Feeding and Nutrition :: Turtle Poop

[Apollo&Scampi]

I've been feeding my turtles a piece of romain lettuce and apples daily. I feed them protein every 2-3 days.

Their poop is all... uumm..everywhere. Before I feed them the lettuce their poop was a solid piece of poop. Now it's like, flakes. ewe.

Is there any foods I can feed them that won't cause this or should I get in the habit of straining out the flakes everyday?

[megcornell]

It may just be that they are getting used to the vegetables. It doesn't sound like you're overfeeding the lettuce, but try cutting back on how much you feed and see if their stool firms up some.

[Apollo&Scampi]

It may just be that they are getting used to the vegetables. It doesn't sound like you're overfeeding the lettuce, but try cutting back on how much you feed and see if their stool firms up some.

How's fruit everyday as well? (apples in particular)

*also I started this diet for them 2 weeks ago.

[octpusgirl8]

Fruit is too sugary to be fed everyday, it should be given as an occasional treat.

[marisa]

I don't know how old/big your turtles are, but the fact that their poop is flaking the way you described sounds like their diet is a little out of whack to me. My RES on occasion used to poop like yours when he was being fed too much vegetable matter relative to other foods in the diet.

You said you feed protein every 2-3 days. What is the source of the protein and how much of it do you give at a feeding?

[Apollo&Scampi]

I don't know how old/big your turtles are, but the fact that their poop is flaking the way you described sounds like their diet is a little out of whack to me. My RES on occasion used to poop like yours when he was being fed too much vegetable matter relative to other foods in the diet.

You said you feed protein every 2-3 days. What is the source of the protein and how much of it do you give at a feeding?

I feed them Reptomin, and I feed around 6 sticks each (i think that's about how many would make up their head). I sometimes give tem the reptomin with the krill in it. (little red pellets)

[marisa]

I looked back at some of your older posts---you said your turtles are "adult-size" or about the size of an average human hand (I'm going to assume that means their shells are)? They each get about 6 Reptomin pellets two or three times a week...(not sure how often they get the krill).

I have to say that to me, it doesn't sound like they're getting all that much. I think I'd be giving each a few pellets more (unless they're getting other foods that haven't been mentioned). Pellets tend to firm up the stool. You might experiment---give them half their amount of pellets each day (if you still want to give 6, give 3 a day along with the veggies they get. There are other leafy greens you could try as well (dandelion, red-leaf lettuce, for example), just don't overdo it. I'd vary the apples with other foods as well---carrot peels, squash, red peppers, etc. See if that doesn't help the quality of their poop.