All Turtles Message Board

Kirstinjoy · Level 1 Joined: 23 Feb 2006 Posts: 15

My name is Kirstin, I have an 8 month old red eared slider named Franklin, I rescued from the kids across the street- they bought on Canal Street in NY thought he was cute. I have grown to love him so much- and the vet today told me he was in fact is a he. He just had a ear absese drained and a shot of vits- apperently I have not been feeding him properly. Will get pics as soon as he is better. What real food do they like? He suggested Broccoli? Any way nice to meet you all, thank you for the advice in Turtle First Aid- any info or tricks of the trade would be very helpful- Thanks Very Happy

deesygirl · Moderator Joined: 12 Sep 2002 Posts: 1228

Hi Kristin I am glad you were able to get him in and treated so quickly.
As for food they like lots of things. What were you feeding him, just out of curiosity?
You can start with a quality pellet for a base food and add on to it. Sometimes I give mine a few pellets and then I float some shaved carrots (use a peeler) pieces on the water, or romaine lettuce (it has to be romaine as the others have no nutrition) endive is a good choice too. And in the summer I use dandylion leaves but I don't use any sprays in my yard. A word of advice here carrots are turned into Vit A in their system and this is very important to protect there immune systems. That is why I make sure mine get carrots at least once but usually twice a week. You can also give treats of fruit. Apple slices (use the peeler again so the slices are thin so he doesn't choke) grapes cut in half and they like melons too including a little slice of the rind. During the summer I let mine have garden stuff. I hand pollenate my squash so they get the male flowers and they love those. That type of food is more natural for them as well. Anacris is a favorite water plant but it is expensive.

Now comes the interesting part, meats. You can feed him small amounts of lean cooked chicken. Tuna packed in water. A high quality canned dog food ( I suggest Wysong I feed this to my dogs http://www.wysong.net/ )
Also fresh fish pieces are a big hit with mine. They will actually froth the water in their haste to eat it all.

You can also feed crickets, grubs, worms, and feeder fish.
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http://www.anapsid.org/reslider.html

dixieee · Posted: Sat Feb 25, 2006 2:53 am Post subject:

welcome to the board rescuer:) nothing more to add except for the broccoli, i know that broccoli, spinach, and iceberg lettuce should NEVER be fed to turtles Rolling Eyes

i'm not questioning the vet's knowledge but be careful about that. the reason could be that he/she's not a specialized herp vet..

anyways, i hope ur turtle recovers soon. can't wait to see the pix Very Happy

good luck with ur little guy
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Wed 10/27/2004 is the worst day..i lost my best friend Leo

so now i have a female RES, Green, and a cute stupid male YBS, Mint

5/4/2006 RIP Lemon, u were my first rescue and i'm so proud of u. will never 4get u

trtlduv · Posted: Wed Mar 01, 2006 11:34 am Post subject:

Welcome to the board! So glad you were able to take the turt of your neighbor kids' hands... like me, most people don't do any research on turts until after they've brought them home, sounds like that's what your neighbors did too.. Good luck and keep us posted!
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shade & sweetwater!

Kirstinjoy · Level 1 Joined: 23 Feb 2006 Posts: 15

Thanks for all the great ideas- I have been in Utah Boardig for a week- sorry I took so long to respond. I am going out tonight and picking up some veggies and fruit for him- they should be good for me as well Smile