Feeding and Nutrition :: Should I feed more often?

[marydairy15]

I've had my RES for about 4 years now and, apparently, up until this point I've been misinformed about correct feeding and lighting practices. Her lighting situation is fine now and I know what I should be feeding her. My question is should I go back to feeding her every day? She's only three inches long (which I didn't realize was unusual for a 4-year-old res) and I'm afraid I've stunted her growth or something. Right now I feed her every other day.

[industrial_girl_2000]

You can feed daily until turt is about 4 inches, then every other day. In my case, I have an adult RES I feed daily, but this is how I do it for her:

day 1: lettuce in the morning + feed pellets (actual meal)
day 2: throw lots of dark green lettuce in the tank for her to eat (they can't get fat on lettuce)
day 3: cooked sweet potato mixed with ground cuttle bone (actual meal)
day 4: throw lots of dark green lettuce in the tank for her to eat
day 5: lettuce in the morning + feed pellets (actual meal)

The "actual meals" are the ones where I feed her as much as would fit in her head as if it were hollow. Sheba LOVES her lettuce, so I don't deprive her of it and feed several green leaves daily.

My baby RES (just under 2") eats 3 reptomin foodsticks DAILY plus I throw in some extra lettuce leaves so he/she can nibble all day long on the lettuce (or sometimes thin pieces of carrot). This baby RES is a real muncher, and I suspect your baby is too! Let them munch daily. It doesn't hurt them. In your case you could do what I do with my baby RES (feed some pellets daily + lettuce).

[marydairy15]

Thanks! I generally feed her in a seperate area to keep her tank clean. She usually stays in the feeding cage for about an hour at a time. Is that an alright practice or does she need to have food available to her all day?

[industrial_girl_2000]

They don't need food "all day". I do give greens every morning before I go to work because both my turts eat them quickly & the greens don't get nasty in the water because they are gone quickly. For example, this morning, the baby RES (1 3/4" shell length) got about 6 leaves of an organic "baby lettuce mix" salad ("baby lettuce" is a mix of very young tender lettuces which my baby RES loves to eat). That was in addition to the 3 reptomin food sticks I gave him/her this morning. So the lettuce won't be available "all day" (usually gone within a coupla hours). Hope that helps.

Some people on the board like to put pond plants (like anacharis) in the tank with their turtles because the turts like to eat the anacharis (my baby LOVES the anacharis and shredded/ate the entire plant I bought in during the first WEEK I had him!). That's totally ok because they would be eating this if they were living in the wild too. Just be forewarned that anacharis can be kinda messy, and there will be tiny leaves all over the tank, but my baby LOVES it so I don't worry.....I just clean it up!

[marydairy15]

What about live food? I raise guppies and I usually give her one about every 2 or 3 weeks? I also give her meal worms and those gross catapillars you buy already dead in a can. I bring those in kind of randomly just to vary her diet. How often does she need "live" food?

[industrial_girl_2000]

They don't really "need" live food.....and most of the live food out there is very high in protein. I had to laugh at your comment about the gross caterpillars in a can.....I feed those sometimes to my adult RES & aquatic frog and they love them! LOL!

You will get all sorts of answers about "how many guppies" per week are acceptable (and sometimes we can't control how many they eat because in some cases the turts on this board will scarf down 3 guppies in an hour & still want more!!! Hungry munchers.....LOL). I would limit it....maybe 3 per week. Throw in 3 and see what happens. Continue to throw in green leafy lettuce daily. Report back.

[marisa]

When you do feed your RES, how much do you give (portion size)? What have you been feeding your RES (brand of pellets or other foods)?

If you've done any reading here, you know that a safe guide for feeding pellets is an amount equal to the size of the head (not with neck). Up to a year, feed daily, after that every other day.

Since your turtle is quite small for his(?) age, and sounds from what you wrote like he might not have been given very much food, I'd start with a good pellet and give some daily, but an amount less than that head-size amount (try between a half and three-quarters). You can vary with other foods (you said you know what to give), but offer some appropriate plant matter daily. Keeping some pieces of cuttlebone in the tank for a little extra calcium would be good as well (there are threads on cuttlebone if you're not familiar with it). Some experimenting would be good---you don't want to try to make up for your turtle's small size by overfeeding, but you do want to provide a balanced diet with some protein for growth.

[marydairy15]

I've been feeding her portion sized probably 2 to 3 times the size of her head up until this point, but only every 2 to 3 days. Mostly pellets with some vegetables and live food every once in a while. Recently, I've added a lot more lettuce and cut back on the pellets.