Feeding and Nutrition :: How much vegie?

[swlin]

my turtle is 2" now. He is a bit more than 1 year old. I have been feeding him pellets every day. When should I start cutting back on those pellets? Also, How much vegie should I feed him? I usually throw a piece of green leaf (about 1"by1") in the tank. He eats it sometimes, most of time he doesn't. Is that amount too much or too little? I think my turtle is too fat. I got him some guppies (for the first time) but he was too slow to catch them. Any changes I should make on the diet? Thx in advance.

[TheComputerGremlin]

You should start cutting back the pellets when he gets about 4" or a year old. You should only be feeding him the size of his head worth of pellets, though, so make sure you don't overfeed the pellets.

As for veggies, I've found that my little guy prefers smaller pieces to eat, so the lettuce is usually cut no larger than 0.5" x 0.5". He may not seem interested in veggies because he is either getting too much food via pellets or the pieces are too large. Veggies, esp lettuce, you can feed them as much as they want to eat. It contributes few calories. Other veggies, like sweet potatoes, should be given less often.

Oh, and as for fish, eventually he'll catch them or get faster. They are excellent exercise for the turtle, nonetheless. Maybe try rosie red minnows. I like their size, they are rather small and not intimidating for a smaller turtle.

[swlin]

"You should start cutting back the pellets when he gets about 4" or a year old. "

He is over one year old, but he is only 2", so should I cutting back the pellet now or when he reaches 4"? I didn't feed him enough when he was young, that's why he didn't grow as fast as other turtles.

[marisa]

How much is he fed at a feeding (pellets)? What brand(s) of pellets do you feed him?

For my turtles, the size of the veggie depends on what it is. For leafy greens, the more tender the leaf, the larger the piece (easier to break off).

Too much vegetable matter can cause really loose stools. To me, a one-inch square piece of lettuce for a 2-inch turtle doesn't sound like a lot, though. You might try some other leafy greens (red-leaf lettuce is attractive to a lot of turtles, and dandelions are really good for them) and other veggies as well.

[swlin]

I used to feed him 1 stick a day when he was 1". I left him in my friend's house two months ago for 1 month and they fed him 4 sticks and he grew to 2" in one month. So now I am cutting back the pellets to 2 or 3 sticks a day. The pellets are ReptoMin regular size floating sticks.

I also feed him real shrimp about thumb nail size once a week since last month.

[TheComputerGremlin]

You do realize that a full grown RES should be I believe between 8-12", right? You are stunting his growth by basically slowly starving him. At this point, I would say until he reaches about 4", you should feed him as many pellets as will fit in his head each day. With my turtle, which should be about your's size, I'd estimate that's about 4-5 Reptomin floating sticks, if not more. That should probably take 6-9 months. Also make sure you have the right lighting and water temperatures, that will assist in his metabolism. As for veggies, you can give your turtle as much as you want, really, and then just take out what's not eaten a couple hours later. I think the shrimp is okay for now, but when the turtle starts getting bigger, it should become a once-a-month treat.