All Turtles Message Board

Hewwo2u2 · Level 3 Joined: 04 Mar 2006 Posts: 105 Location: SC

Okay so My turtle is one of those "beggers". Sometims I go up to the tank just beacue i want to look at her but she automatically thinks its feeding time. she comes up to the front and follows me up and down the tank. then she will poke her head out of the water and splash the water with her front legs sort of like a doggie paddle...very cute! When I feed her, she eats it ALL. There are two tyoes of pellets in her diet (among other things that I'm not so worried if she eats too much of). On the back of the zoo Med auqatic turtle food it says to feed her a spoonfull and let her feed for an hour and if she eats it all in a short amount of time, to increase the amount to a tablespoon or MORE! Well Miss Pacman eats a spoon full in all of about 60 seconds. The other one is called reptoMin floating food sticks (for aquatic turtles, newts, and frogs). It says on the back of this to "feed only as much as your pet will consume" and on top of that it says to feed it once or TWICE a day! This food she will also eat in seconds. I have just started feeding every other day like you guys said, but i was wondering how much. I see all these replys to other people and its not too helpful because i don't even know if she was beeing fed too much or too little before. i just know she was being fed a little bit daily. I want to feed her the "right" amount to keep her healthy...just need to know how much a turtle her size should eat. That brings me to another thing...Her skin -not her shell- always seems to be shedding. you can only see this in the water. so when I took her to the vet for her checkup the vet said she looked good. I told the vet about the shedding and she said it was normal for turtles to shed sometimes. The thing is its always there (the skin) floating still stuck to her in little strands. I know this can be a sign of over feeding since I don't think she has an infection (her eyes are clear, shes active, shes definitely EATING, etc.). i like feeding her everyday, so I guess I could just cut down on what I feed her, or is it actually better to feed her every other day. How much do you guys feed your adult RES? Mine is around 4 years old I believe. she loves to eat, and I love to watch her eat so I want to feed her as much as shes allowed safely. It bothers me that the back of the food says to feed so much. and the information online doesnt really help because it just says the percentages of proteins and veggies she should have but not the actual amounts. I know that turtles always "act" like they are hungry because in the wild they are always looking for food, but you would think she could get full when she eats all at once like that. She just chases the little pellets in the water like PacMan eating them as fast as she can. I will take pictures of her skin and the food I feed her soon if that will help answer me, but any help right now would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

fishandcandy · Level 3 Joined: 09 Jan 2006 Posts: 200 Location: Indio, CA

The suggested amount is the number of pellets that would fit inside your turtle's head, not counting his neck. What I do is pinch a little stack of pellets together and then add some or take away some until what I'm holding looks the same size as his head. Feed that amount every other day. Or you could feed her half that every day. In addition to pellets, you can give her lots of lettuce.

certifiedpet · Level 1 Joined: 15 Mar 2006 Posts: 7 Location: Oregon

My Malayan box turtle sounds like yours, as far as eating goes. He NEVER acts full. He did come from a bad home, where food was simple and sparse. Im not sure if thats why he eats so much but he is deffinetly aggresive, he will even try to eat me! I think its much better than having a turtle that wont eat. DONT over feed, DO offer varity. Most aquatic turtles need a low protien diet, but a few small goldfish a week are good, with dark leafy greens daily (Kale, mustard greens) NO iceburg, spinach or parsley. Mine loves mango, cantalope, carrots, peas, greenbeans, apples and more. ZOOMed's Box Turtle diet (in a can) has a good mix of fruits and veggies. I use high quality pellets (ZOOMed) for only %20 of his total diet!