Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi, all, I'm new to this forum, hoping you all can share a little knowledge.

My husband and I have a half-grown female Western Painted, 3-4 inches long, wild-caught. I found her on a bike path about 3 months ago. She adjusted well to captivity, quickly learning to associate people with food. She has a voracious appetite, eating enthusiastically a couple of times a day, but will only eat meat. Her favorite foods are worms and raw hamburger. She will also eat shrimp, raw fish and chicken, but seems to prefer red meat. She turns up her nose at any kind of vegetable food: greens, fruit, flowers, vegies. She sniffs at turtle food and fish food, but won't eat it. She won't even eat beetles or bugs. I'm not sure how this turtle survived in the wild with nobody to wait on her!

I've read that baby painteds are mostly carnivorous, becoming omnivorous as they grow. She's well past the baby stage, but never got the memo on plant foods. She's lively and looks very healthy, but we worry that she isn't getting a balanced diet. We bought some turtle vitamins that we mix into her hamburger once or twice a week. Is that enough? Should we insist that she eat her turtle chow before we give her the red meat she craves?

I had the same problem with my Eastern Painted. I went on vacation for two weeks and my sister took care of my Eastern. She ran out of food and gave her chopped meat for one week. After that she wouldn't eat her turtle chow. I stopped feeding anything but her sticks. After four days she started eating them. Now that's all she gets, except for a treat...one dried shrimp, or a worm for a little protein. But it took a good 4 days for her to eat right again. Do tuff-love. She will come around. She is in an outdoor pond now, and eats bugs that she finds, and pond plants and her turtle chow.

Your turtle sounds like my two, one is three years old and the other is two. I've had them since they were hatchlings...they seem to eat more different things the older they get. At first they just ate worms and minnows and wouldn't touch any turtle food or greens...but I kept offering them different things and now they eat like little piggies. I think as long as your tutrle is eating and basking she'll be fine. Throw in a piece of lettuce, they like that, maybe if she loves hamburger wrap a food stick in it. Sometimes they chow down so fast that they gobble what ever floats by. My sister had a young painted turtle that stayed outside in a pool...he was joined by some visiting frogs...which the turtle ate! I had no idea turtles ate frogs, but I guess they do!(We found the evidence!) Good luck and welcome to the wonderful world of turtles!