How to feed a red-eared turtle: 14 types of food that the reptile eats

Turtles are quite demanding and difficult reptiles to keep. And this applies, first of all, to their diet. Modern pet food manufacturers offer turtle owners a wide variety of “balanced” foods that make caring for their pet much easier.

However, in order to choose the right basic and additional diet and bait, it is necessary to understand in more detail what you can feed the turtle.

What do turtles eat in the wild?

The main component of the diet of red-eared turtles in the wild are shellfish: mussels and snails, oysters, and crustaceans. They have no teeth, but this does not prevent them from excellently dealing with mollusk shells: with strong jaws they break them and eat the pulp.

In the summer, insects become food for turtles: grasshoppers, beetles, etc.

They are very fond of algae, plankton and small fish. They also eat tadpoles, fish fry and frogs.

Food in natural habitat

In the wild, land turtles obtain their own food. This is, for the most part, plant food - grass, plant roots, berries, algae from the edges of reservoirs. Some part of the diet of wild turtles is protein food. These are worms, small insects, small snails.

The peculiarity of this reptile is that it can remain without food for quite a long time, storing significant reserves of it in its body during favorable seasons.

These animals are well versed in what vitamins, micro- and macroelements they lack at a certain stage of life and successfully find the products they need in the animal and plant world.

Diet of the red-eared slider

A necessary aspect of caring for turtles is preparing the right diet. The health of your pet depends on feeding high-quality, fresh and, importantly, varied food. How the red-eared turtle feeds, how long it lives, and how it feels are closely interconnected.

In captivity, this reptile has little demand for food. For a tough shell and healthy skin, reptiles require both plant and animal products. For turtles up to one year old, the latter must be included in the diet in an amount of 80% or more.

A reptile's hard shell requires plant and animal products.

Mature turtles need to increase the amount of plant foods rich in fiber and vitamins. As a result of eating only meat, pets can develop rickets, hypovitaminosis or obesity.

The required vitamins and dietary supplements must be regularly added to food.

Recommendations for how many times per day to feed your red-eared slider will depend on the age and preferences of the individual reptile.

If the turtle is up to 1-1.5 years old, there should be one or two meals a day. If you have no appetite, reduce the amount of food or go on a short hunger strike for 1-2 days.

To create an optimal nutritional regimen for an adult, you should observe the pet and feed it on demand. If a turtle is hungry, it becomes overly active in the presence of its owner, hitting the water with its paws. After feeding, she calms down and rests calmly. A turtle may require food daily, or maybe once every 7 days.

Treats

Supplement the diet of land reptiles:

1. champignons, puffballs, oyster mushrooms and other easily digestible mushrooms;
2. sunflower seeds;
3. bran;
4. mango;
5. plums;
6. peaches;
7. beets;
8. boiled chicken or quail eggs;
9. snails and slugs - once every few weeks.

Feed adult aquatic turtles:

1. raw lean meat;
2. baby frogs;
3. tadpoles;
4. chicken, fish, beef liver;
5. shrimp;
6. octopus tentacles;
7. mussels.

Basic feeding rules

To properly feed a red-eared turtle, you must comply with the basic conditions and some subtleties:

• Any food needs to be cut into pieces: the smaller the turtle, the smaller the pieces.

Any food needs to be cut into pieces

• Aquatic reptiles tear large pieces with their sharp claws, so that plant food can be fed whole.
• Before serving, products must be washed, seeds and peels removed.
• The pet should eat the food within 30 minutes. The serving size should be calculated based on this indicator, and should not exceed half the size of the shell. You can also give pieces of food the size of the reptile's head.
• Feed should be given at room temperature. Very cold food is harmful to your pet's health.
• Turtles search for food using their vision. The more attractive the color of the food, the faster she will find and eat it. For this you can use carrots and tomatoes.
• It is better to feed your pet in the morning, but it is not essential. It is important that she has time to digest what she eats during daylight hours or with the lamp on.
• Uneaten food must be immediately removed from the reservoir - this way the reptile will develop the habit of eating at certain hours.

There are different ways to feed armored animals: with tweezers, from a special bowl, or by throwing them into water.

You can feed red-eared turtles with tweezers

It is best to feed the red ear in another aquarium or basin, because leftover food will contaminate the terrarium, and the water will have to be replaced frequently.

You can also teach him to eat on an island equipped in the aquarium. First, food is placed at the very edge of the shore near the water. If the reptile is hungry, it will have to take food. So gradually get used to eating from a small saucer with water.

You should not hand feed your reptile too often to avoid getting used to this method of feeding and refusing to eat differently. There is also a risk of being bitten.

You cannot distract your pet while eating: sudden movements and loud sounds frighten him.

