Feeding and Nutrition :: Are my turtles savages.

[ilcapo21]

So i have a question, the lady at my local pet store recommended i feed my Turtles some frozen beef heart. I feed twice a day. I give the frozen beefheart once a day after microwaving it in water for 30 seconds. I also give fresh shrimp every once in a while as a treat. When i give the beef heart or the shrimp my turtles devour it in less than a minute. I was wondering if anyone else has seen this. Are my turtles barbarians? Do i not feed them enough, or do they just love these two things?







One RES

One YBS

[TheComputerGremlin]

So, first rule, never listen to pet store employees. Beef is not recommended and is too high in protein to be fed daily, as is fresh shrimp. You need to go out and find a good brand of pellets, possibly Reptomin or HBH Turtle Bites. And a healthy turtle will devour their food very quickly, which is why they are beggars and owners often overfeed.

[ilcapo21]

Ok thanks, i believed the lady bc she was into turtles alot she said shes had hers for like 14 yrs. I feed them reptomin pellets but they lost interest in em they used to love em not they just eat the dry krill n shrimp. I introduced the beefheart to give variety. What should i feed regularly to give variety?

[steve]

For plant and prey ideas... www.redearslider.com/index_nutrition.html

The feeding forum has it's own sticky topics as well.

[marisa]

Actually, beef heart is ONE of the ingredients in a recipe I have for making turtle food, so I wouldn't say the the lady at the pet store didn't completely know what she was talking about. Feeding beef heart every day (even weekly), however, is too much (what portion do you give?), as it's high in protein (so is the shrimp).

If your turtles have lost interest in Reptomin, stop giving it for a while. Turtles can get sick of a certain food only to become accepting of it once they haven't had it for a while. Try some other pellets (my opinion, but I don't put HBH Turtle Bites in the same catagory as Reptomin, even though turtles usually like it), but try some other, less processed foods as well.

[ilcapo21]

Um i give one cube to each of my turtles. I get the frozen one in the blister pack that you pop them out of. I was going to buy more of them but i decided against it after doing research. Im just changing around between pellets lettuce shrimp krill grapes and fresh shrimp like twice a month. Im gonna do some more searching for things that should be given as a staple. Thanks for the input everyone.