Feeding and Nutrition :: hungry turtle?

[CV Cream]

hey. my turtle has been swimming against the glass quickly when i take food out, and i always see her eating her own poop so does that mean i am not feeding her enough? my mom fed her 32 pellets the other day and i said that was too much but my mom said she ate it in 5 min and the vet said that whatever she will eat in 5 min is good. im not sure if im starving her by giveing her 10-15 a day... she always seems to want more.

[Muirner]

ummmm i'll say that 32 for a hatchling is over feeding. They say as a guide, feed what you'd be able to fit in the turtles head if it was hollow.

[flutterby]

The swimming towards the glass is classic begging behavior, they see you as the food provider it does not mean their hungry. Like Muirner says, feed what can fit in the turtles head not including the neck, and since its a hatchling only once a day. If you think the turtle is still hungry offer greens from the list in the sticky thread. As for the poop eating, its normal and gross but it doesn't mean you're starving your turtle.

[JNZBCBnLIL]

My hatchling does that as well- anytime I come into the room he'll stop what he's doing and come up to the glass and beg like crazy- for awhile I gave in until I noticed his shell starting to not be as smooth- so I stopped immediately because pyramiding is a bad problem! I have to feed him half a head size in the morning and a quarter in the afternoon and a quarter at night just because I hate to see him begging and not have the chance to give in atleast sometimes! like flutterby said- greens are a good way to deal with hungry turtles because you can feed as much of those as you want! I swear though- their stomachs do seem fairly bottomless!

[steve]

Don't give in to begging. Also be careful with how much veggies you offer in one feeding, your RES can vomit.

[JNZBCBnLIL]

Yes- i learned that one the hard way! They're so cute whenever they're begging- I had to learn to stay away for awhile so I just didn't see it! I was told there was no limit to their veggies- is that just you can't give them too many of a variety or too many of one particular? because I tend to give him a lot of romaine and he tends to chow down!!

[Muirner]

JNZBCBnLIL - Is your turtle still as small as it is in your avitar? If so what do you do to entice eating of the romaine? I think one of the turtles is taking a liking to my amazon sward which is good, but i'd like to increase the greens, and start to drop the amount of baby shrimp..

[JNZBCBnLIL]

Yep- Leo is the same size as he is in the picture- but growing fast! I noticed he started to eat his greens more when I stopped giving into his begging and stopped overfeeding him with pellets! But his favorite way to have his romaine was in his veggie clip when he could just grab on and pull little peices off! (I say 'was' because I need to get a new one as i just broke his the other day if you do veggie clips do the plain ones not the clown fish ones) When I had amazon swords in the tank he went to town on those as well! To tell you the truth though- Leo tries just about everything I put in his tank- even his fake plants! He just happens to loove romaine lettuce! I guess try to cut down on the shrimp and give more greens- try to put some in a veggie clip- if they do like it that way, it's fun to watch because they'll grab a hold and pull and pull until they'll either get a bite or lose grip and go flying backwards! Great entertainment!