Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have been feeding my turtles Collard Greens... and i have noticed that they smell REALLY bad! is there any other "healthy" greens that dont smell so bad? I know that lettuce doesnt have that much nutritional value... so i was thinking maybe Spinach leaves or something? something or anything that wouldnt smell so bad!
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~ Evie

Pets:
RIP 0.1.0 German Shepherd {Dusty}
0.1.0 German Shepherd/Collie mix {Shadoe}
0.0.2 RES turtles {Booger & Snot}
1.0.0 African Clawed Frog {Bingo}
0.0.2 Snail {Gary & Larry}

Spinach isn't that good for them, it blocks the absorbtion of calcium. Mustard greens and dandelion greens are good for them and I have never noticed that they smell bad, unless they rot in the fridge.
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where would i buy mustard greens or dandelion greens? I have a wal mart near here, but that's about the only 'store' that i know of around here!
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~ Evie

Pets:
RIP 0.1.0 German Shepherd {Dusty}
0.1.0 German Shepherd/Collie mix {Shadoe}
0.0.2 RES turtles {Booger & Snot}
1.0.0 African Clawed Frog {Bingo}
0.0.2 Snail {Gary & Larry}

Is it a "Super" WalMart? If so, they will probably have them. I buy mine at a Meijer which is similar.

Nancy

In fact, Nancy, it IS a super wal mart... it is where i bought the collard greens, so im hoping that they will also have the mustard greens or dandelion greens! i will be checking tonight! Thanks to everyone who responded
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~ Evie

Pets:
RIP 0.1.0 German Shepherd {Dusty}
0.1.0 German Shepherd/Collie mix {Shadoe}
0.0.2 RES turtles {Booger & Snot}
1.0.0 African Clawed Frog {Bingo}
0.0.2 Snail {Gary & Larry}

there are more than 1 kind of lettuce. Iceberg is the commonly unnutrional variety. Look for darker lettuces like Romaine or red-leaf. My cooter really likes the red-leaf, and he wasnt too fond of collard greens, which if you leave them in a warm water tank for too long, they do start to smell more than other varieties. Also, my turtle usually just eats the actual leaves and the stems that go up the middle of the leaves are left behind. One other thing, my turtle loves duckweed. Its a small green floating plant with only a couple leaves that is found in ponds and lakes almost everywhere and grows like mad. I raise it in a 10 gallon, it takes about 2 weeks to cover the surface then I scoop out about 95% of it and put it in with my cooter. He usually eats it all in about 12 hours. Then the remaining plants start to multiply again. They prefer slow or no moving water, as they are very small. I do have an airstone in the tank for circulation, and where the bubbles come up is the only place they do not grow.

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yea i definitely tried finding dandelion greens and mustard greens at my wal mart, but they didnt have them there! the only 'greens' they had was collard greens! which i do not even want to go there again... so the red leaf lettuce or the other one is ok? does it last awhile in the fridge? because my turtles are only little (like 2 inches) and they really dont eat A LOT of greens... i just bought collard greens because it was pretty cheap ($.94 / bunch) and they seemed to like it... but it just SMELLS so bad! it's even making my fridge smell.. *blah* i will try to find other lettuces and see if that works! i sure hope so... because the lettuce was making my tank smell something horrible! thanks for the great advice, and by the way, how is your new addition doing?
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~ Evie

Pets:
RIP 0.1.0 German Shepherd {Dusty}
0.1.0 German Shepherd/Collie mix {Shadoe}
0.0.2 RES turtles {Booger & Snot}
1.0.0 African Clawed Frog {Bingo}
0.0.2 Snail {Gary & Larry}

i meant to ask the "addition" question to DSGNgrl... sorry bout that!
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~ Evie

Pets:
RIP 0.1.0 German Shepherd {Dusty}
0.1.0 German Shepherd/Collie mix {Shadoe}
0.0.2 RES turtles {Booger & Snot}
1.0.0 African Clawed Frog {Bingo}
0.0.2 Snail {Gary & Larry}

Look in your salad section for pre-bagged salad, I usually get one that says spring mix or something, I just avoid the ones with spinach in them. They usually have red lettuce, romaine, the purple frilly stuff and some other things in them. It gives them a nice variety.

