Feeding and Nutrition :: Can I feed my turtle this......

[Ranger The Red Ear Slider]

My mom bought this bag of vegetable mix, and it has some kind of vegetable I never heard of and I was wondering if Its healthy for my turtle to eat they are Tango and Radicchio. Also it has baby romaine but it looks allot like spinach is that a different name for it?

[marisa]

My RES loves radicchio (somewhere I was told it's called Italian cabbage); I occasionally buy a little head of it and mix it in salads or saute it in oil. My RES will get pieces of a raw leaf. I don't give it often or a lot of it at at time (I don't buy it often because it isn't that cheap), and I try to give pieces that are more red than white. I don't think the small amount in a salad mix would hurt your turtle. Ditto for the tango. Check the ingredients on the package if it came in one---it would say if there's any spinach in it. To me, baby romaine looks very different than spinach (the latter is a much darker green). If it is, a little given by mistake once or twice won't hurt your turtle; but it is high in oxalates, which bind with calcium and prevent its being used by your turtle so it shouldn't be a regular food. If in doubt, don't give it.

[Ranger The Red Ear Slider]

Oh okay thanks, I don't know if the baby romaine was darker I took it out since he didn't eat it since this morning. I just bought some ancharis for my RES and I was wondering if I could use it has a everyday food. Also is it okay if I only feed my turtle every other day?

[marisa]

At his age, you can certainly give things like pellets every other day (even twice a week if he's overweight). It's good, however, to offer some plant matter daily, even on the pellet days.

Anachris is fine, but personally, I try to avoid making any food like that a daily food in the diet (if I have a lot of something, I'll give it a few days in a row to help use it up). I've mixed anachris up with other kinds of veggies just to keep the diet more varied (and help keep my turtles from getting sick of it). You might find it a bit messy as well.

[Ranger The Red Ear Slider]

Yeah the little leaves do float everywhere but he ends up eating it. But so far the anachris are the only plant he likes, He hates all the lettuce I give him and allot of other vegetables. He's not overweight but Im fearing he is going to someday cause he only eats pellets and ancharis which I cannot buy all the time since they are 3 dollars per stalk here. Would 15 ZooMed growing formula pellets be fine? Is that to much or to little? Also on days I don't give him the zoomed I give him 12 Reptomin pellets since they are a bit bigger and higher in protein.

[marisa]

Yes. a steady diet of anacharis can get expensive. $3 a stalk? That is pricey (I used to get bunches of 4 or 5 stalks for that price). The good thing about anachris, though, is that it will keep in water and grow fairly easily with good lighting.


So, from what you wrote he gets 15 Zoomed pellets and 12 Reptomin pellets the next, meaning every day he's either getting one or the other? Sounds like too much to me, especially the 12 Reptomin sticks.

[Ranger The Red Ear Slider]

He gets the zoomed one day and the next day the reptomin another. Not all in one day if that is what you thought. And 12 reptomin sticks by them self is to much? If so how many reptomin sticks and Zoomed sticks should I feed him?

[marisa]

Yes, that's what I meant---15 Zoomed pellets one day and 12 Reptomin pellets the next day; that's too much. At 3 years of age, you can feed him pellets every other day. Look at his head (don't include the neck) and imagine how many of each it would take to fit in that size space. Be conservative, don't think of cramming the pellets into the head. I've forgotten how big the Zoomed pellets (they're round?) are, but for the Reptomin (regular size) I would think more like 7 or 8 would be more like it. It would be good to concentrate on getting him to eat a variety of veggies (and aquatic plants if you want to spend the money). You can give some plant matter every day, even on days you give pellets.

[Ranger The Red Ear Slider]

Oh, Dang I thought 15 of the pellets fit in his head. I will try the 8 reptomin but what about 10 zoomed pellets? They are roughly around the size a O maybe a tiny bit bigger. I do try to give him vegetables everyday but he never eats them they just sit there all day. But lately I have been seeing holes in the lettuce I give him so either he's eating it or biting it and spiting it out like I see him do sometimes.

[elwray]

You should definitely try to grow your own anacharis. It's extremely easy, doesn't require much light, and grows like crazy.

If you have an extra 10 gallon tank around with a light, you could put a few anacharis plants in it with some rosy red minnows (cheap feeder fish at most pet stores, NOT gold fish). The minnows will fertilize the plants. Then you have fish to feed to the turtle, as well as plants to harvest. Not to mention a cool looking aquarium!

[Ranger The Red Ear Slider]

Yeah Im growing some right now! I didn't measure them when I first got them but they look a little bit bigger. I don't have a 10 gallon laying around so I only had a bucket, Im probably going to have to measure it to find out how many gallons it is. Also I have 4 minnows in a 7 gallon plastic container, So Im going to get a male and female and put them into the bucket.