redearslider.com

Hello everyone, I currently have 2 turtles. One of them is 1.75in and the other is 2.25in. I've been feeding them both about 6 reptomin baby pellets per day along with a handful of dandelion leaves and a piece of cuttlebone that's always floating about. I'm a bit concerned with the amount of dandelion they are eating. They both love eating the stuff, so I will leave it in for the day for them to graze on. It just bothers me because they are eating about 5-6 medium/large leaves per day. Their stool doesn't come out as solid as it does when I was feeding only pellets, it breaks apart into small bite size pieces, kind of like fish food flakes, bit of a mess to clean.

Should I be concerned? I've really just been using the pellets and dandelion as their staples. I'll feed them a few small pieces of other veggies here and there along with a few feeder fish every 2 weeks but that's about it.

The bigger one did go through a rapid growth spurt where he grew ~0.5in in about a week and a half. But I was feeding 7-8 pellets at that time and have not noticed any more growth spurts since going back down to 6. I've read that keeping warm temperatures can stimulate rapid growth as well, they used to have their tank temp at 80-82, and have lowered it down to 77-78. Their behavior or appetite doesn't seem to have been affected.

Thanks for your help.

i.wouldnt feed them so many dandelion leaves...but it depends on how big the leaves aare how big are they

cameron740 wrote:i.wouldnt feed them so many dandelion leaves...but it depends on how big the leaves aare how big are they

They range anywhere from 4-7in long and 1-2in wide. The amount they eat off each leaf is deceiving though, considering some are heavily leaved and some lighter. It's hard to gauge since they don't eat the stems at all.

yeah turts dont like the stems lol...but i wouldnt give them so many...mabey 1 or 2 every other day and keep up with the vegies...and i think 1 year old turts eat every other day how old are they

cameron740 wrote:yeah turts dont like the stems lol...but i wouldnt give them so many...mabey 1 or 2 every other day and keep up with the vegies...and i think 1 year old turts eat every other day how old are they

I got them as hatchlings almost 2 months ago, so maybe around 3 or 4 months old?

I tried searching for information on the quantity of vegetables to feed them, but all I've seen are people saying to just leave some in the tank for them to graze on. So I've just been putting new leaves in whenever they finish eating it. Maybe they are grazing a little too much

I mean, they seem healthy. Just annoying to have to net out all the flakes of poop flying around

Are they eating all the leaves you're leaving for them?

steve wrote:Are they eating all the leaves you're leaving for them?

Yes. It's usually gone within 24-36 hours at which point i take out the stems and put in new leaves.

Maybe I should be more conservative with how much they get? Is it bad for them to eat a lot of veggies?

Sounds like they have a healthy appetite. I would try to limit it but also try some other veggies.

steve wrote:Sounds like they have a healthy appetite. I would try to limit it but also try some other veggies.

Alright thanks.
Would you say that the loose stool is nothing to worry about then? I guess it's just because they are just eating a lot of leafy food?

The loose stool really makes the water gross, so I would limit it because of that.

steve wrote:The loose stool really makes the water gross, so I would limit it because of that.

I see.
Well hopefully they don't go too hungry from not having as much veggies around

Thanks for your input Steve.

There's a lot of guestimating with veggie quantities, especially with RES who devour everything.