How much and How often do you feed your red ear slider(s)?

Question

How much and How often do you feed your red ear slider(s)?

also, please name what you feed them, and how old they are, including the size!

thank you for your time!!!

i feed my turtles zoomed turtle food about twice a day, about 10 of them each (so 20 total each time, 40 a day) and they still seems to be hungry all the time.

my turtles are about 4 years old and 4 inches each.

i put in some rosy reds for the first time 3 days ago and they have not ate them...weird.

Answer 1

My 5" red eared sliders eat about 4 fish a day (goldfish, rosy reds, zeebrafish, tetras, scissortails, etc), about a table spoon of ZooMed's pelets, a pinch of either baby shrimp or krill (shrimp one day and krill the next) and every now and then mustard leaves and callard greens (they're never supposed to have iceberg lettuce or romaine lettuce due to lack in nutrition). I feed them the pelets every other day and the rest is every day. The greens are about once a week. I also keep snails in the tank to keep it clean but sometimes those wind up eaten too. They also nibble on the Anacharis in their tank as well. I give them a couple of crickets and worms about once a month just to add variety and because they don't really like these too much. When I first started to implement fish into their diets, they would only eat the brown goldfish but now since they've eaten the others, they gobble up the gold goldfish like nothing.

Answer 2

is that ALL you feed the turtle? Because that is definatly not a variety! Did you know that their supplies cost hundreds and hundreds of dollars more than the turtle itself!!!!!!Well just taking care of turtles is extremely difficult for a LOT of people because they are VERY high maintenence, no joke. this is a RES setup.they are very high maintenence and hard to take care of.first read all of this and see if you have this setup, it costs at least $300, and is a regular setup. ************ This is a setup for a red eared slider the most common type of turtle, they get up to 12 inches, but you will see them as babies at a store commonly, so know that they will grow very big************** You will need to get a 50 gallon starter tank and upgrade to a 75 gallon later on when your turtle is over 6 inches...If you can not get that big of a tank right now then for now you can use a huge rubbermaid container filled up with clean warm water 5/6 of the way. The water should be 75-82F, that can be achieved by buying a water heater at the petstore, along with a water filter. Water filters that are best are canister filters, like the Rena xp3 filter which costs $200, but filters very well. Do buy a filter please, even a cheap one at $25, is better then none at all, since turtles are extremely messy and poop-ful (haha). The bottom of the tank should be bare, no gravel because they could choke on that mistaking it for food. On top of the water you need 3 things, 1. a basking dock ( buy a large size zoomed basking dock). 2. you 100% need to buy a basking lamp+bulb, you buy them separatly, then screw the bulb in ( 50 watts) and shine it on the basking dock over a mesh hood( cut a hole out of it and place the light there!). 3. This is very important, you need a uvb light. It is a long thin light, you need to get the actual lamp+ the long skinny bulb. Reptosun 5.0 is the best bulb( together costs $55). Shine that onto the basking dock as well. Turtles need these together because they use the uva for heat, so they stay warm ( the basking site should be 90-95F, not colder) and they need the uvb rays to metabolize calcium and vitamin d3 for a stronger shell ( like you need it for your bones!) The diet for the turtle should be reptomin pellets ( and other nutricuos pellets!) crickets, mealworms, bloodworms, shrimp, and krill. All of this is found dead at the petstore!;) They also need vegetation, get kale, mustard greens, romaine lettuce, and collard greens. Drop all of the food in the tank once a day, and remove any leftover bits after a few hours. By the way ALL of the protien food ( dead food, that was alive once) should be dusted with a calcium supplement ( powder) and you need to get a cuttlebone found in the bird aisle of the petstore and drop it in the water for him to knaw on, keep it there for a while (month) until she eats all of it, then get another. Once all of these things are done your turtle will be pretty happy!

Answer 3

Mine are about 6mo. old I fed them 4 times a day, salmon, chicken, as much as they could eat. About a 1/2 teaspoon each per feeding. I had to change the water every day (I have well water)because of the fat, but they are both healthy, one way outgrew the other and I separated them recently. I also am now feeding more of the Reptomin and I recently purchased Zoomed Aquatic Turtle floating pellets, I understand that now that they are maturing they should eat more vegetation than protein. They are 3wide by 4 1/2 inches long and 3inch by 3inch. They were the size of a quarter and a 50cent piece respectively when I purchased them, that's allot of growth in such a short time I think. Good Luck with yours!

Answer 4

Turtles will always be hungry, they are oppertunistic feeders, meaning that if there is food they will eat it. When they are hatchlings they are mostly carnavours, they eat more plants as they get older, I am not shure why they haven't eaten the fish you have given them. There is only one reason I can think of, in the wild they eat river and pond fish that are usually a dull color like gray or brown. They are not used to bright colors, and typically in the wild bright colors indicate danger, so it is possable they they think the fish are harmfull, get some minniows or other more natural fish and see what they do. As my turtles got older I fead them more plants, aquatic plants are really good, they like hydrilia, but thier favorent is water hyacinth, they devower them, but the will even eat grass. For my sliders from thw time that they were about a year old I tried to keep a constant supply of live fish and aquatic plants in the tank. THe fish gave them good exercise because they had to catch them. Once they learned that there would allways be food they stopped devowering everything and when on a more regullar eating pattern. IT also allowed them to eat what they wanted since some of them were more partial to fish than others. I also gave them turtle pellets as treats they love to eat them but the do not get all the nutrients that they need from them. Hope that this helps.

Answer 5

I always feed my Mississippi Map once a day, about 8-10 pellets. My turtle is 2 years old. and is about the size of a small saucer plate. Water turtles never do seem to stop being hungry. I put fish in my tank also and my turtle leaves them be. I guess he's just a fast food turtle! Turtle Bites by HBH is what I give him. It has everything from fish meal to different types of fruit and vegetables. Pretty balanced diet, and I get it at Pets-Mart.

Answer 6

We have 2 full grown red ear sliders at the college I work at, I feed them the floating turtle sticks, they are fed daily, I through in a couple of pinches.
Sliders can also eat feeder guppies or gold fish if they are big enough, they can also have crickets or earthworms as well. After a couple of feedings you will know how much they will eat. With the worms and crickets, watch and make sure they are eating them, and remove what they don't eat.

Answer 7

Adult RES only need to be fed every other day, but they are notorious beggers and will eat any time you feed them. Overfeeding in captivity is a big problem for them. Best to limit their feeding to about as much as they will eat in any 10 minute period daily or in a 20 minute period every other day. Try to offer them variety. You can find a care sheet with some foods listed on our site. Link below.
Julie, Director
Turtle Rescue of Long Island

Answer 8

You may be slightly underfeeding them, they shoud be larger at this age. Try Guppies if you think gold fish are too large for them. We just left the fish in the tank with them all the time and replenished as needed. Our fish ate every day. The swimming fish in the tank with them also keeps them entertained and in a more natural environment for them. You'll see a vast improvement in growth when you keep their food stocked with them. Enjoy your turtles!

Answer 9

first of all, you are supposed to feed an adult about 10 pelletts each every other day...but a baby needs every day because its growning. wher did you hear to feed them twice a day?uh, strange. do your reasurch...mine are still babies...but i have don my reasurch. there are alot of good res sites to go on to see what good foods you should feed them. like fruits, veggies,meat, fish and more!
oh, and turtles are kinda like dogs, if there is food infront of their faces...guess what? they will more than likely eat it! becoming obest for turtles is a dangerous and unhealthy thing to do!
good luck!

Answer 10

I have a 5" turtle and he eats a small handful of pellets every other day, alternated with crickets/meal woms. Fresh leafy greens every day.