Feeding and Nutrition :: Help! How to feed my turtle vegetable?!

Turtle diets and eating habits discussed here.

Post Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2010 5:49 pm   Help! How to feed my turtle vegetable?!

HI! How to entice my adult turtle to take in vegetable?
I've had my adult RES for a month right now. I usually feed him pellet and frozen fish & shrimp on a daily basis(she loves it), and then I read the nutrition info on this website that "RES over a year old should be given pellets every other day or two days" and should be fed with vegetables like lettuce.
I tried to feed her green leaf lettuce this morning, and she didn;t show any interest. and then i enticed her with wrapping pellet(or fish) in lettuce and she ate some of it.

My question is that can i feed her vegetable on a daily basis, and pellets and fishes every other day?
and does anyone have any suggestion on how to make my turtle eat vegetable?

Thanks!
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Dodoturtle
 
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Post Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2010 9:02 pm   Re: Help! How to feed my turtle vegetable?!

steve recommended this to me and it does work

take the vegtable and dip it in tuna oil. theyll think its tuna and eat it up.
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blackforces get you
 
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Post Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2010 9:03 pm   Re: Help! How to feed my turtle vegetable?!

You shouldn't generally feed that much protein (fish, shrimp) on a daily basis... that should be only an occasional treat. You should feed pellets (the amount should be the size of your turtle's head) every other day and feed veggies (leafy greens like red or green leaf lettuce in particular) daily or at least on the days you don't feed pellets. You should also supplement the diet with calcium - cuttlebone (with the backing removed!) is a great source of it and turtles love to chomp on it. To get your turtle to eat veggies, have LOTS of patience, try different types (my guy only likes red leaf lettuce), and try soaking the lettuce in tuna juice. If it comes down to it, try the "turtle jello shots" recipe which you can find as a sticky in this section of the forum.
Toby - RES - adopted in December 2007 - 120g tank - Fluval FX5

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Post Posted: Sat Oct 30, 2010 11:24 pm   Re: Help! How to feed my turtle vegetable?!

yeah, i know the nutrition thing now, and I am trying to change her diet.
Thanks for all the suggestions, I will try to soak vegatable in tuna!!
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Dodoturtle
 
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Post Posted: Mon Nov 01, 2010 5:02 pm   Re: Help! How to feed my turtle vegetable?!

Not tuna oil---it would be better to use the water that tuna is packed in.
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Post Posted: Wed Nov 17, 2010 3:25 pm   Re: Help! How to feed my turtle vegetable?!

i've tried dipping vegetables in chicken stock, that kind of works, but i'm still having the same problems. They try it but then they just wont take to it afterwards. Does anyone have anymore suggestions? Oh btw good tip, for some reason my turtle doesnt like fresh apple but likes it dried like the apple you get in cereal.
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za94
 
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Post Posted: Sat Nov 20, 2010 5:47 pm   Re: Help! How to feed my turtle vegetable?!

Get a veggie clip from the aquarium section... it holds the leaves in place.
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steve
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Post Posted: Sun Oct 05, 2014 11:18 pm   Re: Help! How to feed my turtle vegetable?!

I have tried to trick. My baby res so eat them after I wrapped them in pellets. Nope, not eating them. d:
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Post Posted: Mon Oct 06, 2014 10:00 am   Re: Help! How to feed my turtle vegetable?!

Turtles are smarter than we think :)
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steve
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Post Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2014 1:58 pm   Re: Help! How to feed my turtle vegetable?!

Buy bag clips from dollars store and Velcro dots from the dollar store and voila veggy clip.
Most turtles won't eat veggies till prob after 1 yer old. Mine still doesn't but turtle hellos shots work it's you want to try it. I have about 3 year supply of turtle jello in my freezer. He's won't eat it generally but if I cut into tiny peices he'll grab off turtle platform and usually swallow before he finds out he doesn't like them.
Location: Ottawa, ON, Canada

Turtle: RES about 6-8months old
Tank Mates: Mystery Snails, Peacock Eel, 2 cichlids
Habitat: 55 gal, UVA & UVB lighting, Live Plant and high volume filter
Diet: Pellets, jello shots (wont eat veggies :()
TravisL
 
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Post Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2014 2:00 pm   Re: Help! How to feed my turtle vegetable?!

Also if you buy bag clips with metal spring make sure you place the clip out of the water and just have the veggies under water so spring doesn't rust. There are non spring bag clips also
Location: Ottawa, ON, Canada

Turtle: RES about 6-8months old
Tank Mates: Mystery Snails, Peacock Eel, 2 cichlids
Habitat: 55 gal, UVA & UVB lighting, Live Plant and high volume filter
Diet: Pellets, jello shots (wont eat veggies :()
TravisL
 
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Post Posted: Tue Oct 07, 2014 2:42 pm   Re: Help! How to feed my turtle vegetable?!

A veggie clip is $2 or 3. They have a suction cup and the plastic should be thicker as well.
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steve
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Post Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2014 8:37 pm   Re: Help! How to feed my turtle vegetable?!

Should I feed my baby RES veggie? If so, I tried to but he/she won't eat it.
Frosty Liu
 
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Post Posted: Thu Oct 09, 2014 9:41 pm   Re: Help! How to feed my turtle vegetable?!

If its just young it doesn't want vegetables now. As they get older they do. Assuming its a Red Eared Slider. Keep offering.
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1 Female RES/Slidy.
1 DBT White Concentric Female/ Lucky
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Post Posted: Fri Oct 10, 2014 7:28 am   Re: Help! How to feed my turtle vegetable?!

To me, it's not worth too much trouble with it. I mean, it's not worth getting all worried about... give it a try, if they don't want to eat veggies after a couple days of trying, feed some pellets. Give it a try again in a week or so. Rinse and repeat.

I may be considered a outcast for saying so, but my turtles have lived on a nothing but pellets for 90% of their life. my oldest is going on 16 years now, and the only time he was ever sick, was when he was about a year old, he had pneumonia then, which I don't believe had anything to do with his diet. For me, you do your best to introduce a variety of foods to your turtles, but then a good pellet diet is also not the worst thing you can do to a turtle.
Long time turtle owner (15+ years).
One Painted turtle, one Yellow Belly Slider, 120 Gallon tank filled to maybe 80 Gallons
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