Posted: Mon Apr 19, 2010 9:21 am
Hi, and welcome to the world of turtle ownership!
Depending on the size of the hatchling (the dealer may or may not have been telling you the truth, many of them lie because people want "babies"), you want to feed approximately the number of pellets that would fit in their head (not including neck) if it were empty. That is about the size of their tummy.
To give you an idea, when my turtle was 1.5", I gave her 3 full size Reptomin sticks broken into half/thirds. I didn't know there was Reptomin Baby at the time. A Reptomin stick is about | wide and ______ long if you are using a different brand.
Now that she is about 6.5" shell length (measured in a straight line across the shell, no curve), I believe she would fit about 16 pellets in her head, so she gets 8 pellets/day. Once your turtle reaches over 4", you want to feed a head-sized amount every other day, but under 4", it's a head-sized amount daily.
You can start to introduce veggies, but most baby turtles aren't interested in them. Start out with some dark, leafy greens or some carrot slivers to see if he wants any. For lettuce, stick with about a shell-sized amount (otherwise they can get liquidy poo) and carrots should be given about once a week because they are high in sugar. Remove anything uneaten so it doesn't rot. You also want to get some calcium supplement in the form of cuttlebone (found in the bird section) at some point. You want to remove the hard backing first, and you can feed either as a whole cuttlebone or in pieces.
There is no way to know if you are feeding too much or too little at first. But over time, if you are feeding too much, irreversible pyramiding of the shell will occur, which leads to a decreased lifespan and other health problems. I highly recommend the estimating the head-sized amount, as I have been doing that, and my turtle is over 3 years old with no pyramiding and she's still alive!
While we are on the subject of having a new turtle, would you like to go through your setup with us so we can help you improve on it? Just so you know, your turtle will need 10 gallons per 1" of shell, so a full grown turtle will need a 90-120 gallon tank.
JAX
- - -
Baby Boy - January 9th, 2011! (3 months old)
1 RES - 7" long - Umi (3.5 years old)
1 black lab/hound mix - Josie (1.5 year old)
2 cats - Mysti and Molly (6.5 years old)
