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Since changing over from a 20 gallon tank to a 40 and now a 60 gallon, Otislee has gone from a 6 1/2" RES to 7 1/2" in two months. Feeding him Wardley Adult iguana premium diet fortified w/calcium,Wardley reptile sticks, andZoo med's aquatic turtle food. He's fed 3 times a day and the water is changed every 4 days. This turtle is the most active turtle I've ever seen, and he's never been sick.

That's great, I hope he stays healthy.

he might be growing too fast for a turt that size. i'd cut down on the protein and make sure he gets some veggies. glad to hear he's doing well.

For some reason he won't eat veggies, no lettece,dandeloines,carrote's,etc. Any suggestions?

feeding 3 times a day is way too much. It should be 3 times a week.

This turtle was feed this much for some time. Are you saying 3 times a day is too much because of contaminates inthe water, or is it bad for the turtle? He's 7 years old and never been sick. Just like anyother animal or any other species, they will all beg for more food. All I have to do is walk in the room and he almost jumps out to get more food. I actually thought 3 times a day(I'm not talling about alot) just 5 or 6 sticks every feeding was the right amount.

Maybe you could try some floating pond plants (water lettuce, hyacinth)?

Growth of 1 inch in 1 month is too fast. and isn't healthy. And feeding your turtle 3X a day is too much. Feed the pellets every other day (an amount that would fit into his head each time). You can supplement with the plant matter daily, and other foods can be given as occasional treats. If he doesn't want to to eat veggies/plants, you need to get tough and only offer these foods until he'll be hungry enough to eat them (withhold the pellets, etc.). If he's healthy, he won't starve.

wow thats a big problem cheack the sticks under feeding and nutrition for some help with feeding. growing that fast can lead to pyramiding and such.

Thanks for the imput from all. Glad I found out now instead of down the road. Is Zucchini ok cut up in small chunks?

I've tried it with my RES (cut up in pieces small enough to eat easily), but he's never been a big fan of it. He does like pumpkin and yellow squash, though, especially if they've been lightly steamed to soften them a little.

If your turtle doesn't like zucchini by itself, you could try to get the scent of something smelly on it--soak the pieces in the water (not oil) from tuna or sardines, or mash it with a little boiled white chicken meat or even mealworms (just enough to make the zucchini smell a little). This has worked with my RES at times.

There's an old myth that a turtle will grow according to the size of the tank you keep him in. Of course there's no scientific reason for that, but we've noticed the same thing--faster growth since we switched to a bigger tank.

But yes, feeding 3x/day is too much. Regarding new foods: we very easily trained one of ours that wouldn't even touch pellets for over a year to eat them by mixing them crushed with tuna, gradually increasing the pellet content each time. Just making them smell like tuna or krill wasn't enough, it had to be a mix. Now he's a pellet hog.

Our turtles are 8 & 5 inches long and get fed every 2-3 days using the size of their head method to determine the amount of pellets to give them. In between they get some veggies. It took a while for them to eat the veggies but when they get hungry they will eat them. We have minnows in our tank and pond for exercise eating!

if your res won't eat veggies, just keep offering them. I cut out pellets completely unitl my res started eating them. Now my water lettuce is nearly distroyed.

Where do you get water lettuce? (dumb question)