General Care Discussion :: hand feeding and food questions

[myboyblue]

Is it harmful to continue feeding from my hand. Not asking so much if its harmful for me because I know thats harmful, hes locked onto me more than once already. Wondering more about future eating habits and such.

Also, other than the daily pellets he really likes tomato and meal worm, and maybe once every 2 weeks sucks down a rosy....how should I moderate these types of food.

Hes about 4 inches now and wants to eat all the time. I have to stay out of the room during his basking or he just jumps off and starts begging, and I want him of course to properly get his basking time in.

thanks

[BullDog]

Other than giving you a nip, feeding by hand is fine. It's a good way to bond with your turt.

As for meal worms, rosies, or any other type of protein, that should be cut back to once a month, no more. Too much protein can lead to pyramiding and health problems.

The tomatos also about once a month, since they are high in acid.

Now that he's 4", you can probably start feeding him a head sized amount of pellets every second day, or a half-head full every day.

[Arisu]

feeding by hand is fine. you're actually the one taking the risk of being bit. I'm sure you've experienced the powerfulness of your 4" turtle's jaw- can you imagine being bit when they're twice as big? they're jaws are pretty powerful and will continue to become more so. as your turtle grows, you may want to consider leaving the food in his tank and not hand feeding (unless you're okay with the possibility to losing a finger)

[myboyblue]

WOW. that rarely....Ive been giving him thin slivers of tomato 2 or 3, like twice a week, no wonder hes begging. and the protiens only once a month.

Geez, good thing I asked. Yeah his snap is so pwerful now. This wont continue too much longer, even though I love it. Ok so I really have to cut this feeding down.

Even the pellets Ive been over feeding I guess. The feeding instructions were so vague. Said something like a few pellets, several times daily.

SO pelletts daily just a few, and the veggie and protiens more as a monthly treat? I feel like Ill be starving him..lol wanna do what best though.

Thank you again, not having a lot of extra time these days, I always appreciate the quick and informative responses here.

[megcornell]

Not all veggies are such a rare treat, just ones like tomato that aren't ideal.
In fact, you should be adding a lot of veggies to solo's diet to complement the pellets and other proteins you feed. Things like lettuce and aquatic plants like anacharis are great veggies that can be fed daily. If you look at the sticky notes at the top of the nutrition section you'll see a breakdown of what's good to feed turtles veggie wise and how often each should be fed.

[myboyblue]

OK, I understand why he doesnt want most of the green veggie I put in, he knows tomato will be coming his way. In the beginning I tried anacharis and he didnt much bother with it.

Ill definitely look into the nutrition section more and try to manage his diet better.

Thanks again

[BullDog]

If you would like to continue hand feeding without the risk to yourself, you can feed him with a spoon. I do that on occasion

[myboyblue]

I do like the hand feeding, I dont know if its my imagination or I can slightly hear him hissing as hes coming toward the food. LOL and the snap when he misses. holy cow, makes me push the food a little further towards the end of my fingers in caution.

All my life I heard of the snapper turtles.... Are RES snappers????

[Sammonkie]

Hey! I think your baby will have to learn(just like mine) that he won't have his way every time he begs. I give my kid turtles (3-4 inches) proteins (fish, shrimp,crab meat,etc whatever we human have, just boiled w/o any seasoning) about twice a week, a tiny bit each time which I think they absorb better this way. About hand feeding -- I hand feed them,too, especially when I am sneaking in the medicine into the food -- I am training them to freeze as I would a dog. Believe it or not, with a little bit of accommodation, this works really well with turtles. So far mine have learned a few commands already.

[TurtleLover_S&B]

It's fine!Only one of my turtles has nipped me before,and that's when I was feeding them and he accidently bit me.

[speedynlucky]

Yeah I hand feed mine and on occasion my finger has gotten a good pinch from them and you will feel it but I love feeding this this way. Also I do it to make sure one isn't eating more than the other.

[robind]

I let her chew on my finger a little for fun.

[bradmeisel]

I've been feeding Chimpy and chompy by hand since they were babies. For a while I fed them baby reptomin pellets which are pretty short. When they were both being fed together they would get excited and get the side of my finger once in a while.

The more I did it, the calmer and gentler they would take them. I even started making the pellets shorter to see just how gentle they could take it.

Now that they are older, i still feed them by hand once in a while. Now they are totally gentle and have not gotten my finger in a long time.

I handle my turtle regularly, but not for extended periods of time. As long as I keep them warm, they are ok with being held.

When you do feed them by hand, don't jerk the food back, just hold it there and if you can hold it where the turtle can anchor itself. That way it will be able to control how it takes the food.

[bigG]

I've been feeding my female RES since I received her. She is gentle when she gets the food from my fingers. I've given her tiny pieces of shrimp or fish. The male RES has also been hand fed and no problems.

[mikee]

Yes, Feeding by hand is fine. I have been feeding mine by hand for years. By feeding them by hand you can make sure you are not feeding one more than the other. The more aggressive ones get most of the food and the others much less. Mine do bite me when they get into a feeding frenzy which hurts. I just have to keep them seperated so I can keep an eye on them. Good Feeding!! m.