Description

The low carapace (carapace) is almost oval; if you look at it from above, you can see that the width in the back is slightly wider than in the front. The length of the shell is 20 cm or more in adult large turtles. Since water has always been the key habitat for turtles, the carapace scutes naturally fit perfectly together. In terms of their structure, the carapace and plastron are completely streamlined and have no protrusions. Large claws are located on the legs, small membranes are located between the toes. The claws of a swamp turtle can easily tear prey apart and can significantly scratch your hand.

The tail of this turtle is relatively long, can reach 3/4 of the length of the carapace (about 12 cm) and during swimming it takes part as an auxiliary rudder during any turns (the main steering is carried out by the legs) and as a counterweight that holds the turtle in the required position during maneuvers. The carapace usually has a dark olive, dark green, sometimes almost black color, the plastron is light, yellowish. The shell, neck, head, legs are covered with small light spots. Often females have yellow eyes, while males are slightly reddish. Females have slightly shorter tails than males.

What can you feed your red-eared slider?

At home, you can use special food purchased at a pet store to feed your red-eared reptile. If your pet shows signs of illness, for example, a red-eared slider's shell is peeling off, you should pay attention to the quality of its diet.

For the main diet, meat and offal, cottage cheese and eggs are used, as well as fish, seafood and insects. The use of various types of plants, vitamin and mineral supplements is recommended.

Animal feed

This food serves as the basis for the diet of aquatic turtles. For a growing animal, the portion size and variety of food should be increased.

Red-eared turtles prefer live food: snails, small fish, insects and crustaceans. Such nutritional components will be good for diversifying your diet, but you shouldn’t get too carried away with them. It is enough to apply them 2 times a month.

Red-eared turtles prefer live food, but you shouldn’t get carried away with it

Food can be served either raw or cooked, unsalted and unseasoned, divided into pieces.

Meat

The red-eared slider's diet may include lean beef, horse meat, rabbit, chicken and turkey.

Reptiles also eat minced meat. Finely chopped plant food is added there if the turtle refuses it.

By-products

By-products should be added systematically to the red ear's diet. From a wide variety, you should choose only beef or poultry liver and heart. They contain a significant amount of vitamin A, which helps normalize the growth of the pet and maintain healthy skin. Due to a deficiency of this vitamin, detachment of the horny scutes, development of conjunctivitis, etc. are possible.

By-products should be added to the diet systematically

It is recommended to give liver only to adult turtles once every 30 days.

Cottage cheese and eggs

It is difficult to feed cottage cheese to replenish calcium levels to a turtle - it disintegrates in water. But they like to catch it and eat it.

Eggs are used raw, mixed with various types of products.

Fish and seafood

Fish is recommended in raw low-fat varieties (up to 3.0%), such as hake, blue whiting, pollock and cod, and freshwater perch. River species are best suited.

Before feeding, you can remove large bones from the fish, but leave the giblets, because the turtle needs all the useful substances contained in the fish to maintain the rigidity of the shell and skeleton as a whole.

In order to eliminate the negative effects of thiaminase in raw fish, immediately before feeding, it is necessary to put it in hot water for 2 minutes.

Among marine products, green shrimp are used as food for reptiles; they enjoy octopus and squid, and eat mussels and snails.

Reptiles enjoy eating octopus, squid, and shrimp.

If there are fish or frogs living with the turtle, there is a high chance that it will eat them.

Insects

The menu of the red-eared turtle should include insects: beetles and hairless caterpillars. He loves to eat grasshoppers and crickets, earthworms, and also eats mealy bug larvae.

In summer they are collected in the garden and park. But you can’t collect it where it has been treated with chemicals.

Cockroaches caught at home should absolutely not be given in order to avoid insecticide poisoning.

Pet stores sell bloodworms and mealworms to feed armored reptiles.

It is recommended to purchase gammarus - small dried crustaceans. It contains a significant amount of calcium. Koretra and daphnia are also suitable food for your pet.

Insects are used as food for the turtle 1-2 times a week.

Fruits

All types of fruits contain many vitamins.

To the question whether a red-eared turtle can have an apple, there is one answer - you can also have a pear, a banana, an orange and a peach, or a plum and an apricot. Only citrus fruits should be peeled.

You can give your red-eared turtle apple, pear, banana and other fruits.

It is also recommended to occasionally give strawberries, wild strawberries, and pamper your pet with raspberries and other berries. The turtle can also have melon and watermelon.

Vegetables

Vegetables are rich in fiber, which is very beneficial for the gastrointestinal tract, and in particular, the process of food absorption, as well as vitamins A and K, calcium.

These reptiles eat cucumbers, zucchini, cabbage leaves, and red tomatoes, bright sweet peppers, pumpkins, carrots and beets attract their attention. You can even offer beans and asparagus.

They are given raw, without signs of spoilage and without mold. Cooked vegetables have no benefit for the turtle.

Mushrooms

Along with vegetable and fruit food, the red ear can be fed once every 7 days with mushrooms: slices of russula, champignons and boletus.

Greens and plants

These products are also important in the diet of turtles. They must consume them at least 50% of the total diet, and for older turtles this figure reaches 75%.

