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I've read some amusing posts in here today and it a couple that made me revisit some of my "beliefs" about caring for turtles.

mine is about 2-3 yrs old, 7 inches long, looks healthy and so forth. He spent his life at an office being cared for by whoever's on shift. We've only ever fed it about 10-15 of those turtle food pellet things per day every day since he was the size of a quarter.. And now I'm bringing him home to live at home and I just read something that suggests it's possible to overfeed a turtle?

I had been plannign on keeping him in a tank with a handful of feeder fish, live plants on top of his usual turtle pellets.

So, am I going to end up feeding him to death?

Oh, yeah. They'll have you convinced they're starving to death. You can't overfeed on most veggies though...I keep water lettuce & water hyacinth & anacharis in the pond & tank as well as daily offerings of romaine and other 'good' veggies. Check out the "What to feed" sticky. You should only feed the amount of pellets that would fit in your turts head every OTHER day (since he's over a year old). You can feed 1/2 that amount daily (what I do) so you don't feel as if you're neglecting the little beggar, but over feeding leads to health problems & pyramiding shell if it's too much protein. (One of mine has that problem & I still feel guilty) You can offer as much cuttlebone as he'll eat too - it's just the protein (which is in pellets...) you really have to watch for. I keep things by the tank so I can always offer something when they beg...even if it's not what they really want, they'll eat if they're hungry.

You can overfeed a turtle with pellets and other proteins, but plants and veggies (such as lettuce or carrots) cannot be overfed. Adult turtles should only get pellets 3 times a week, and you can give them veggies on the days they do not get pellets. Having live plants and feeder fish in the tank is fine.

If you do overfeed a turtle they can get what is called pyramiding and their shell will not be smooth.

Good luck with your new turtle!

thanks for the answers.. he doesn't have any pyramiding and is totally smooth shell. so I guess "whoever's on shift" feeding worked for him. LOL

OK , thanks!

Given the opportunity, my female RES would overfeed on anything.

If given a choice, my adult female RES would NEVER stop eating. She is a total pig! Many yrs ago when I didn't know any better, she sometimes ate till she threw up, then proceeded to eat her own vomit!!! Terrible!!!! :p

industrial_girl_2000 wrote:If given a choice, my adult female RES would NEVER stop eating. She is a total pig! Many yrs ago when I didn't know any better, she sometimes ate till she threw up, then proceeded to eat her own vomit!!! Terrible!!!! :p

I have a African Clawed frog that will eat worms until he vomits and then he eats them again. Gross!!!!!

mrhappy, if your turtle is 2 - 3 years old and is 7 inches long, that's really too much growth for a turtle that young. It sounds like the 10-15 pellets that were fed daily are largely responsible (any other foods in the diet?)---your turtle has been overfed for quite a while. While you can't undo what's been done, you can limit the amount of food she gets and vary the diet with more vegetable matter to provide a healthier diet for her.

You can give some veggies every day, even on the days you give pellets (or other foods).