Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My girlfriend has this baby RES and she lives in a small apartment in Boston. The RES is still a baby, just a couple of months old, and it's very healthy with a great appetite. Here's the thing though, She doens't want Phut, the RES, to get too big, too quickly, or at all. Any tips on keeping an RES not too big, but still healthy at the same time.

P.S. He has a pretty big appetite right now, and she is just useing the hatchling pellets by zoo med, but a lot of them, and she's very much against eating other animals, so if there is an alternative to feeing the RES fishies, that would be great!

thanks all!

... what does she think is in the pellets?

... never mind, maybe you shouldn't bring that point up.

At any rate, the ground up fish in the pellets seems to be just as good as whole fish, and RES can eat plants too.
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Peter: It's OK, I'll handle it. I read a book about something like this.
Brian: Are you sure it was a book? Are you sure it wasn't NOTHING?

if you want a small pet, buy a fly
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0.0.1 Red Eared Slider

I caution against ever attempting to do anything to "slow" the growth of a baby animal. You will end up with metabolic bone disease problem or some other health issue. Conversely it is unwise to overfeed the animal to make it grow fast too.

If you feed him once a day and allow him to eat a portion of food around the size of his entire head that will be sufficient to keep him growing normally.

I hope that he has a basking light and is at least in a ten gallon tank. He should grow at roughly the rate of an inch a year but some do alot more some less.

If you care for him properly he is going to get large. So if this is problematic you might want to consider finding him a new home while he young with someone who is prepared to handle the needs of a larger animal. That would be a better solution than attempting to stunt his growth and affect his health adversely.
(which I am certain was never your intention in the first place)

Good luck with your new turtle
Steve

Perhaps your girlfriend should try a vegetarian animal like a green iguana. I hear they stay small, lol.
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LOL!! Sure compared to a nile crock I guess!!