My little addition is growing so fast

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that is a REALLY good idea.. i never actually thought of that, but im sure they'd love it! and that would give them a great variety! by the way.. the baby is ADORABLE... reminds me of my nephew, he's gettin so big!i miss him like crazy when i'm here at school... and thanks for the great idea!
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~ Evie

Pets:
RIP 0.1.0 German Shepherd {Dusty}
0.1.0 German Shepherd/Collie mix {Shadoe}
0.0.2 RES turtles {Booger & Snot}
1.0.0 African Clawed Frog {Bingo}
0.0.2 Snail {Gary & Larry}

Brocolie is good also, lettuce is good to stick with, also use radish, carrots and apple, cheese, banana, and other diffrent assortef fruits, I bet you will be suprised with how much your turtle loves it, mine even like tomatoes and peas and I noticed they started to grow alot more after they turned ten and are now nearing fouteen and my girl I have is almost eight inch.

Brocolli is OK ONLY in moderation, as part of a varied diet. I wouldn't offer cheese at all - turtles don't have the same enzymes as people. Where in the world would a turtle get anything similar to cheese in the wild? Variety is good, but I'd lay off the banana and fruit, and only offer them sparingly.

Leaf lettuces, Romaine, butter lettuce, dandilion greens from the yard or pet store, even the leaves from mulberry leaves can be offered. If there is a plant nursery close by they might offer, water lettuce and water hyacinth, which aquatic turltes usually love. It also provides a good cover for juvenile turtles. Even my mud turtles like to nibble on water hyacinth.

Katrina

I usually only give my turtles pellets, lettuce or collard greens, and some carrots every now and then. i have tried pieces of cucumber and stuff like that, but they dont like them yet. they are only about 2 yrs old. I have never fed my turtles cheese, for the same exact reason u claimed, where would they get it in the wild? i did try fruits, but the only fruit they really seemed to enjoy was strawberries. right now i have been gathering dandelion leaves from the grass, but soon (considering i live in PA) the ground will be blanketed with snow. I was hoping that the wal mart was going to have some of the mustard greens or dandelion greens, but unfortunately they dont. and that's the only place that i have access to around here (since i am at college). So i was going to buy one of those "mixed salad bags" like someone else had referred me to and see if that works (and smells better) than the collard greens!
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~ Evie

Pets:
RIP 0.1.0 German Shepherd {Dusty}
0.1.0 German Shepherd/Collie mix {Shadoe}
0.0.2 RES turtles {Booger & Snot}
1.0.0 African Clawed Frog {Bingo}
0.0.2 Snail {Gary & Larry}

Evie,
Since you live at college I assume you are getting the dandelion leaves from the campus yard? If so I would stop. There are probably pesticides on them and you don't want to feed that to your turtle. I would only get greens from a yard if was your own and you were sure you didn't use pesticides.
When I was at college I would bring stuff back from the salad bar and shrimp night. I would bring shrimp, chicken, lettuce and other greens. I would bring a baggy from my room to the cafeteria and load it up at the salad bar. We weren’t suppose to take food back to our rooms but no one said anything to anyone (everyone took back food) because they felt bad for college kids with no food lol. Anyway I would do that instead of picking it from the yard or buying it from the store (I needed the little money I had for deodorant, shampoo and so on).

No, i definitely do NOT pick the dandelion leaves from the campus property! i dont trust what these people put on the grass... i get the dandelion pieces from home, but even then i dont go home all that often and soon it will be snowing, which the plants will then be deeply buried in snow! Plus, where i go to college, i dont go to the salad bar cafeteria to eat... so i cant get veggies and such others from there... the only place i go to is wal mart, and they dont have the dandelion greens or mustard greens i was told they liked. so i am just going to buy the bagged salad stuff and feed that to them! ANYTHING has to smell better than this collard greens crap i was feeding them...
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~ Evie

Pets:
RIP 0.1.0 German Shepherd {Dusty}
0.1.0 German Shepherd/Collie mix {Shadoe}
0.0.2 RES turtles {Booger & Snot}
1.0.0 African Clawed Frog {Bingo}
0.0.2 Snail {Gary & Larry}