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This might be a long shot, but does anyone happen to know the general amount of grams of protein a RES should have in a week? My is a 6" male, if that makes any difference. I know it should be about 25% of the diet, but can someone translate that to grams?

I don't think you can find very specific information like this... and if you do I'm not sure you can rely on it. What kind of pellets are you using?

I'm making a Jell-O shot to use 4 days out of the week. The other two days I'm using a mix of Zoo Med maintenance, and Reptomin (I have almost a full container and I'd hate to waste it.) I also have freeze dried crickets. I plan to throw 1 of those in when I give him pellets, but just give him a little less pellet. Or, since he's only 6", I might give him half a cricket with less pellets.

Sounds like you're doing great with the variety. How do you like the Zoo Med?

I haven't had it long enough to honestly tell, but I think as far as pellets go both are okay.
I will say the reason that I'm wanting to feed mostly the jello shots is because I know what's in it. I don't like how many fillers are in any commercial pellet. I mean, honestly, what turtle in the wild is supposed to have wheat meal and soy? Fillers are always the first three things listed it seems, unless the food is something extremely expensive and has only freeze dried ingredients. The next up on the list is what should be in it, like the proteins and such, and then you get a bunch of I don't even know what. I know gelatin isn't exactly a wild food either but from the research I've done it seems to me, since it's made from the bones of animals, that it would be closer to something they might have in the wild. Such as in eating small fish. I might be crazy, but it makes sense to me. This way he's getting protein, veggies greens, and a lot less of the "other" stuff that make up a commercial diet. (Sorry if I seemed to be ranting, it's just a subject I don't fully understand in animal or people food. haha Except for the fact that it's cheaper to make. That I get.)

I think you don't have an answer to your original question because the answer is complex and there's little research in it.

Turtle's in the wild are opportunistic about protein. If they can get some, they will. That means one day they may get a lot, but then go days u till getting more. Plus, more so with mammals, a turtle's growth is tied to food input. A turtle can get fat, but generally a well fed turtle just grows faster. So, ideal protein input may not be a fixed number but a percentage.

On the research side, there's not exactly a lot of grant money out there to ask this question. And it wouldn't be cheap. You can look at the stomach contents of wild caught turtles, which is where the "they become more vegetarian as they age" come from, but that's just that day's snapshot. And pulling the stomach content out doesn't help them grow.

You could start with a bunch of young with different feedings and years of observation, but no researcher is doing that.

That's really interesting. Thanks!