Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey there,

I am very familiar with the Mazuri tortoise diet but wanted to ask on this forum if there is a "default" best aquatic turtle food (in this case, specifically for a hatchling mud turtle).

Is there a processed food that is generally considered superior for hatchling (primarily) meat-eating turtles or are all of these good choices?

Thanks,

Tim O
Sarasota, Florida

I shy away from too much pellet food. It was my mud turtle who ended up with problems (bladder stones) and the vets all determined that I needed to stop feeding him so much pellet food.
So since that happened in 1997 he's been getting a very wide variety of live foods, frozen but thawed out for him fish foods such as bloodworms, brine shrimp and other animal types of fish foods that don't have a lot of additives. Live roaches, worms, crickets, and fish are all foods he loves.
He does get some pellet food but only about 2-4 times a month.
The stones have never come back so far, he'll be 10 years old soon.
He won't eat the Mazuri pellets, he won't eat the Zoo Med either but that's him being picky. I wouldn't choose one pellet over the other, I just try to feed the most natural diet that I can.
This is just my 2 cents.
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PHRatz

Try and feed more natural items rather than the processed foods. Mazuri and Reptomin are OK as occasional supplements but don't get hooked into feeding them as a staple diet.

Thanks so much for the information. I like the natural food options but know that they can sometimes be hard to obtain, so I just wanted to inquire re: opinions on the best processed food (FYI -- the ReptoMin is very readily available in my area with the Mazuri and Zoo Med typically a little harder to find).

Also, do mud turtles need natural sunlight/basking availability or are they OK in an indoor aquarium set-up without UVA/UVB lighting?

>>Also, do mud turtles need natural sunlight/basking availability or are they OK in an indoor aquarium set-up without UVA/UVB lighting?

They do fine with indoor lighting. I like to take mine outdoors now & then in the summer to get some real sun but otherwise he does just find inside.
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PHRatz

One more thought about the live foods being harder to obtain. I know a lot of people wouldn't want to do this but I've found that insect and mealworm breeding is actually fairly easy to do. Fish breeding I have a harder time with because we have hard water where I live & they're tougher to maintain but I know people who do breed feeder fish.
It's something to give some thought to because you always have food available and you know what the food has been eating so you know it's healthy herp food.
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PHRatz

Although mud and musk turtles can be raised indoors easily without access to direct sunlight, I think providing good light is important.
I have both a spotlight and strip lights on all my tanks. The bulbs in the strip light vary from Vita-lites, Zoo Meds, etc. but I change them once a year.
It is true though that they can be kept even without these but I feel that it is worth the extra expense.

>> It is true though that they can be kept even without these but I feel that it is worth the extra expense.

I agree with you on this, I not 100% sure that my mud really needs this lighting. He spends much of the day in the shallow water inside his hide box but I provide the lighting anyway because it certainly can't hurt him, and it may help him.
If anything can go wrong it will so I'd rather not take chances.
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PHRatz

Yep, I am pretty sure that the Kinosternids can be raised without special UV or UVB lighting. In fact, I have raised many like this. But I have to think that for long term health and overall 'quality of life', it is better to provide it.
The expense is a bit more but worth it.
Plus, they look better in a well lit indoor aquarium.

What a beauty! Thanks for posting the pic.
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PHRatz

Tough question: adults do quite well without UV, but smaller juveniles do better with at least a "reptile" wide-spectrum flourescent tube. One thing to remember: one hour in natural sunlight is worth many hours of wide spectrum electric.

I use Mazuri. A real animal food company makes it, Purina. Zoos use it, I dont think they'd use some cheesy diet for their animals. Mixed in there I feed veggies and bugs so I try to make it a varied diet.