Red Ear Sliders, Sea Turtles and Other Turtle Species
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The most common land turtle is the box turtle. Since the
American box turtle is one of the most widely own species
of box turtles, this care sheet is geared towards the
American box turtle.
Feeding
Food, your turtle's favorite thing besides
basking in the sunlight and soaking in their water dish.
Box turtles like to be fed in the early morning. Box
turtles are omnivorous and like a mixed diet. You should
try to feed your turtle animal matter such as snails,
slugs, worms, night crawlers, crickets, Purina trout
chow, or a low fat cat food at least twice a week. Do
not feed hamburger, it is too fatty, and raw chicken
has salmonella.
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One of their favorite foods are snails. Do not
use snails that have been around snail bait or
near pesticides. If you're not sure if the snails
were around snail bait, quarantine them and feed
the snail only romaine lettuce or weeds from the
yard for one week. If you use weeds from the yard,
make sure no pesticides were used. Your turtles
like fruits such as tomatoes, apples, cantaloupe,
melon, strawberries and blackberries. Feed them
the greens as well. Dandelion greens are very
high in calcium and vitamin A. Also try leafy
weeds, grape leaves, and mixed veggies. Sprinkle
their food with a calcium source such as calcium
carbonate or calcium lactate once a week. You
can feed them dried food, however dried food usually
contain vitamins, so don't feed them extra vitamins
if you do this.
Reptomin
(Available at Petsmart.com) is one of the
many brands out there that you can use.
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If you would
like more information on caring for turtles,
Amazon.com has this excellent book available for
purchase.
(link will open in a new window)
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Visit our Turtle
Setup and Supplies Section
for all of your turtle care needs.
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