Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just wanted to check with others and see if my turtle is growing on track. My boyfriend thought he was growing too slow (i was worried about over feeding him and ruining his shell) so I started feeding him more but I just want some confirmation im doing okay by him.

I dont feed him everyday, more like every other... i switch it up sometimes just pellets, dried crickets, mealworms, mosquito larvae, shrimp (all the normal turtle section stuff). Pellets I give a little shake so maybe 8-10, or ~3 crickets, or 1-2 cubes of Tubifex worms, or about a tsp or 2 of other small things. or 1-2 live worms (short 3-4". So far he has shown no interest in vegetation, when do they start turning to herbivores? He pretty much ignores anything I put in there that isnt meat or pellets.

Side note thats kind of funny he begs like a puppy. You walk over to the tank and he bobs up and down out of the water "beggin" for food. Its a funny site.

In case it matters my tank is a 20 gal thats the length of a 30 gal, i keep the water about half full, he has a floating dock now, I used to use rocks. UV and heat light on 12hrs/day. Zoo Med 501 turtle filter.

I found him spring of 06 he was the size of a quarter, now he's (i say he but i have no idea) a little bigger than the circumference of a pop can.

Also i had read once that there is a cheap alternative to turtle clean that is available in the aquarium/fish section but I dont remember the name of it, anyone know what Im talking about?

Thanks in advance!

to get him to try and eat veggies try feeding him aquatic plants. Mine are only 3 months old and they love duckweed, water lettuce, hyacinth, and elodea. They tear that stuff up and cant get enough. So give that a try and see if you have any luck. At that age he should def be getting vegetables. a diet consisting of mostly protein cannot be too healthy for the little bugger. If you cannot get him to eat those aquatic plants theres one more thing you can try. there is a commercial frozen turtle food that ive only been able to find at Petsmart in the same place where they keep the frozen fish food. Its called "Sally's Aquatic Turtle Diet" and it comes in a bunch of little frozen cubes. Give it a try it has a bunch of veggies in and protein too. Dave

I dont know anything about plants do the petco/petsmart carry those plants? What do they look like? Are they expensvie? How much do I feed at a time? Do I have to keep the plants alive somehow until I feed them? Do I just give the whole plant? Sorry to ask so many questions, I expected having to give vegetables but I know nothing about aquatic plants....

Petsmart and most fresh water fish stores will carry elodea and duckweed. The Water lettuce and Hyacinth i find at a pond store. i just one of any of these and just toss it in the tank and just leave it in there. one water lettuce probably last my 4 baby Yellow bellied sliders 2 days. its really low maintenance with the aquatic plants because you can leave them in there until the turtles have completely eaten them. unlike with lettuce and other greens if they arent eaten after a while they must be removed or they will spoil the water. anyways just call around to some petstores and pond stores and see if they have that stuff. let me know if you have any luck

I am hoping you can help me. My turtle will not eat any vegetation. I noticed you recommended duckweed and the frozen cubes for aquatic turtles. I have tried both as well as romaine lettuce floating in the tank. I can't find the other aquatic plants you mentioned locally and I'd rather not order it online becasue the turtle may not eat that either. I have about 2 cups of duckweed in my fridge that is going to waste. Do you have any other suggestions? Thanks.

Also if you are feeding him 8-10 large(adult size) pellets once a day that is way too much. that is too much protein especially at that age. 6 months to a year you are suppose to change the feedings to about every other day. if you overfeed the little guy, he will get shell pyramiding and grow too fast which will cause health problems down the road and eventually an early death. i use to give in to my little guys begging all the time. the thing is they will beg whenever they see you. turtles are opportunistic eaters and when they see you they see an opportunity to eat. the reason they are like this is because in the wild they aren't fed on a schedule. in the wild they definitely don't eat as much protein. naturally turtles are really slow growers, compared to other reptiles, because they have a lot longer of a life span. so if you want a healthy little guy take my advice.

My baby YBS's(3 months old) get fed commercial food once a day for about 5 minutes as much as they can eat until their appetites are diminished. Theres always plants in there for them to snack on, aquatic plants as i mentioned earlier. i also have about half a dozen tiny feeder guppies who they rarely catch, because they aren't good hunters yet. Sometimes ill substitute the commercial food with tiny crickets or worms. but only one feeding of protein a day. in about 3-6 months i will switch to every other day. Anyways hope this helps. post some pictures of the little one.

dave

No I dont feed him everyday more like every other or every two days. Theyre the little pellets not the adult ones. For pictures of him/her go here: http://www.mn-c.com/listpics/listpics.asp?dir=ErinlynTurtle

that link didn't work?