General Care Discussion :: Is Feeding Red Eared Slider Twice a Week Okay?

[dtarver]

My red eared slider is 7" 4 years old. Is feeding her twice a week okay? I give her reptimins, occassional gold fish and minows, and occassional meal worms.

I have a 2" slider the same age but I feed him a few sticks daily since he is so small.

Please advise.

[BullDog]

That sounds like it might not be enough. It's recommended feeding your adult turtle a head-sized amount of pellets every two days.
There are also lots of veggies you can feed your turtles. Check out the "What to feed" sticky at the top of the feeding forum and http://www.redearslider.com/plants.html for a list of veggies that are good for your RES.

[mikee]

dt-ver - That sounds like a survival diet only. Feeding twice a week is not a good idea. They need a steady diet to fight of any disease or ill health that it may get. Well fed every other day is best. m.

[queenjane]

No, it's not okay.

[theartbook35]

The minimum, and I mean absolute minimum, is three times a week.

Just know that, you can't just feed pellets, and need to feed other things, so, it might be hard to balance the amount of nutrients your turtle gets with less feedings.

If you are worried about running out of food, it's actually cheaper to buy one of the biggest food containers you can find. It makes more sense to re-stock food two or three times a year, than to re-stock six to eight times a year.

I bought a 5 ounce Rep-Cal container a couple of months ago. My turtles are fed pellets three times a week, in addition to veggies and fruit on non-pellet days. (They are still under four inches). I haven't even put a bip in the amount of food in that can.

[rosarocks14]

I feed my turtles every other day. that works very well.