Feeding and Nutrition :: question: why in the wild turtles don't over eat?

[Cade]

Our turtle is a pig and keeps on begging for food which I have read RES do. Why when turtles are out in the wild they don't over eat?

This is a two question post... also we tried red pepper tonight and Carlos loves it. How much of this do you feed your turtle? Does the same thing apply as pellets? (as much as it would fit into his head?)
I read somewhere here someone saying you can feed as much lettuce as you want. Is this true and what other things can you feed your turtle that doesn't make him fat?

Thanks for any advice

[SpotsMama]

Here's some info on feeding turtles. It gives guidelines on quantities.

http://www.redearslider.com/index_nutrition.html

You can feed as much red or green leaf lettuce as your turtle wants - unless he eats so much it gives him diarrhea. Then you'll want to cut back. This doesn't happen to most turtles.

On other veggies and berries, you can give them a couple of servings a week. The head rule only applies to pellets. On veggies, a headfull might be about right for some things - like pieces of bell pepper. When I feed Spot blueberries, he will only eat three or four, so I don't give him a headfull. Same with tomatoes. For sweet potato, I think he'd try to eat a whole potato given the opportunity, but since it's high in sugar, I only give him a piece about half the size of his head.

Why don't wild turtles overeat? There are probably a lot of reasons - first of which is they don't get the opportunity. They have to hunt their own food - no one gives them nice, nuitritious, high protein pellets every day - and there just isn't that much to be had. Generally speaking, wild turtles eat more vegetable matter and less protein than captive turtles simply because the protein isn't as available. Also, wild turtles probably get more exercise and my guess is our captive turtles are more likely to get bored which, as we humans know all too well, leads to overeating.

[grey goose]

This season I'm going to try to get some pics of the wild Eastern Painteds I encounter....espeicially the undersides. You'd be shocked at how much thinner they are than our captive turts! And they are perfectly healthy.

[Cade]

Thanks for the info : )

[marisa]

Captive turtles are fed regularly (even every other day is regular) and have a nutrient dense diet. So, they're often bigger and heavier than their wild counterparts of comparable age who have to keep foraging for food.

I prefer to leave my turtles a little hungry rather than making sure they're "full." I don't give my RES all the lettuce he wants. Too much of anything will make a turtle fat (although with something low calorie like lettuce it would take more than a turtle would probably want to eat).

If your turtle constantly begs when he sees you, give him some attention and then turn away.

[industrial_girl_2000]

In the wild, turtles are more active. They swim more because they have to go look for their food. Many times they are even chasing their food (fish swimming by). Not to mention, they hibernate, which uses a lot of stored fat while they sleep over the winter.