Feeding and Nutrition :: What i'm feeding my RES

[Dan And Ann RES]

I have 2 RES (1 male 1 female 6 or 7 years old) and i feed them about 1/2 a cap (about 1/4 of a hand full) of reptile pelets once in the afternoon. About every other week i will give them some left over chicken (no skin) and they realy seem to like it. i also will give them some cucumbers and green pepers some times and they dont always eat them. Also, i sometimes buy acuple feader gold fish from pets-mart to feed to my turtals. They usualy eat the fish the same day, but last time i got the fish it took a month for them to eat the first one and anuther 2 weeks for the 2nd fish. the fish lived happaly untill the end tho.

I have a couple questions about the food
Am i giving them to much pelets
Is i good for them to eat chicken
What is the right size fish to feed them
Is there any thing wrong with giving my RES cucumbers or green pepers?

any help would be awsum

[tammi]

The amount of food per turt should be the size their head not including the neck ever other day. Varied veggies are good. And chicken is fine as long as its unseasoned no skin and only as a treat every so often.
Also try to get minnows not goldfish. Goldfish is higher in fat not good for turts. As long as the fish can be caught the turt will eat it. They can tear them into bite sizes.

[TheComputerGremlin]

The amount of pellets for that size turtle should be a head-sized amount every other day, or a half-head-sized amount daily. My 5" turtle gets about 6-8 pellets daily, to give you a guide. Half a cap seems way too much to me!

Chicken/fish/high protein snacks can be given about once monthly, with a guide of again their head size. Their stomach is about the size of their head (hence where the head guideline comes from), so you don't want to expand their tummy!

Veggies, a good starting place are nice leafy greens. Try green or red leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, or dandelion greens, or basil. All of these can be given daily with little harm, though dandelion greens and the leaf lettuces are best. Carrots can be given about weekly, and once per month they can have a sweet treat, like apple or mango peels, strawberries, grapes (peeled), blueberries, or sweet potatoes (steamed). Cucumbers are just filler, so I would stop feeding those frequently, and green peppers aren't necessarily a turtle favorite, but I don't think there's anything wrong with them. However, once you find out what your turtles like, you won't be needing to dig anything out. My turtle always cleans her plate, so to speak, but I know what she doesn't like!

[Dan And Ann RES]

thanks i did not know the amount of pelets thing