what do turtles eat?

Answer 1

I will assume you have a common species of freshwater turtle available in the pet market (i.e. sliders, cooters, maps, painteds).

Feed 3-4 pellets three times a week. Everyday drop in aquatic plants (duckweed, water lettuce, anacharis, etc.) or dandelion leaves, most nutritious terrestrial plant. Feed proteined food (fish, insects, worms, shrimp, snails, etc.) once or every second week.

Turtles are opportunists and will beg for food. Do not overfeed them, since it will lead to pyramiding (lumpy shell), obesity and shortened life span. They will eat practically anthing you throw in the tank. Fruits should be limited and in one of the resources I gave you is a link to a toxic plant list (e.g., spinach, beans, peas, cabbage, etc.).

Many people will tell you that these hatchling turtles will only eat meat and will not touch greens. This is absolutely false. Turtles will go nuts for meats, but research shows that the stomach contents of wild turtles contain mostly vegetable matter, this is true for snapping turtles as well.

Check out the following resources:
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/care.htm
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Articles/menu.htm
http://www.turtleforum.com

Answer 2

To supplement Wu's answer:

There are several basic turtle diets:
- The basic 'pond turtle' diet, as he described
- Box Turtle diet- high in bugs, some 'salad' on the side
- Grassland tortoise diet- high in fiberous plants and some veggies
- Forest tortoise diet- a mix of greens, fruit, and some proteins
- Specialty diets for some turtles- usually turtles not easily found in pet stores, like the Mata Mata, etc.

To give you a better answer, we need to know the species in question- although Wu's answer covers about 75% of pet turtles in the US.

Answer 3

Earthworms, Redworms, Blackworms, Wax Worms, Mosquito larvea, Guppies, Commercial turtle food, Romain Lettuce, Kale, Carrot Tops, Red Cabbage, Zucchini, Yellow Squash, Sweet Potatos, Mixed Veggies, Banan, Mango, Cantaloupe, Watermelon, Apple, Pear, Grapes (Split), Strawberrys

I hope this helped
-Eric

Answer 4

That TOTALLY depends on what species of turtle you have!
Check out www.tortoise.org They have LOTS of info there, If you upload a picture they can probably ID him for you.