Feeding and Nutrition :: Am I feeding too much lettuce?

[Erroneous]

Hi, I have 2 baby turtles (about 3 months old now) and I am concerned that they may be eating too much. Every day at feeding time, after feeding them, I take a leaf of red leaf lettuce (not listed in the sticky, but listed on the main site), split it in two, and place it in the tank on clips. They fiercely attack this for a while and snack on it all day. But each half is bigger than either turtle and it comes out about 1/3 eaten each day. Do I need to cut down on how much I give them?

[missibsu]

If you notice that your turts are getting the runs, then you are feeding too much lettuce. Veggies are hard to over-do, and they are nutritious. Where you need to watch overfeeding is pellets, and high protein foods.

[Erroneous]

ah. They aren't getting the runs, but my fiance is thinking their shells might be pyramiding.

[missibsu]

Can you post a picture of the shell?

[Erroneous]

The one we are mainly concerned about, Buddy, who is a few weeks older:



And then Spike:



Sorry about the blurriness.

[DaddySkittles]

What a cute YBS!!

[Erroneous]

Thanks. The other one is a Ouachita Map (which some believe should be a subspecies of False Map)

[missibsu]

I don't see any pyramiding...pyramiding is where each individual scute is raised to a peak. This is normal in some species, but not RES and I don't believe in the species that you have either.

[Erroneous]

Yeah, YBS are the same species as RES (subspecies scripta while RES are subspecies elegans). I guess my fiance was concerned because he is growing somewhat rapidly and isn't quite the same shape he used to be. His shell is a bit taller that when we first got him, but I don't think it is a problem.

[marisa]

The raised spine is not unusual in hatchlings. Cute turtle.