General Care Discussion :: growth

[KatieSmeltzer]

hmm... what is the average growth rate for a turtle? i got mine on mother's day 2009, but i do not know how old s/he was when i got him/her. when i got him/her, s/he was about the size of a quarter... maybe a half-dollar. now, a year and a few months later, s/he's just under 2.5 inches. also, s/he hasn't had a "good shed" yet.

s/he's in a 20 gallon tank, basking area (that s/he uses), uvb/heat lights. i feed him/her a rotation of kale, 4 pellets, and one blueberry each week. any input??

[papoopeepoo]

Just have patience. Your turtle seems to be a little on the small side, and that may be a feeding/nutrition problem, but not necessarily.

At 2.5" you should be feeding as many pellets that would fit in your turtles head if it were empty (not including the neck) every OTHER day. This can be supplemented with veggies like kale and red/green-leaf lettuce on the in-between days. Fruit shouldn't be offered more than one time a week, although it's good the little guy is accepting it.

Good luck.

[KatieSmeltzer]

i do sunday- kale/lettuce, monday- pellets (about 4 or 5), tuesday - kale/lettuce, wednseday - blueberry (or whatever fruit i have), thursday - pellets, friday - kale/lettuce, saturday - pellets. does 4 or 5 pellets sound like too little?

[steve]

Filbert was probably only a couple of weeks old when you got him/her. You can give a little more, but pellets vary in size and content, what kind are you using?

[KatieSmeltzer]

reptomin pellets

[steve]

I would think you can give a little more. What kind of lettuce does Filbert get?

[marisa]

Does your turtle eat most of the kale? If not, I'd try some other greens such as dandelion leaves, red-leaf lettuce or romaine lettuce. If he does, I'd cut back a bit on it anyway. Offering a variety of greens is always good.

[KatieSmeltzer]

he gets a piece of kale the size of his shell. it's the green that he gets most of the time because i grow it in my garden. every time i buy other produce from the grocery store, it gets old before i use it all.

[steve]

Kale isn't the best veggie they can get. I'll buy head of red leaf, wash, use a salad spinner and put it in the fridge.

[marisa]

If you buy produce like lettuce in the supermarket, it's often wet from being periodically sprayed to keep the leaves crisp. If I buy a head of lettuce and it's wet, I wrap it in paper towels to soak up the moisture. If the towels are really damp, I wrap the lettuce in new ones, then put the wrapped lettuce in a plastic bag. I only wash the leaves as I use them. I've tried the bags that are supposed to extend the life of various veggies, but I don't think they're much different that regular plastic bags. If the leaves look limp but are otherwise OK (not turning brown), you can make them crisp again by letting them soak for a while in water.

Wet lettuce doesn't last long, but truly, only home-grown veggies or ones bought at farmers' markets this time of year are really fresh. The lettuce I buy at a farmer's market lasts so much long than lettuce from a supermarket even with my efforts to preserve the latter.

[KatieSmeltzer]

thanks marisa, for the tips.

[marisa]

You're welcome.