Feeding and Nutrition :: MY TURTLE EATS!! :)

[rawrbaby]

Well, about 2 weeks ago, I watched my turtle take his first bits on a pellet! I'm soo happy He eats like a little PIG! I feed him 1 and a half pellets a day. Is this too much? He is only 1.4 inches(aprox) I break the pellets into smaller peices so it's easyer for his to eat. He also poops RIGHT after he eats. Should I fish out the poop? Cause sometimes it disapears cause I guess he eats it! LOL!
Also, my turtle is a little begger! When ever I come into the room, he swims over to the front of the tank, and frantically swims. Then I reach for the pellets and he sees me, swims over to that side of the tank, and then comes back to the front, stares at me, and waits for his food! Is this normal turtle behavior?
Also, I gave him a peice of grape the other day. Is this okay? I'm not going to feed it everyday, but he seemed to like it. So I decided to try to feed him some lettuce. No luck. He just doesn't like it. He swam up to it, and then just kinda swam away. I'll try again tomorrow.
And is it a good idea to feed my turtle in the morning? So he can swim around and work it off before he sleeps?
Sorry for the long post. But before I was worried by turtle was sick because he wasn't eating, but now, he wont stop! LOL! I'm so happy he's very full of life, and VERY active. He has a VERY strong personalitly too. I can see he isn't afraid of me, and he knows that I am his owner It just warms my heart when he looks at me with that little grin of his *sighs* ANYWAYS. Any comments or questions are welcome.
Thanks for all of you guys help! I've learned soo much about turtles here

[marisa]

You break one pellet in half and feed him that plus one more half? What brand of pellets are you feeding him? Depending on their size, I think you could safely give 2 - 3 pellets a day (look at his head and conservatively estimate how much would fit into it, but don't include the neck). You're turtle's behavior sounds normal.

A piece of grape now and then is OK. Try some anachris (aquatic plant), a few dandelions, some red-leaf lettuce, other leafy greens. Look at the list of what's good to give.

You can fish out the poop or not, it's up to you.

[industrial_girl_2000]

My turtle is slightly bigger than yours, but I feed him 3 reptomin sticks per day. I don't break them up, he just gobbles he entire stick right down! So you don't have to break them up if you don't want to.

Feel free to leave a couple of pieces of green lettuce (like what Marisa mentioned) in there during the day so he can nibble. Mine love the "baby lettuce mixes" from the store because the leaves are more tender. Both my turtles get some greens everyday (vet said it is fine to feed green leafies daily since it has calcium, among other great vitamins/minerals!).

You don't necessarily have to fish out the poop. If you are doing partial water changes weekly & keeping up on regular filter cleanings/changes, it won't be a problem.

You can feed him any time of the day. Both of mine get lettuce in the morning + the hatchling gets his foodsticks in the morning too before I leave for work. Sheba (the adult RES) gets fed pellets every 2nd day in the evenings because I feed her in a separate pan with water in it (she's very messy when she eats & this keeps her tank cleaner).

And yes, they DO beg, beg, BEG!!!! It's normal. We just have to train ourselves NOT to give in all the time!

[rawrbaby]

Awesome, thanks.
I was just scared that he couldn't eat the bigger ones. cause once I started to break them up, he started to eat? So I'll give them to him big and see what happens.
Oh okay, I was scared of over feeding too:P lol.
I will start to give him 3 pellets a day:)
I change all of the water once a week, I only have a ten gallon tank and it's not that hard to refil. I'm just waiting for a bigger tank to come up. I don't have a filter yet, so I change the water frequently so my turtle doesn't get sick

and yes the begging. WOW. That's all I can say. he does alot of it. I told my mom never to feed him unless I say so, so its not going to be a problem there
I usually feed him in the morning before I go to school around 8 . I'm going to put some lettuce in once my mom buys somemore.. hahah
ALSO, where do you buy Dandylions? Cause it's winter here, and there arn't any around. Haha


thanks for the comments

[spot_skater]

Umm... I feed Jamal like 5-6 reptomin sticks for breakfast, and another 5 or so for dinner, like 8 hours later.

He's pretty healthy, and has been shedding lately. I suppose I'm overfeeding him?

[marisa]

How big is he? The second set of 5-6 pellets could probably be cut out. Try some other foods besides pellets.

[industrial_girl_2000]

Dandelion greens are included in some of the "baby lettuce" salad mixes at the store. I like buying the lettuce mixes since you get all colors of lettuce, even red romaine lettuce.

I stay away from anything that has "iceberg" lettuce in it because it doesn't have much nutrition. And don't get "spinach" mixes because spinach isn't very good for them either (something about "preventing calcium absorption" and as we know, our turtles need all the calcium they can get to grow a healthy shell!).

I know what you mean about Winter....I live in Michigan.

[rawrbaby]

I know what you mean about Winter....I live in Michigan.

hahahahahhaa. I live in Canada LONG winters here

[spot_skater]

Jamal's carapace is probably 1.5-2" at the present time.

I'll put a piece of lettuce in there now for him to nibble on...

[steve]

You can also try some aquatic plants. They are more natural for him and can serve as a decoration until he decides to eat them.