Feeding and Nutrition :: What is an ideal diet for 6 year old female Red Ear Slider?

Turtle diets and eating habits discussed here.

Post Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 12:58 pm   What is an ideal diet for 6 year old female Red Ear Slider?

I have been feeding her erratically ever since I acquired her. I am new to turtle ownership, and I have read conflicting things. My jar of pellets says to feed 1 teaspoon to her each feeding, and then the book I read said to only feed every other day and overfeeding is bad. I have fed her iceburg lettuce (before I read it was bad), and then some blueberries, and some frozen shrimp treats, dried shrimp, pellets, and sticks (from petsmart). She has also eaten cherry tomatoes fresh from the garden. I tried raw broccoli, but she does not seem to like it very much. She ate all the other things. I also fed her some apple, and she liked that too. She always seems to be hungry, but the books I have read said they can beg even if they are not hungry. How many pellets should I feed her and how often? The jar says 1 teaspoon but others say head sized portion, which might be more like 1 tablespoon or more. Should I feed her every day or every other day or what? Twice a day, or once? And what would be the ideal diet for the week? Also, I would like my turtle to be a vegetarian as much as possible. I own a mouse, too, and resist the idea of feeding mice and live animals to my turtle (disgusting). Is there any way I can avoid doing that? I realize that shrimp were once live, but at least they were frozen or dried and weren't pets. Is there a way that I could make her a strict vegetarian and still ensure she will be healthy and get the right nutrients in the right proportions?

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Post Posted: Fri Jun 30, 2017 7:53 pm   Re: What is an ideal diet for 6 year old female Red Ear Slid

I always use the 2/3's rule. That is if the head was hollow (not neck to) what will fill that space for the protein side. The veggie side say some red lettuce a piece the size of Timothea's shell. A good mix and well balanced diet is healthiest. She at her age should be on 50-70% veggies for an adult ! A balanced good mix of different protein. Not to many treats use rarely ! If you get a good variety of protein you will have no need for live food , although it could be a treat for her to catch. A few rosy red minnow's as feeders in tank and you never have to hand feed them or see them eaten. I also like live plants for Piggley to munch on during the day if wanted. Or you can place an extra piece of red lettuce in tank for her. Never seen a fat turtle on veggies. For an adult I also feed the protein every other day but veggies every day !

Here's a good read on plants / veggies : http://www.redearslider.com/plants.html

The protein side Omega One to me has the best foods just look under turtle nutrition on there site.

Turtles love to be feed on a schedule !!! You can look at feeding list on this forum for some ideas but read any comments that may go with them. Turtles can be very picky so a daily schedule will be up to Timothea and you.
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Post Posted: Sun Jul 02, 2017 11:01 am   Re: What is an ideal diet for 6 year old female Red Ear Slid

How big is she? What brand of pellets? You do not need to feed any live prey to her. Iceberg isn't bad but it contains very little nutrition for them.

For veggies, I use red leaf as a staple. Occasionally I also use carrots and cucumbers or a different type of lettuce. Tomato or berries would be a rare treat. Some people like to use feeder fish, crickets, or snails on occasion. Some other treats you can look at are dried gammarus or cooked crickets.

For a feeding schedule, check out the sticky to see a huge variety of what people use. viewtopic.php?f=8&t=11684
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Post Posted: Sun Jul 02, 2017 12:45 pm   Re: What is an ideal diet for 6 year old female Red Ear Slid

She has an 8" shell. I use ZooMed pellets. I just fed her mushrooms yesterday. She seems to like them alright. Are they good for her? She has stopped eating those crabapples/cherries at least, since they have all dried up now. But she really loved them, even if Red Eared Sliders don't eat them in the wild.
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Post Posted: Sun Jul 02, 2017 1:08 pm   Re: What is an ideal diet for 6 year old female Red Ear Slid

Mushrooms ... not much nutritional value , can cause gout !

She may one day get so picky and only want the food with little to no nutrition , then you will have a problem.

Best to keep a good varied well balanced turtle diet going and only rarely offer treats with no nutrition. (once a month would be ok)

Not trying to be crude , turtles will eat there own poop ! It's up to us to feed a captive turtle a quality , safe ,well balanced and varied diet that's nutritious to have a happy and healthy live which could be 50 years or more.

No matter how much she may love it or begs once her daily amount is gone it's gone. To get her mind off begging for more food just play with her and get her attention on that.
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Post Posted: Fri Jul 14, 2017 9:21 pm   Re: What is an ideal diet for 6 year old female Red Ear Slid

They are all dried up now, but she is still eating them. Haven't seen any bad effects so far, has been eating them about a month now. Lots of them. I still try to feed her nutritious food though. Dried shrimp, pellets. Also fed her cherry tomatoes and she likes those too, though they are difficult for her to swallow and she has to claw at them first.
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Post Posted: Sat Jul 15, 2017 4:27 am   Re: What is an ideal diet for 6 year old female Red Ear Slid

Tomatoes is not a staple food. Also has seeds that can cause gut impaction ! If seeds removed I would only offer it very rarely , once a month as a treat!
Turtles show health problems very slowly to us and even a Herp Vet.

Did you go over this : http://www.redearslider.com/plants.html
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