Feeding and Nutrition :: How much to feed?

[DebbieJean]

Yesterday BammBamm must of had diarreah, his tank started smelling bad and his filter was a gooey mess. I think that me and my mom have been giving him too much lettuce but Im not sure. Hes still a baby, not sure how big he is I still haven't measured him yet cause hes very wiggly and I would hate to drop him. He loves romaine and red lettuce so we normally give him two leaves of whichever one he gets that day. He also loves boiled sweet potato and blueberries. His tank was cleaned early this morning and I took his river rocks out so I can keep it cleaner. He also gets 4 reptomin baby pellets everyday. I read the feeding guide.

[Raphulk]

although your baby (which you should measure asap just to know where youre at) loves to eat, you as the owner have to moderate his diet.

its great that he loves veggies as a young one already, but 2 leaves a day is way too much. note that RES especially do not know when to stop eating, im sure if you stuck 5 leaves in there your turtle wouldnt know the difference.

you should really get your turtle on pellets like reptomin sticks which are sold at major petstores. if youre really into it, you can by your turtle some mazuri aquatic treats online, they sell by the pound online. it is a top quality turtle pellet brand.

about the sweet potato and blueberries, those should only be given as treats as they are high in certain aspects. maybe once every other week (someone else knows the exact time frame)

[DebbieJean]

Should I only give him half a leaf of lettuce? Some of them are big. He does get his pellets every day, he likes to get them from my fingers unless hes mad. Today I gave him one piece of boiled baby carrot with one leaf of lettuce. Looks like he ate half the carrot already. I will definitly cut back on the blueberries and sweet potato.

[untsmurf]

This is the page you can read to get all the information you need.

http://www.redearslider.com/index_nutrition.html

[frozen10]

Since RES dont know when to stop eating is it a bad idea to keep aquatic plants in the tank for them to eat at will??? and than feed reptomin every other day??

[Daniel3507]

i wouldnt constantly have aquatic plants in the tank because they would eat all of them. i give cujo some plants every now and then but not constantly. if your turtle is an adult you should feed them every other day the amount that could fit in the head if it were hollow

[blind44]

^ i have the same question as frozen10. i have aquatic plant, some romaine and cuttle bone in the tank but they dont really eat that much of it. they just chomp on it from time to time. should i be removing plant, romaine and cuttlebone all together and just feed them bits and pieces at a time? i just assumed it was okay since they dont constantly eat them but just like to eat pieces of it daily. my turtles are babies. romaine/aquatic plant/cuttlebone all have bene in the tank for about a week now and theres still lot of it left. oh..i also feed them pellets once a day.

[Daniel3507]

if they dont eat it all at once i think you can leave them in.

[marisa]

It depends on the turtle. One of my painteds has had the same aquatic plant in this tank for a year now. He breaks off pieces from time to time, but it's pretty much intact. It just stays in the tank, and I offer different veggies daily as part of his diet.

My RES eventually destroys any plant in his tank. I still keep aquatic plants in the tank, though and offer veggies. The veggies slow down his rate of eating the plants.

blind44, since you say your hatchlings nibble at the plants and veggies, I'd leave them in. I'd change out the lettuce (or whatever) if it started looking like it was going bad.

I keep a few small pieces of cuttlebone in the tank and replace as necessary. If they're being eaten really fast, I'd just add a few more the next day.

[blind44]

thank you all....=)