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I've had my red ear female slider for about a month now she's 4 inches big i just feed her 6 pellets a day...do you guys think that I should start feeding her fish or meal worms once a week?

Isn't 6 pellets a lot? Usually you feed enough pellets to fit in their head as if it was hollow (not including the neck)

Fish can be offered once a month ( no feeder goldfish, try rosy red minnows) and you shouldn't offer mealworms. They are not healthy at all and I've heard bad stories about them.

6 pellets (reptomin-size) doesn't sound much. Is the 4 inches of the shell length? In addition to adding some leafy greens, I would read this section on how much you can offer: www.redearslider.com/pellets.html

What brand of pellets are you giving your turtle? If it's Reptomin, I fed my RES 5-6 pellets a day when he was that size along with different kinds of veggies and plants. On the days he didn't get pellets, he got some other types of foods, like an earthworm or two (depending on the size), a cricket or two (depending on the size), etc. along with the veggies/plants. I did feed mealworms for variety, but very rarely and only a few at a feeding, since they have a poor calcium/phosphorus ration, minimal nutrition and are hard to digest.

Certainly vary the diet. You could also add some pieces of cuttlebone (look up the threads on it if you don't know what it is) as a calcium supplement.

Yeh her shell is 4 inches...thanks for the info I think I will just go get her some earthworms...since she doesn't like eating leafy vegetables

it sounds like thats not much food.... or my guys are over fed pigs (likely too).

First, i leave fresh vegi's in the tank every day for them to much on. ive read that if you dont feed them vegi's as baby's they wont like them as adults eather, and thats not so good. Try different veggies till you find one they like. My guys like spinich, carrots (if they are in small pices), and romain.

Pellets, the feeding instructions on the package i have says feed as much as they will eat in several minutes twice a day. Another package says once a day as much as they will eat in two hous.
My guys are small (3 inches and less), and they get about 5 pellets each (broken into smaller pices), twice a day.

Shrimp, i give them shrimp or krill as a snack every other day.

When they get bigger i plan to give them rosy red minnows.

Has you RES grown in the month you've had her?

shelach wrote:it sounds like thats not much food.... or my guys are over fed pigs (likely too).

First, i leave fresh vegi's in the tank every day for them to much on. ive read that if you dont feed them vegi's as baby's they wont like them as adults eather, and thats not so good. Try different veggies till you find one they like. My guys like spinich, carrots (if they are in small pices), and romain.

Pellets, the feeding instructions on the package i have says feed as much as they will eat in several minutes twice a day. Another package says once a day as much as they will eat in two hous.
My guys are small (3 inches and less), and they get about 5 pellets each (broken into smaller pices), twice a day.

Shrimp, i give them shrimp or krill as a snack every other day.

When they get bigger i plan to give them rosy red minnows.

Has you RES grown in the month you've had her?

This doesnt sound right either. Instead of feeding your turtle shrimp every otherday feed it that as a treat once every two weeks. And quit feeding them pellets twice a day, they dont need that much food. Feed them pellets once a day (only as much as would fit inside their head if were hollow), and skip the spinach and offer better vegetables like endives or kale. You are overfeeding them quite a lot and if you dont stop it it can lead to pyramiding and shorten their life spans.

Never trust what the food containers say.

she hasn't grown that much maybe 1/4 of an inch

*xsavingsaturdayx*

Ive done my reading.
first of all, im sure im not over feeding them that much. Going by the inside of the head rule (witch i just heard of today) i might be feeding them 1 pellet to much per feeding . maybe my pellets are small, but its not a lot of food and they eat it all in under a 2 min.
I will cut back to feeding once a day, or can i split the same amount of food into two feedings? i would like that better i think.

I read that the diet for babys should more or less be 50% protine (meet, pellets)
and to find the vegi's they like.

does it realy make a difference if i give them a pice or two krill every other day opposed to a full helping of krill very two weeks? ive been around turtles in the wild and i can tell you young ones eat more meet.

from this site:
"Hatchlings or turtles under a year old should be given pellets daily. It is appropriate to offer vegetables daily - even if they initially refuse. You may have to try different varieties to see which kind your RES would take. RES over a year old should be given pellets every other day or every two days.

There are various ideas on the quantity of pellets you should feed your turtle. Hatchlings should receive more protein in their diet - approximately 50% of their entire diet. Since turtle pellets can contain more than 40% protein (Reptomin for instance), adding the occasional cricket, guppy or earthworm can round out their diet. For older turtles, pellets should compromise between 10-25% of the diet."

Oh sorry! lol!
I thought it was a lot since my reptomin sticks are all 1 inch long...

Those are huge Reptomin sticks...The regular size ones I buy are more like 1/2 to 3/4 of an inch.

Yea I know! I buy the huge container kind and they're really big! I always snap them into 4 smaller pieces and feed them to Serra, I'm afraid she might choke on it!

I break mine in half for smaller turtles too.