Feeding and Nutrition :: Am I Overfeeding?

[fluffytheturtle]

Here is what I feed my RES (she is about 8 1/2 in):

Daily: 2 leaves of Red Leaf or Green leaf lettuce

Sometimes: Romaine Lettuce

2 times a week: carrots (one small tip of carrot piece shredded)

2 times a week: either zuchini, yellow squash, or pumpkin

every other day: handfull of pellets

she has goldfish in her pond but rarely eats them

she probably catches insects in the yard (no pesticides)

she has hibiscous flowers that fall from two trees to eat

once a month: frozen bloodworms (3), frozen aquatic turtle diet (4), small piece of fruit

I gave her dandielion greens with her lettuce about a month ago.

It looks like the top of her shell is raising. Should I cut back?

[stray_647]

I think you could cut back on the blood worms and the frozen aquatic diet and make it just 1 of each. The vegetables are fine. I don't quite know what a handful of pellets might be.....maybe you could measure based on how much would fit in the turtles head if it were hollow and then feed that amount.....maybe a picture of the turtles shell would help to...

[industrial_girl_2000]

Overall sounds like you are giving her a very balanced diet! I agree with stray....cut back on the blood worms & frozen stuff a bit & measure the pellets based on the size of her head.

Has she always had that kind of vegetable diet, or was she raised primarily on pellets? If veggies were just introduced within the last 6 months, that can have a very positive influence on how her shell looks (it's why a tortoise's shell is so hard...all that veggie silica is good for them!). Can you post a picture?

[fluffytheturtle]

Here are a couple of pics from last year:







And here are some pics from today:







The ridge looks more defined and puffy.

I also forgot that I do feed her pond plants whenever I can go buy them (in place of lettuce).

[SpotsMama]

I don't see any pyramiding. Pyramiding is when the individual scutes are raised in the middle and is an indication of too much food and too much protein in the diet.

She's a really beautiful turtle by the way! Sounds like she's well cared for.

You mentioned hibiscus and it rang some sort of bell in my mind. Hibiscus is poisonous to some animals though apparently not to humans. I don't know about turtles. I suppose if she's been eating them for a long time and hasn't been harmed that it's ok but you might at least limit her access. Here's what I found:

"According to Dr. William Buck, director of the National Animal Poison Control Center
(NAPCC) at the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine in Urbana, "a lot of
ornamental plants have irritating sap that will cause an animal to salivate or maybe vomit and
have diarrhea."

He says that plants like the hibiscus and those in the Easter lily family, which are not toxic to
people, may be very harmful to pets. Two or three days after cats have eaten a few leaves
of a Tiger lily or Easter lily, they will go into renal failure. After ingesting hibiscus, a dog will
vomit persistently, may vomit blood and have bloody diarrhea. "The loss of body fluid may
be severe enough to be lethal in some cases," Dr. Buck cautions."

[marisa]

The shell looks fine to me. Maybe it's the pic, but if you wiped it down with a soft cloth, does anything come off (like dirt)?

[fluffytheturtle]

Thank you!

I read before that in the wild turtles will eat fallen flowers and that some people actually feed leaves and flowers of hibiscus to their red ear slider. Here is the nutrition content:

Hibiscus rosa-sinensis (Chinese hibiscus; shoebankplant; Hibiscus)

Flowers (Fresh weight)
Water: 89.8 Protein: 0.06 Fat: 0.4 Fibre: 1.56 Calcium: 4 Phosphorus: 27 Iron: 1.7 Thiamine: 0.03 Riboflavin: 0.05 Niacin: 0.6 Vitamin C: 4.2 Source: [218]

source:
[url]http://www.anapsid.org/resources/ediblenutrients.html


I am a little weary now that you found that it can be poisionous.

[FLhaven4strays]

I've fed hibiscus to my turts - I did a bit of internet research after hearing that box turtles love them. My guys do too.

The only thing I really worry about w/ them is pesticides. I get them from a neighbor who doesn't spray cause I don't have any.

[DavidY]

I've read hibiscus flowers as being a recommended treat for bearded dragons and other reptiles too. They appear to be high in phosphorous though according to that nutrition content so it shouldn't be fed too often.

[industrial_girl_2000]

That's a fine looking turtle you got there!

Pyramiding looks like their shell is covered in spikes. You know, the spikes that punk rockers wear that are square/metal/pyramid-shaped spikes.

[fluffytheturtle]

Thank you everyone! I am sorry about the delay in response, but I wanted to thank you for helping a worried turtle mommy! LOL!

[Bascomb]

A tad mor calcium may needed. b.