Feeding and Nutrition :: I know WHAT to feed my turtle...but how much?

[laurapa]

Here is what my turtle eats every day:
-Reptomin pellets that would fit in HALF of his head
-A piece of red leaf lettuce the size of his shell (or a little smaller)
-He has a cuttle bone in his tank that he is very occasionally interested in

Every other day or so, he gets one of these vegetables on a rotating basis (so he doesn't get any of them more than once a week):
-shredded carrot OR cooked sweet potato
-kale (which he recently decided he doesn't like so we are working on that)
-cooked green bean

The other day I also gave him apple skin because I read that's good for Vitamin E.

(I've also read that green pepper is OK once a week...is that right? And today I was cooking myself some asparagus and wondered if the tender parts are good for my turtle. If you can shed some light on those questions, I'd appreciate it.)

But my REAL question is: how MUCH carrot do I put in his tank once a week? How much green bean? How much kale???

(My turtle is 4" long, small for a 3-year-old turtle because of poor nutrition as a baby, I think.)

When I give him carrot, I shred up a chunk about half the size of his head. When it's green bean day, I just tear up one whole green bean. When it's kale day, I give him about a 2-in piece. When I gave him that apple skin, I only gave him a few tiny bites because I was afraid of giving him too much.

Is that about right? Too much? Too little? I really have no idea. And he'll eat ALL of whatever I give him no matter how much (except, apparently now, for kale).

Thanks for your help!

[marisa]

I have to say I'm not as precise as you are regarding giving X food on a specific day, but I do give something different just about every day so my turtles have a varied diet. For red leaf lettuce, depending on the size, I give a leaf when I give it. I give carrot in the form of thin peels that look like worms and usually give about 6 of them (but it depends on the size of the carrot). I lightly steam the sweet potato and cube it into pieces that can be eaten easily (less mess) and I do give a bigger portion than the size of the head (but not much). I don't give green beans, and I rarely give apples (my turtles aren't that fond of them), but when I do, I give thin pieces of apple with the skins on it. My turtles don't like kale that much (they don't like the curly edges), so they don't get kale very often. They will nibble on collard greens though, so they occasionally get a leaf or two of that. I don't give green peppers that often either, but do give red peppers, cubed to be easily eaten like the sweet potato.

In addition to the red lettuce, try dandelion greens if you can buy them. If not, you can pick them if the area where you get them hasn't been sprayed with pesticide. Dandelion greens are very good for your turtle. You could also try some romaine occasionally (not the hearts, but leaves that are nice and green). You could also occasionally try some aquatic plants like anachris if you can get it.

Your turtle is a male? If he's healthy, I wouldn't worry too much about being 4 inches. Captive turtles are often 4 inches at a year, and that's because they're been fed a lot, which isn't necessarily good.

How many pellets would you say fit into half his head?

[laurapa]

I usually give him 4 pellets a day.

[geekyturtle]

I give each one of mine a few pellets of reptomin mini (the turtles are only 2 and 3 inches) each day, and toss half a baby carrot in the tank every few days (sliced lengthwise, so it's easier to attack).

I also drop fish food flakes in the tank in the morning and afternoon because of the feeder fish and a larger fish, and the turtles tend to eat some of that too.

They haven't eaten any of the fish in about a week, so they can't be too hungry.

[laurapa]

Thanks for your help so far everybody. Anyone else want to weigh in? I figure the more different replies the better.

[TheComputerGremlin]

You want to feed him 1 headful of pellets every other day. Even if he's had bad nutrition in the past, no sense in overloading him now, the damage is done. You should offer some lettuce and other veggies every day. Every week, you can give him some boiled sweet potato, or bell pepper, or blueberry, etc. Every month you can give him a feeder fish or two, or a cricket.

My turtle is still less than 3", so I give him pellets every day, split over a breakfast and dinner timing, although I don't give him pellets if I've given him a fish or some other high protein treat.