feeding my turtle correctly

tonydude

hi, ive got a turtle and ive recently nursed him back to health. He got an eye infection. Im wondering how much food he should be getting daily. im fairly sure he could be classified as fat before he was sick, but while he was sick he didnt eat for about 3 to 4 weeks and he lost some weight. Im just wondering how much food should i be feeding him. At the moment i give him 3 to 4 meal worms with a pinch of dry food in the morning and i give the same again at around 9. His shell is nearly 3 inchs.

jen_23

Hi TonyDude,

As a general rule of thumb what you feed your turt should be what you could fit inside it's head if it were hollow. Also you might consider getting a vitamin supplement to add to hisfood.

How long do you have the turt?

If you have any questions on lighting/heating/tank etc etc... I'll be happy to help anyway I can.

cowzerp

I would say, give him as much as he'll eat, aslong as he's not leaving any behind-then your over feeding him, try give him some fruit now and again and cheese and veg etc,, the variety is good for them..

jen_23

Hey just rooted this out for you a guideline on how to feed your turt
http://exoticpets.about.com/od/aquaticturtles/f/resfeedhowmuch.htm

A good place to find info is www.turtleforum.com

Be carefel not to overfeed.
'The important thing is not to over feed your turtle, especially items high in proteins and fats for adults, as red eared sliders and other aquatic turtles often have voracious appetites and will "beg" for food. However often you feed, monitor the body condition of your turtle. If folds of skin are developing around the legs, especially when the turtle pulls its legs in, it is getting too fat and needs to be fed a smaller amount, or less often'

Also what kind of turt do you have ybs, res??

tonydude

i think hes a slider but not 100% sure, my gf got him for me 6 months ago. What fruit would he eat, apple, banana? ive a good set up hes in a jewel 70 tank and he has his dock to bake under the lamp and theres a neutralizing block in the tank all the time. Ive forked out a good 300 euro on gear for him, so id like to keep him alive. Ive grown mighty fond of him too.

cowzerp

tonydude wrote: »

i think hes a slider but not 100% sure, my gf got him for me 6 months ago. What fruit would he eat, apple, banana? ive a good set up hes in a jewel 70 tank and he has his dock to bake under the lamp and theres a neutralizing block in the tank all the time. Ive forked out a good 300 euro on gear for him, so id like to keep him alive. Ive grown mighty fond of him too.

Yeah, Banana goes down well, apples too-anything that wont pollute the water and i'd reccomend cutting it small enough that they wont have to rip it to bits as then there will be no mess, they'll eat almost anything..

tonydude

A guy in a petshop told me that theyd eat spiders, is that true. I know he'll eat flies cause one landed in front of him while he was on his dock.:pac: didnt take long for him to nab him. lol

cowzerp

They will eat anything that will fit in there mouth, moths,spiders, flies, but keep the spiders to eat the flies!!

jen_23

If you post a pic I can prob tell you what turt you have. Alternatively if they have yellow makings behind the ears it's a ybs and red markings it's a res. (the most usual ones sold in Ireland).

Here are care sheets for both
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/cs-yellowbelly.htm
http://www.austinsturtlepage.com/Care/caresheet-red_ear_slider.htm

Just bear in mind as well that as turts get bigger they need bigger space. A rule of thumb again is 10 gallons per inch of shell. (just to bear in mind as the little guy get's bigger he is certainly in a tank big enough for his size at the moment.)

Another tip I would give is source out any exotic pet vets in your area just in case you may need one in the future.

You can also get some plants to out in the tank for the turt and another idea is mollys or guppys they love these little fish as treats and it also doubles up as some good excercise for the turt.

tonydude

http://www.flickr.com/photos/38887018@N04/3573208977/
This is leo when he was ill. Hope the link works

jen_23

Congrats you have a YBS girl!! Well I would make a good stab at saying it is a girl as she might still be a bit young for sexing.

