Feeding and Nutrition :: Calcium Powder

[ZombieTurtle]

hello, im new to the forum. I have been coming to this webpage since I got my RES (after i found out it was a red eared slider).
I have had my Res since July '07,,his name is raphael (like the ninja turtle) i got him when he was about 1.5 inches or so, he has a decent setup right now and is growing and seems to be enjoying himself. I'm not sure if this has been answered before cause im new, but my turtle doesn't like cuttlebone, ive given him 2 full ones floating in the tank. I have also tried breaking into pieces.
He has bitten them before but after that he stays far away haha. I have been dusting a few pellets with the calcium powder like once a week or once every two weeks, is that enough calcium?,, and also im not sure if hes even taking what i dust in because while hes eating the pellet i see the powder floating off of it.
Also i dont want to overfeed him but how much lettuce should he be eating hes around 2inches. i give him like half a leaf or full leaf of red leaf (and other types) for a day or two but i dont know if thats enough.

[DavidY]

The lettuce and green leafy vegetables like collard greens and dandelion greens all contain good amounts of calcium. You can also feed your turtle as much of the greens and lettuce as it wants during the day. They graze on aquatic vegetation all day in the wild so I don't think you can overfeed them on that. If he's rejecting the cuttlebone then maybe he's getting enough from the dusted pellets and veggies for now. But keep offering it once a week in small pieces just in case. If he doesn't go for the first piece then don't add anymore until the next time. If he does start to eat it then you can offer a couple more pieces, but that's all I usually give my guys is a few bite sized pieces about once a week.

[ZombieTurtle]

Thank you,

i got another question though : ) ... i have algae growing in my tank (probably cause the lights/nitrates/all that,, the algae doesnt bother me),.. but raphael is chowing down on it.. ill see him wandering the tank and biting areas where theres algae.. does this have to do with not giving him enough greens/lettuce or does he actually like algae??

[DavidY]

He's probably just grazing and likes the taste of it. Is it green hairy algae? The main thing to check is your ammonia/nitrites/nitrates level and make sure they are where they should be. And by all means give him more greens/lettuce too.

[ZombieTurtle]

Haha yes it is the green hairy algae,, seems hes really taken a liking to it.. hopefully he takes a liking to cuttlebone to so i dont have to keep dusting his pellets haha. im going to try to put a pellet or two into a piece of cuttlebone and see if that gets him to chow down

[DavidY]

Do you also have the UVB basking lights and temperatures set up properly? That's important for the turtle to be able to use the calcium that they eat to build their bones and shell.

That's kind of cool that he eats the algae, then you don't have to worry too much about cleaning it off the tank.

[ZombieTurtle]

yeah i have the proper setup, all the temps are good.. the only thing im lacking is good filter and bigger tank. but im working on that,, and acutally this morning the crappy filter i have i think broke. so gonna do research on new filter.. prob check out the magnum 350, and xp3 i heard those are good.

[DavidY]

oh yeah I like the XP3. I got mine a couple of months ago from http://www.bigalsonline.com and have been extremely pleased with it.

[ZombieTurtle]

i heard good things about the XP3 and i noticed a lot of people on here swear by them..
Have you hear anything about the magnum canister filters?

[DavidY]

No I haven't, sorry.

[SpotsMama]

On the cuttlebone, my turtle likes it a lot better if I secure a piece of it in a veggie clip for him so it doesn't float away when he tries to bite it. Why don't you give that a try.

[marisa]

I've heard positive and negative things about Magnums, and I haven't heard much lately because people seem to be focused on the newer Filstar and Fluval canisters. How big a tank are to planning to upgrade to?

[ZombieTurtle]

I never knew about that veggieclip deal until i saw how many people had it in there tanks from pics they posted on here. thanks ill give that a try it.

I will add those two canister filters to my list of filters to research,, i would like to upgrade to at least 55 gallon tank, to bad i missed out on that $1 a gallon sale from petco i saw posts about to late. then i woulda got like 120 gallon haha.

[powerofvoodoo]

I think the tank sale only goes to 55 gallon tanks. That would be nice though.

[ZombieTurtle]

ohh haha,, theres always a catch