Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This is a link to a diet plan that soneone sent to me http://www.matts-turtles.org/docs/Box-Turtle-Diet.pdf. Does it seem like too much? Is there some certain rule as to how much you should feed to your turtle and how often?
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two oregon newts
one male eastern box turtle
ten gallon tropical fish tank

Sandy Barnett, author of this article, helped me with the dietary section of my new book and much of it is repeated there, but some things I have fine tuned because of my experiences with my own turtles and in helping many other keepers. I like to mimic the natural feeding habits of slow moving reptiles which is to forage for food, then hide and rest until they are hungry again. I think turtles should have time to digest their food and a one day interval may be too short. The paragraph below is in my book: (You can buy an autographed copy from my website, www.boxturtlesite.info)

Feeding frequency
Factors such as age, health condition and the time of year should determine how often to feed captive turtles. Hatchlings and young turtles can be fed every other day. Healthy adult turtles can generally be fed every third day (more often if they are underweight). Overfeeding can lead to certain dietary problems. When excess food is available, some turtles may begin to selectively eat only favorite foods, and actually lose nutrition in the process. On the other hand, ravenous eaters may develop excessive weight gain. After several months of preparing meals, you’ll begin to learn the appropriate amount of food for your turtle. Adjust portion sizes so that only a small amount of food remains after the turtle finishes eating.

Hope this, along with Sandy's excellent article helps you decide what is best for your turtles

Thanks. It just seemed like that was alot to give a turtle every other day. I think I'll try to feed my turtle every three days because he's a little overweight. And I think I'll use 1/2 a tablespoon of reptomin instead of 1 table spoon and 1 teaspoon for fruits and veggies instead of 1/2 a tablespoon. Does that sound right? How do I know if I'm under feeding my turtle or over feeding him because won't he eat all of the food whether or not it's alot because reptiles are opportunist? And generally how much worm should I give him per feeding?
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two oregon newts
one male eastern box turtle
ten gallon tropical fish tank

I give my adults food (all they want) three times a week (Tues, Thurs, Sun), so every other day and every third day. This has worked extremely well for me for four years. I have gotten sucessful clutches with these feedings and everyone does great. If I come across a worm in the yard I'll throw them in to them, and give them worms bugs every now and then on their off days (since they are able to forage on their own). Hope this helps. As was mentioned, you will get a feel for how much they'll eat in a sitting.

I try to feed a couple times per week, but one thing to add is that is dependent on weather conditions, if it's going to be warm, misty, overcast, humid day like today I will feed them well, because they will be active and feeding all day as they are today, if it is going to be a cold northwest windy day I don't bother because they won't eat anyway and I would just be wasting time. Mornings after a night time storm or warm overcast days are the best for feeding and activity. On bright sunny days you have to get up early in the morning and feed at sunrise because they will want to burrow when the sun gets high and powerfull. Those are my experiences, so I don't really have a set schedule, I follow the weather and the turtles.
Jeff Benfer
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You'll get your regius's to the wall, man!
1.0 pastel Python regius
0.1 mojave Python regius
0.1 normal Python regius
0.2 Terrapene carolina thriunguis
2.3 Terrapene carolina carolina
4.1 Kinosternon baurii
1.1 Malaclemys terrapin terrapin
2.1 Ambystoma tigrinum
0.2 Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis
1.0 anerythristic Thamnophis sirtalis parietalis
1.1 Iowa snow Thamnophis radix
1.1 heterozygous for amelanistic,carmel, and stripe Pantherophis guttatus
0.1 anerythristic motley Pantherophis guttatus

I have to admit that feeding my turtle has been difficult. I think I'll feed him a little less until he can close his shell all of the way. And after that, I guess I'll just experiment with feeding and see at what amount does he maintain a good weight.
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two oregon newts
one male eastern box turtle
ten gallon tropical fish tank