that the edges of their shells remain firm. If you can flex the shell at the edge, it's too soft. They need more calcium. Their eyes should be bright and there should not be any kind of nasal discharge. Their nails should not require trimming even if they get long.

NOTE: aquatic turtles never really get used to being handled, so don't expect them to get all cuddly with you. Six years later and they still get snappy when I pick them up.

Answer 3

Baby red eared sliders should be fed live food every day. Adults every 2-3 days. And yes, times the amount of food by 2, there are two turtles. When you feed your sliders, watch carefully and see that each one comsumes the amount of food it is supposed to. If they don't, you must separate them at feeding time, or else one might eat the others food.

Answer 4

I have had four red eared sliders for the past five years. I got them when they were all babies. First off, feed the turtles as much food as they will eat in 10-15 minutes. When I first got my turtles, I fed them all separately so I could make sure they all ate. I fed my turtles Reptomin (sp?) floating food.

I removed my turtles from their tank for each feeding so that the excess food did not cloud the water. I put them in water in plastic containers that were easy to store.

I would make sure that the water is heated to about 80-82 degrees and that you have a basking area out of the water for your turtles to sun themselves. If it is not warm enough in your tank your new turtles can have respiratory problems and could die. Also make sure that your filtration system is adequate so that the water stays clean and circulating. Also, watch out for tiny rocks in your tank. I have had one turtle get really sick from eating the small rocks and lodging in his digestive tract.

As the turtles get older you need to make sure you get bigger tanks so they have room to swim and grown. As they get bigger you can start feeding them wax worms, feeder fish, frozen aquatic turtle food, lettuce, etc.

Good luck with your new additions!!

Answer 5

I think Bonsyler meant 15 minutes, not 15 seconds (unless she has REALLY fast eaters!)

The average amount of food is about the size of the turtle's head, fed once a day for young turtles. Each turtle gets their fair share, usually fed in separate places in the tank (and I hope your tank is big enough for them!) or maybe in separate tanks.

Answer 6

Boy, from what I read here, I'm giving my RE-S's too much food. But who cares? they are happy! I feed them both in the same tank twice a day. I feed them each one frozen cube of aquatic turtle diet and about a one inch cube of frozen brine shrimp or frozen krill. Also sometime I'll give them night crawlers or crickets for a treat. My turtles eat very good. and are very happy.

Answer 7

feed them in separate containers and only as much as it can consume in a minute