Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently saw someone post that they feed their RES once every 2 or 3 days.

How often do YOU feed yours?

Babies?
Juvenilles?
Adults?
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Tammy, Doug, Skylar, Andrew, Aaron, Lessley
2 cats (azul & chester)
2 parakeets
1 hampster (oreo)
3 RES (Big mama, Quazimoto, Rustus)
Crab, newt, and numerous fish

I don't have RES but I have a western painted, which is similar.
When he was a hatchling I fed him twice day.
When he was nearing 3 years old I dropped it down to once a day.
He's 12 years old now but by the time he was about 5 or 6 years old I dropped his feedings down to once every 2-3 days because adults can become overweight which can cause the same health problems for them that overweight humans may have. Problems such as heart disease, gout, liver and kidney diseases.

I stopped feeding him daily because the general consensus I've found in writings by reptile vets and zoo keepers is that adults don't need to eat every single day and that they don't do that in the wild.
When I feed mine I feed him plenty so that he's not hungry when he finishes. When he's finishes I scoop out what he didn't eat so the water will remain clean.

He's such a healthy boy that he's the only one our herp vet has never seen. Which isn't exactly a fair statement because he's the only one I paid money for and brought home on purpose. He's captive bred, the others were rescues who had problems already when I took them in.
Even though I don't have RES I hope this helps!
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PHRatz

It sure does, ours are just babies about 5 inches.......so we feed them 2 times a day with pellets plus we suppliment with other stuff. And they can graze on the fish if they want.
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Tammy, Doug, Skylar, Andrew, Aaron, Lessley
2 cats (azul & chester)
2 parakeets
1 hampster (oreo)
3 RES (Big mama, Quazimoto, Rustus)
Crab, newt, and numerous fish

>>It sure does, ours are just babies about 5 inches.......so we feed them 2 times a day with pellets plus we suppliment with other stuff. And they can graze on the fish if they want.

Good deal glad it helps. Try to rotate the food, don't feed pellets every day.
I'll tell you what happened to my mud turtle who was also a hatchling when he got here. I fed him the same way, pellets twice a day as a baby, with other foods available then I cut the feedings back as he grew up.
He had a problem in 1998, he had some urinary tract stones, and a gouty condition. My vet consulted with several other vets around the country by phone, they all concluded that he was getting too much pellet food & that he should have less of that but more natural foods like bugs & fish.
He had to take some medication for a couple of weeks & that worked so then I started rotating his foods, by that I mean I didn't feed him the same food every day. I'd feed pellets one day, next time he got mealworms, next time crickets, then it'd be thawed out bloodworms, then it'd be fish. I'd feed several different live or thawed out frozen foods before we'd get back to pellets. He's never had a health problem since I started doing that.
The problem with pellet food is that even though they all claim their food is scientifically formulated nobody really knows exactly what each & every turtle species nutritional requirements are the way it's known for domesticated animals like dogs & cats. It just hasn't been studied enough yet.
After what we went through I still use some pellet but I don't trust it all that much & so I don't feed it all that often.
Pellet food is only a small part of the overall diet for them.

On a high note.. turtles make great pets don't they?
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PHRatz