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Merlin is about 9 months old, 3" long and fat.
He's got rolls when he tucks in his legs.
Recently I noticed some shell curling.

He's got both a UVB and UVA lighting.

I was feeding too many pellets and not enough veggies.
Hence why I joined.

He's not a RES but a YBS.
I've read that they eat the same things.

My new diet is going to be:

Lettuce daily (red or green with romaine randomly 1 a week).
Carrots
Pellets (4 daily)

Others given occasionally:
Red Minnows
Crickets
Fruit
Tuna

He is getting a cuttle bone daily, is that ok?
What else should be in his daily diet?

Anything else I am missing?

Thanks in advance.

New diet looks good other than the lettuce. But I only know that for RES. Cuttle Bone is one of the best things that turtles can eat. Other than that, I'm not so sure. Good luck taking care of him! One of the best things to do would to get some minnows, he will chase them and get healthy in the process.

Thanks Peva. From what I read RES and YBS are the same diet wise.
What doesn't look good about the lettuce out of curiosity?
Minnows, check.

Well, Green lettuce is mostly water so it's not very nutritious and pretty much just a stomach filler. And nobody wants that unless they are really poor and cant afford anything else, and in that case the shouldn't be keeping a turtle anyways. Also, if he is eating the cuttle bone, always feed it to him. And try to get the large healthy minnows when you go to the store. Not only do they eat a lot of the leftover food that the turtle doesn't bother with, but the bigger healthier minnows don't get eaten, and when chasing them, turts get quite the bit of exercise, in my experience. Brixie is very fit, no folding or laziness for her.

Hungry Turtle = Healthy Turtle

Ice burg lettuce is mostly water. Green leaf, red leaf and romain are good for your turtle and should be incorporated into his diet. They can eat as much veggies as they like. You can cut the pellets to every other day and feed veggies every day.

Okay now I am really confused. I have always been told Green lettuce is good, I feed it to my guinea pigs every day.

I know that Ice burg is, junk. We (the humans) don't even eat it any more. Romaine I know should be moderate, its the same with guinea pigs.

Peva, where did you read that it was so bad? I might be giving everyone junk and not even know it. :/

Please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think Peva thought you were saying you were going to feed iceberg lettuce everyday- and that would be bad, because iceberg is junk. But you've explained a little further in your posts and are feeding green leaf and red leaf lettuce, alternating with romain- which is great.

Ah well that would make sense

Just a little photo of why I think he's fat.



Look at those chubby back legs!

I think Peva meant to say iceberg not green. Love of Animals is correct. Welcome to the site!

Thank you Steve.

Yes, I meant Iceberg, my bad. I have never fed lettuce to Brixie, but I feed her small little pieces of carrots and she likes them a lot.

carrots shoudlnt be fed all the time. they should be a treat. lettuce should be one of the main veggies for your RES

Rsour24 how often as a treat? like 2-3 times a week or less?

^Honestly I think it's more important how much you give them rather than how often. If you give them carrots every day... but only a few slivers, that's the same as giving them as many carrots as would fit inside their head at one feeding, you know?

Carrots can be a problem because of their sugar content, which is why you should moderate it, but it's not so high that carrots can't be a weekly food (unlike some fruits). I use a potato peeler on a carrot and give my turtles a couple slices at least 3-4 times a week, because they love carrots, but I don't give them a full serving size at any one feeding.