Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Our baby red eared slider is about three months old (maybe 2 inches long?), and we still can't get a handle on how much we should be feeding him. He always acts hungry and begs like he's going to die if we don't feed him more! And we can't go by the "five minute rule" because I think he could probably eat the whole jar of food in five minutes. Right now he eats mostly Baby Reptomin sticks, about 6-10 sticks twice a day. Then we feed him as much fruits and vegetables as he wants when he's hungry at other times during the day. Is this too much food for a baby? How can we tell if he's getting fat? And when will it be time to switch him to a more adult diet? Hopefully someone can help us and keep our turtle as happy and healthy as he seems now Thanks.

You should feed your turtles once a day, as much food as would fit inside his/her head. You can leave greens and veggies in the tank so that they are available all the time, they can't eat too much romaine lettuce. Your turtles will beg, but don't give in. Overfeeding can cause a lot health problems. I believe that it is at about 1 year that you cut back to feeding them every other day. There are some could articles about care and feeding at Austins Turtle Page.

Good Luck!

I was told that when turtles are 2 inches big, you can start feeding them pellets every other day. You can probably cut back to feeding once a day for a while, and then cut further back to feeding every other day. 6-10 baby reptomin sticks per feeding should be good.

Thanks for the responses. I have cut him back to pellets once a day, and am feeding him more fruits and vegetables instead. He still is reluctant with the lettuce, but will eat almost any other vegetable and loves fruit (especially mango and bananas!). I've also started leaving some greens in the tank in hopes that he'll catch on to it. I'm still not sure if he's growing too quickly, but hopefully some of these tricks will work just in case. I haven't figured out how to add a picture on these messages, but if I can I'll send one through to get some opinions of his size. Thanks again.

Please cut back on the banana. It has a very poor calcium to phosphorous ratio. I'm just not comfortable with feeding fruits for some reason, and stick with geens and solid veggies such as slices of yellow squash, sweet potato, winter squashes, and green beens.

Katrina