Feeding and Nutrition :: feeding tub?

[SaweetTURTLE:)]

I have heard many times that people have a separate tub for feeding their turtles. I have a few ?'s

1) What is the point of this?
2) Will it help your turtle bond with you?
3) Would you feed them something special?


uummm, thats all i can think of...

[iac637]

people feed their turtles in a seperate contanier to keep the tank cleaner. Turtles are messy eaters and they make their tanks dirty so a lot of people put them in a feeder tub until they are done eatting and some until they poop so they don't in their tank as much.

It won't really cause bonding that will just happen with time. You feed them the pellets and veggies you normally would.

[emma]

1)Yes. People feed their turtles in seperate containers to keep the main tank cleaner. It does help a lot. Now that I have started this, my turtles tank is kepy clean for a long time and they don't fight for their food when I put it in.
2)My turtles have started to be a lot more friendlier when I started the container feeding. It all depends though on their enclosure, feeding, and care.
3)I usually just put grapes, lettuce, carrots, and other things into the main tank for them to eat. I only feed the pellets in the container.

[SaweetTURTLE:)]

my turtle refuses vegies. I have made homemade veggie squares and he still wont eat them.. so.... I don't know

[octpusgirl8]

Try San Fransico Bay Aquatic Turtle Food. It's little frozen cubes of anacharis and veggies and fishy stuff. Most turtles love it because it smells very fishy, and it's a good way to get veggies into a turtle who won't otherwise eat them. Also, try a wide variety of veggies, sometimes the first things they're willing to try are brightly colored vegetables like carrots or red peppers.

[megcornell]

I also think feeding outside the tank can help your turtle bond with you. It will start to associate you taking it out with it's favorite thing-- food.

As for veggies, octpusgirl is right- every turtle likes a different variety of veggies so try a few types.

[ironicqueery]

I have an additional question for this topic-

1. HOw do you get the temperature at 78* in the feeding tub? Right now, I'm just mixing hot and cold water as best as possible, and try to hit it as best I can. The water tends to cool off fast though.

[emma]

You could always take some water from your tank for the feeding tub. What I do is take warm water from the sink and put it in the feeding tub I have. My turtles are only going to be in the tub for like 10 seconds.

[mikee]

Saw-turt -- A separate feeding container will keep your larger tank cleaner if you keep them in long enough for them to eat and poop. Some foods are messy and the poop is real messy. If the container is large enough and the water is kept warm enough you can keep them in a couple of hours and make sure that they poop. I am not sure about this bonding business. They may bond with food and if the feeder, person, were to change, so would their attention.

[Cramer]

A while back, my filter broke and while I was waiting for the new one to arrive I fed them in a plastic storage bin. I would siphon out the tank water into it, put them in and feed them, then dump it and refill the tank.
Other than that, I use a high moisture pellet mix that doesn't make much mess and my filter handles the rest.

[mikee]

Cramer -- You could use tap water if it is not too chlorinated. I just run the faucet water until the temperature matches and I feed them in that water. If I choose to keep them in the small tank for an hour or two I have a small heater I put in with them. Then I pour the poo water out on my outside plants and that is that.

[Cramer]

I only did that for about a week w/o a filter; haven't since. Plus, I have an RO system now and my new house has well water with a massive Culligan water system in the basement.
It's surprising how much of aquarist's troubles start at the tap. Maintaining a tank has never been so easy.

[marisa]

Feeding in a separate container (especially messier foods) will help keep the tank water cleaner. Some turtles (but not mine) will poop relatively soon after eating, and if you keep your turtle in the feeding container for a bit longer and he does this, you've helped keep the water even cleaner.

Your turtle will become more used to you and your touch by virtue of his being picked up.

I once did use a small heater in a feeding container. I've found though, that usually the food is eaten so quickly that using the tank water is fine.