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A good portion of my turtles diet is feeder fish and I'm wondering if that will supply enough calcium or if they are still going to need a suppliment of some kind? I gave them cuttlebone but they seem totally disinterested. Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

Did you peel the hard backing off of the cuttlebone and try throwing it in bite sized chunks? If you notice, one side of the cuttlebone is hard and the other side is soft, the soft is the part that im talking about

Cuttlebone would be best. Mine didn't even look at the cuttlebone when I used to put the whole piece in there. Now I break it into bite-sized pieces and offer a few every 2 days. Just remember that you have to take the cuttlebone backing off because it's not good for them.

Hope you don't mind me saying this, but making feeder fish a big part of a turtle's diet is not really healthy, especially if you are feeding goldfish (which I don't know if you are). You should offer fish as treats from time to time, not something they eat daily.

I did take the backing off. I've been doing a lot of reading here! lol I'll try breaking it into small chunks and see if that makes it more interesting to them.

I've only had these guys for 2 weeks now and they were fed almost strictly feeder fish before. I'm introducing lots of other things but they still seem to like having the fish there. I have noticed that they seem to be eating fewer fish and more veggies over the last week though.

And no I'm not giving them goldfish. I already have a fat dog...don't want fat turtles too! Hehe.

Thanks for the help.

You could try the "tough love" solution. Stop buying feeder fish and they're going to have no choice but to eat pellets, veggies, and cuttlebone.

Oh and by the way, once your turtle is overweight it's nearly impossible to make her/him lose weight because they're cold blooded animals and they cannot "burn" calories.

worldpeace wrote:Oh and by the way, once your turtle is overweight it's nearly impossible to make her/him lose weight because they're cold blooded animals and they cannot "burn" calories.

I didn't know that! Well the cold blooded part I knew...hehe. You guys are awesome! Thanks.

Yep, you're welcome.

turtletats: A balanced diet is essential for the health of your turtles. Feeder fish are great (especially when they are young and need lots of protein) but as they get older and require more veggies they could just get used to the feeder fish and refuse to eat anything else. RES can be notoriously fussy eaters! The key is to offer a variety of foods to them when they are young so it'll be an easier transition for them later on. Even though they may not touch veggies or cuttlebone at first, if you continue to be persistent they will eventually come round

As worldpeace suggested, you could also try the tough love approach. Thats how I got my hatchling eating veggies and cuttlebone. Now they are some of her favourite things to eat

Good luck

Turtles are not always interested in regular cuttlebone.

However, cuttlebone comes in different flavors, and RES tend to like the bold flavors of fruits. You can also try soaking the cuttlebone in tuna juice, and then let it dry before putting it in the tank. They love the strong odor of tuna, ad since they eat feeder fish a lot, this may work well for them.

By the way, turtles in the wild, as well as other animals, survive for their whole lives on eating other animals. There is tons of nutrition to be had from live prey, if it has been gutloaded and has also been cared for/raised well. So your turtles are most likely getting good nutrition from the fish if you have taken that route. If you see your turtle searching the tank and biting things that it cannot eat, that means it needs cuttlebone. Turtles always know when they do or do not need it.

They are not young really. Thats why I'm trying to get more veggies in their diet. My male RES is about 5 1/2 inches and my female painted is about 5 inches. I believe (from what the previous owner told me) that they are both around 7 years old. Does that sound about right for the size? They will eat veggies, they seem to like the kale best so far, I've also gotten them to eat a little carrot, they didn't like cabbage at all! They also munched on the live plants I put in there.

So I'll keep trying the cuttlebone and pushing the veggies. I'll go the "tough love" method once these feeders are gone.

Broccoli is high in calcium...has anyone tried that before?

No, don't use broccoli. Red leaf lettuce and dandelion leaves have a good amount of calcium, as does a reputable pellet.

steve wrote:No, don't use broccoli. Red leaf lettuce and dandelion leaves have a good amount of calcium, as does a reputable pellet.

Ok, Thanks! I didn't see it on the Do or Don't feed list so I wasn't sure.

Rep-Cal is a great calcium providing pellet, I give it to both my turtles, as well as cuttlebone / sepia bone / turtlebone etc, romaine lettuce, butterhead lettuce, blueberries and tomatoes. Sometimes carrots. All these things really start the good old fashioned shedding.