Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hello everyone! I got two yellow bellied sliders over the summer. At that time they were little baby ones that fit in the palm of your hand. Now they are about 4inches long! My girlfriend keeps one (zucci) at her college and I keep the other (slider) here at my college. They get to be together every weekend. I've noticed that Slider may be overweight. I don't think it's that bad yet, but he eats a lot less than Zucci (could weight problems be in their genes? lol) I'd like to know if anyone has any recomendations on what to do to control his weight. He's on a pellet diet and get's live fish maybe once a month. I only feed him about 20 pellets every night. Please let me know if there's anything I can do to prevent Slider from becoming unhealthy.

Wow, it looks like the amount of pellets you're giving him might be the problem...the rule of thumb is, only give a turt as many pellets as could fit into his head. For my turtle, who is about the same age as yours, I figure that's about 5-6, so that's what he gets each night. Try cutting down on the pellets, and good luck!
~Amanda
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0.0.1 Crumpet
In this world, this new world of ours, there will be rocking.
~Dave Eggers

I also got my Oregano over the summer. I now feed him every other day. I give about 4 pellets (hatchling pellets, they are smaller) 4 bloodworms (freeze dried) and I drop 3 shrimp pellets in various places for him to search and destroy, ok eat. I also always have green aquatic plants in his tank. He likes to eat them, shred them and also sleep on top of them. Oh yeah, he also has guppies in his tank, but he doesnt really eat much of those any more. They keep breeding so I never have to stock up. He likes them a couple of days old (after birth). Good luck and God Bless
Deejay

thank you so much for replying! I am a little confused if you are referring to "5 or 6" as our turtle's age or the amount of pellets you give her everynight. If I cut back on pellets, is there any way of knowing that I might be feeding less than what's needed?

Sorry! Should have been more clear. I give Crumpet 5-6 Reptomin pellet sticks (the long, regular kind, not the hatchling) every other night. The other nights he gets lettuce, sweet potatoes, apples, tomatoes, etc.
I have actually cut down on my turtle's food, too. I used to feed him the 5-6 sticks every night, sometimes with a treat during the day, until I thought - good Lord, he's getting big very fast! I also noticed his skin was shedding, which can be a sign of overfeeding. I've since cut down, and for the past couple of weeks there's been no more shedding. He did tend to come to the glass and beg for more food a lot when I first switched him over, but I think he's realizing that this is all the food he's gonna get, and he's calming down. Hopefully it'll be the same for your turtle as she gets used to less food. Good luck.
~Amanda
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0.0.1 Crumpet
In this world, this new world of ours, there will be rocking.
~Dave Eggers

RES can survive on very little food, and can go without eating for weeks. 20 pellets a day is a huge amount of food. At his size he should be fed pellets every other day or less, and be given veggies or aquatic plants daily. My turtles get a lot of kitchen scraps, such as strawberry caps or leftover salad. They only get pellets once a week or so, and have rosy minnows in their tank to chase. Sometimes they get crickets or earthworms if I have some leftover from my other reptiles, or ghost shrimp when the pet store has them. They also like to eat snails. The bottom line is overfeeding is very dangerous to your sliders health and will shorten his lifespan. Turtles are by nature scavengers and will eat whatever they are given, so you have to control what they get to eat.

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