Males typically have very long nails whereas your leo has quite short ones.

There is more info here on sexing turts if interested http://www.picolio.com/staticpages/index.php/AquaticTurtleSex

I had a turt and thought it was a he untill about 2 years old and realised it was a she:eek:

The poor pet really had a nasty eye infection! I would def recommend adding the vitamins to the food as eye infections are commonly caused from lack of vit A in the diet.

If the eye infection comes back I would look into water quality esp if you are on a mains water supply it may be too chlorinated for him which is easily fixed by a water conditioner.

If you have any other questions let me know. I kept a turt for years and went through almost every possible scenario with her!

tonydude

The household water comes from a well so it should be okay. How would i add vitamins to his food. Im glad leo 's a girl ( hmmm possible name change lol ) she should grow bigger. Ive a 54 gallon tank so it shouldnt be a problem

tonydude

thxs for the links there very interesting getting to know more about leo as each day goes by. Thxs

jen_23

We got powder vits from the vet which we literally sprinkled on the food. I know you can get liquid ones as well that the pet stores.
This is one of them here http://www.zooplus.ie/shop/reptiles/food/vitamins_minerals/126094 but there are more so check out a few before you decide.
The lady in my local pet shop had a friend who kept turts all her life and used to give them kiddy vitamins (I wouldn't reccomend that though as obv they are made for ppl so larger doses)

Oh she will definitly grow bigger I think about 8 - 13" for a female (they generally would grow to a bigger size than the male) so be prepared for a tank upgrade in 2-3 years! :eek:

Turts are an expensive hobby but they are worth it in my opinion. Just always wash your hands after touching them as they do tend to carry salmonella (why they get a bad name as a pet though the reason ppl get sick is from bad hygiene :mad:)

Also another tip as it took me a while as I didn't have a clue with my first turt. They are very prone to respiratory infections which if not treated can be deadly to the little guys. So if you ever see her swimming lopsided, opening her mouth to breath or runny eyes get her to a vet she will need a course of antibiotics.

It's better to familiarise yourself with this now than later.

Good luck with Leo (or girly name pending:P )

tonydude

Thxs for the info, i better start looking for a vet so ill know where to go when the time comes.Ahhh another upgrade that jewel tank cost 180 euro . I love the little guy so i probably will upgrade his habitat. The jewel 120 is a savage tank ( so is the price ). Oh well

jen_23

Ah I just saw in your profile that your from Cork.
We used to use a vet in togher the gilabbey vet clinic. There's a man in there Pat O'Doherty that was really good and about the best you can get in Cork as there are no realy 'turt' specialists in Cork.
Wicklow and Dublin have a few.

The last time we were there about a year ago he was saying that they have plans to extend their clinic for small animals (inc turts) so he would prob be your best bet. Just be informed yourself when you go in about what you think the little fella has as I found that helped.

Usually all they can do is give a vit shot or course antibiotics and hope for the best but I think exotics are becomming more popular so it'a only a matter of time before it catches on.

Thxs for the info, i better start looking for a vet so ill know where to go when the time comes.Ahhh another upgrade that jewel tank cost 180 euro . I love the little guy so i probably will upgrade his habitat. The jewel 120 is a savage tank ( so is the price ). Oh well
Today 21:58

Ah save a fiver a week for the next two years . Honestly though that size tank will do a while yet so there's no need to be worrying about it in the immediate future. Just when you see her getting to be about 6 inches which will prob take a good 2-3 years you know to start looking around.

You do get addicted to them and buying things. Actually if you want to give her a little treat once in a while Iknow Hanleys (by kinsale round about) do a fresh frozen fish things that they love!! (they keep them in a freezer)

tonydude

lol, ill keep it in mind thank you and thanks a bunch for the vet info, yove no ideal how useful it is to have that info . Would have taken me forever to get it.

jen_23

No prob and if you ever have any other questions i'll do my best to help.
Take care!