Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

We've had our RES now for about a year. It has doubled in size since bringing it home. I bought Reptomin for baby RES, and according to the label, it says "feed as much as it will eat in several minutes"...Our turtle is now 2 to 2 1/2 inches in length, and has a little of the fat coming out of the legs that I've seen people mention. I have stopped feeding it shrimp treats daily (as I was doing in conjunction with the pellets). Now I have been feeding it 10-12 small pellets once a day, and then a little lettuce and carrots every now and then. It stares out the tank at us and goes nuts when it sees the bottle of food, almost begging us for more after we feed it.

What is the rule of thumb on feeding a young RES (about a year old)...? I keep the water between 70-75, except in the summer, when it increases to about 80-85.

I don't want to feed it too little, but don't want to feed it too much....

Many thanks!

I feed mine as much as he wants twice a day. Maybe you should switch foods. Zoomeds works for me. Also, you might want to put feeder fish/ shrimp in with him so he can have snacks when he's hungry during the day.

An amount the size of his head once every other day, and all the green leafy veggies that he wants daily. Overfeeding will greatly shorten your turtles lifespan. They are programmed to eat constantly as a survival instinct, but in captivity that often leads to overweight turtles with deformed shells.
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yeah please cut back on the pellets. try to get more variety and lower protein sources. Maybe algae wafers or spirulina tablets (made for herbivorous fishes) if he will not eat greens. have you tried anacharis? hornwort? any aqauatic plants?
turtles that eat as much as they want get fat and eventually many of them develop serious organ problems. Do not feed it as much as it wants.
The size of the head thing (that was mentioned above) is a good recomendation for non veggie foods.

Where can I get something like algae wafers or spirulina tablets? I shop at PetSmart usually and they only carry pellets, shrimp snack and freeze dried buggies. I have not attempted the bugs though. Mike aka "Mr Turtle Man" only gets fed once a day and doesn't always eat everything I give him plus he has fish in the tank in case he does get hungry in the day. I figure since turtles in the wild don't have a quaranteed source of everyday food, it doesn't hurt to only feed once a day. Also, Aquatic plants. Are the plants sold in the petstore good for him?

I have Mike on a strict diet. I was overfeeding him a first and he was getting a little chubby in his shell. He only has a little bulge now that only shows thru 1 open area at a time (when he's got 3 legs tucked in, the 4th will have a slight bulge).

Won't turtles eat all day if you let them?

>>yeah please cut back on the pellets. try to get more variety and lower protein sources. Maybe algae wafers or spirulina tablets (made for herbivorous fishes) if he will not eat greens. have you tried anacharis? hornwort? any aqauatic plants?
>>turtles that eat as much as they want get fat and eventually many of them develop serious organ problems. Do not feed it as much as it wants.
>>The size of the head thing (that was mentioned above) is a good recomendation for non veggie foods.