Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello all two questions;
How do you know how much to feed your baby snapping turtles. I know sometimes my little guys love to stuff themselves! Especially one, who will take a few guppies, some turtle pellets, worms, beefheart, all in one day! How can you tell if your turtles fat?

Another question;
All my turtles have little white tips on all there carpaces. Like the points on the carapaces? what does this mean?

THANKS
Steven

Well, The White Tips could be anything: Shell Rot/Shedding/Maybe part Albino.

But for the Eating, I feed my 2yr old 6-7 Goldfish a week, and any worms I find outside. She never really eats all the fish, But is a FAT TURTLE. I mean, this littel guy must have a eating disorder. He might eat 2-4 fish a week and his Fat puffs him up. The rest of the fish go to my Praying Mantis's.

If you think my way of feeding is wrong, then think of this: The FIRST time I had a little Snapper, I listened to the people here... and it died after 3 1/2 months. After that I just said screw it and fed the thing like it wants. She and 4 others are fine and getting very old.

-Its not like I dont take care of my pets, But i see NO NEED, to waste money and time on something that is Wild. My praying mantids are always loose around my house and I frequently let my Iguana's run around too.... They get what they get.

I would really think of not feeding goldfish. Check all the back-posts. Thers a lot of info. They really aren't a good food source. Just because a turtle will eat something isn't an indication of it being a healthy food.

"If you think my way of feeding is wrong, then think of this: The FIRST time I had a little Snapper, I listened to the people here... and it died after 3 1/2 months. After that I just said screw it and fed the thing like it wants. She and 4 others are fine and getting very old."

I'm interested to know what you did different the first time when you "listened to the people here". As far as feeding "the thing like it wants", how do you know what it wants? And how old are the 4 others. I don't comsider 2 years very old.

"Its not like I dont take care of my pets, But i see NO NEED, to waste money and time on something that is Wild"

I don't understand this part. Would you mind explaining this for me?
-----
Martin Whalin
My Email

I don't know what it means, but both of my common snapper hatchlings have white patches all the way around their carapaces. Almost all the hatchlings my friend had had the white patches around the circumference of their carapace.

Hope this helped some,
Jasmine

BTW, John and Charles are a week and a half old and eating great. Shedding alot too.