Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have done alot of reading on RES over the past few months but the one thing that I find the hardest to get a clear answer on is feeding. One person will say feed everyday untill they are 4 inches. The next will say every 2 days and the third will say every 3 days. I use to feed my 2 RES's everyday one in 1.5" and the other is 3". In the past month I cut down to every 2 days, one day I will feed to cooked beef liver, the next feeding day ill feed them reptomin, then the next feeding day ill feed them vegetables, then maybe some shrimp, and so on. im more worried about over feeding then anything else. How often do you feed your turtles and what food when?

I would think that beef liver would be too fatty...
I would try to up the amounts of veggies you feed, but maybe cut down on the protiens...

I dont remember where I read about the beef liver but the reason I feed it is because it is very high in vitamin A. they get a small amout maybe once a week. I cooked the liver by boiling it to get most of the fat out [try not to do that inside it does not smell to good] im working on getting them to eat more veggies but they are still young and want meat.

How often do you feed your turtles?

Everyday. He`s only 1.4 inches long... But he almost never eats what I give him. Instead he eats mostly just the water plants in the tank. I wish he would eat something with more nutrition in it...

Try offering a little cooked squash or sweet potatos/yams. They`re full of Vitamin A.

::sigh:: This is a question that has been bugging me. I've been feeding my turtle daily and lately he's been acting really hungry. Even comes to me at the same time each day for his food. Someone on the forum responded to one of my posts telling me that I'm overfeeding my turtle because his skin is shedding. This drives me nuts because I didn't think I was overfeeding since he only gets a pinch of food and is usually looking for more after he eats it.

It really killed me last night not to give him his usual food. I did throw in some veggies for him (which he has ignored completely) to help my conscience. But I feel absolutely awful because I KNOW he was looking for his usual food last night. I'm weak and I know it ::sigh::

This morning when I looked in on him, he was trolling the bottom of the tank for food and fish. This makes me even more guilty. Almost sick to my stomach thinking that I might be neglecting him.

If your turtle ignores veggies, then he/she can't be that hungry. I switched to feeding my turtles (2.25" every other day for about a month now. At first on the in between days they did seem hungry but now they are totally fine and still growing. I think your turtle will get used to the new routine too! Turtles are such beggers so don't give in to their cuteness.