Feeding and Nutrition :: Loving veggies pic

[chicha]

Hi everyone! My red belly cooter just loooovve veggies.. i feed it Chinese lettuce: generally have long, sword-shaped, non-head-forming leaves, with a bitter and robust flavour.




stay focussss......


yeaaaaaa chomp chomp chomppp....


But.... it still love Reptomin pellet the most, secondly carrot slices then this chinese lettuce. It also craves to eat anything orangey... or anything bright-colored.. Also it loves boiled white egg. But i rarely feed it that.

Feeding time is the most cheerful time for me and my turtley...
I never get bored watching it swimming after the floating thingy... It even runs frantically after it... hahaha so funny! I only feed it once a day.. Cos afraid i might overfeed it..

Anyway, is chinese lettuce agreeable for turtle?

[SpotsMama]

I wasn't able to find nuitritional info specifically for Chinese Lettuce. In the photos, it looks sort of like our romaine lettuce. Are you familiar with romaine? Here's a photo:



Another possibility is that your lettuce is similar to our napa cabbage.

Romaine is fine for turtles but not for every day because it's calcium/phosporus ratio isn't the best. Leaf lettuce types (curly edges) are better.

p.s. Really pretty turtle!

[BullDog]

Great pics! It's good that he likes his veggies so much!

[chicha]

Thankss.. it is a pretty turtle!

Yeaaa i have a bit of difficulties recognising types and names of veggies in supermarket!! LOL LOL LOL Cos they have completely different translation, completely different name. E.g. chinese lettuce is "siomak", napa cabbage is "pocay"

The most common and easiest to find is iceberg lettuce which needs to avoid. Hope i can find better greens for my turtle!!

[BullDog]

Had a look at this site. Chinese lettuce (aka celtuce) has a 1:1 calcium:phosphorus ratio, which is not very good. If you can, try to find some other type of leafy lettuce to use as your staple.
If nothing else, make sure you are supplementing his diet with cuttlebone

[chicha]

really?? ooo better give other greens then... like napa cabbage...
cuttlebone? it can chew it alright?

[Rottie_mom]

Love the pics!!

[evlock]

What a happy looking turtle!

[BullDog]

Yup, cuttlebone should be part of your turtle's diet. You have to peel off the hard backing though. Once the backing is off, I usually break it up into head-sized chunks, and throw it in as necessary, but some people put the whole bone in.

[chicha]

Wow Rottie_mom and evlock have gotten loads of other pets as well... how nice!

Okay i'll try look for cuttlebone in petshop.. uhhmmm i know it's in bird section right...
for other greens.. i'll try red leaf lettuce.. But they are RARE!

[SpotsMama]

Some of the green leafy herbs that are common around here are good for turtles and popular with them too. Basil is one and cilantro is another that come to mind. Turnip greens are on the "good" list and also dandylion leaves.

Parsley, however, should be avoided as it is high in oxalic acid which interfers with calcium metabolism. Spinach and brocalli are also not that good for turtles.

A very good source of leafy greens is water plants like anacharis and duckweed. Are those available where you are?