Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How often should one feed a yearling painted and does anyone have a good info on how to go about hibernating a yearling?
And what about yearling stinkpots?

>>How often should one feed a yearling painted and does anyone have a good info on how to go about hibernating a yearling?
>>And what about yearling stinkpots?

When my painted was a baby I fed him twice a day as much food as he would eat in say a 20 minute period- until he stopped eating. After that I scooped up the food & got rid of it.
I did that for his first 2 years, then I dropped it down to one feeding per day. After he passed puberty I dropped his feedings down to every other day.
I've never fed him the same food twice in a row, I still rotate his food as much as I can. I feed him a lot of live foods because the dietary needs for every species of turtle hasn't been scientifically studied as dog/cat foods have been. They don't eat soy beans & corn in the wild so I stay away from commercial food, I feed items he'd be eating in the wild if he were in the wild. I do feed pellets 2-4 times a month.

He's captive bred, he'll be 13 years old in 2007, I've never tried to hibernate him, he's never indicated he wants to either.

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PHRatz

Thanks for the good advice. My painted is an eastern and yours looks like a western. I've heard turtles from the northeast(U.S) need to hibernate in order to breed. Have you heard that? Anyone?

>>Thanks for the good advice. My painted is an eastern and yours looks like a western. I've heard turtles from the northeast(U.S) need to hibernate in order to breed. Have you heard that? Anyone?

The thing is most people who do breed say that they get better results if the turtles have had a resting time.. hibernated. Apparently they lay more fertile eggs if they've had that time out.
I don't breed my boy so I've never worried about it.
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PHRatz