It is also recommended to feed these reptiles indoor plants, for example, thornless cacti and agave, tradescantia, hyacinth and hibiscus. It is very useful to feed with herbs from meadows, dandelion, coltsfoot, as well as plantain and clover. These reptiles have a good appetite for carrot and beet tops, lettuce leaves, basil and parsley, and dry hay. It is recommended to feed with sprouted wheat or oats (cut sprouts 5-10 cm).

These reptiles have a good appetite for carrot and beet tops. The greens are torn in the garden or in the forest far from roads, sorted and washed.

Aquatic plants, for example, duckweed, hornwort, pistia, water hyacinth, etc. are extremely useful for these reptiles.

It is better to breed them separately. After all, the algae growing in an aquarium with red ear is constantly plucked by it, which disrupts the landscape design. Having eaten algae, she may not accept other food.

Duckweed can be caught from a nearby pond.

Toxic algae (elodea and limnophila) are destructive to turtles.

Harmful products

Most vegetables are not suitable for turtles because they are too low in fiber and contain too much protein and oxalic acid (phytic acid). Therefore, minimize or eliminate the following foods from your diet:

• peas;
• rhubarb;
• radish;
• cabbage;
• pineapples;
• mushrooms;
• onion;
• nuts;
• potato;
• spinach;
• lettuce leaves;
• beets.

Be careful when choosing insects and plants, as some can be poisonous (especially those that are brightly colored) and others can interfere with calcium absorption or cause iodine deficiency.

Artificial feed

Pet stores have a wide variety of balanced foods specifically for armored reptiles. They can come in various forms: capsules, tablets, granules and even flakes. And their compositions will vary. But for the most part, the food produced by the manufacturer often does not satisfy all the needs of the reptile’s body.

In essence, turtle food is food for aquarium fish that has been improved to meet the needs of the reptile's body. Due to the specific smell, pets may even ignore it, but over time they get used to it.

This type of feeding is convenient, but you cannot feed it alone

This type of feeding is convenient primarily for busy people, but it is not the only way to feed. Such feeds often do not maintain the balance recommended by veterinarians, which can lead to vitamin deficiency and digestive problems for the animal.

Mineral mixtures and vitamins

It is necessary to feed the aquatic turtle with vitamin and mineral mixtures. Active growth, healthy skin, and proper development of the skeleton and bone tissue depend on them.

Aquatic turtles receive useful substances not only from a variety of foods, but also from special supplements. The diet of such a pet should contain moderate amounts of vitamins A, B12, D3, E, as well as minerals such as selenium and calcium.

Regular feeding with calcium-containing preparations is especially important for turtles to strengthen their shells, especially in growing young individuals. With calcium deficiency, it can become crooked and lumpy. Claws may also become bent, limbs may occasionally break, and in extreme cases, the shell may even fall apart or become like cardboard. In nature, sources of calcium for turtles are limestone, oyster shells, corals, dolomites, and animal bones.

Calcium-rich foods include the popular gammarus. A significant amount of it is found in bone meal, ground egg shells, and also in feed chalk. They are given 100 mg of the mixture per 1 kg of pet’s weight once every 7 days.

The most applicable drugs are purchased at a veterinary pharmacy or pet store.

Feed containing vitamins and minerals (except calcium) cannot be stored for a long time. Vitamins for the prevention of vitamin deficiency C and E and mineral supplements are given only once a month, mixed into the food.

Vitamins and mineral supplements are given only once a month, mixed into the food

To ensure that the turtle consumes all the added nutrients, you should mix them with food and feed them by hand.

Ready-made food in a pet store

Dry food for red-eared turtles can be used only in cases where it is not possible to maintain a balanced diet using natural products.

Although manufacturers promise to fully satisfy the reptile’s needs for the necessary substances, they do not recommend making semi-finished products a monotypic type of food in order to avoid metabolic disorders and problems in the gastrointestinal tract.

Food for cats and dogs

It is not recommended to use either dry or wet dog or cat food for feeding red-eared turtles.

This combination food is specially developed in the optimal ratio for feeding warm-blooded animals, so it is not suitable for reptiles. It contains a set of substances that are absolutely useless for turtles.

Vitamin and mineral supplements for these pets also do not meet the needs of the turtle’s body.

Homemade food for red-eared turtles

It is possible to prepare food for pets with shells yourself at home.

For this you will need:

• cabbage – 50 g;
• squid meat – 100 g;
• lean fish – 145 g;
• carrots – 70 g;
• apples – 50 g.

Grind all the components using a meat grinder, break 2 eggs into it. Dilute 30 g of gelatin in 150 ml of hot water. Mix all ingredients thoroughly with 150 ml. milk.

Grind all components of the feed using a meat grinder

Keep in the refrigerator for 7 days only. Feed in small pieces. This food is enough for 10 meals for one turtle with a shell length of 15 cm.

If you replace gelatin with agar-agar, the food will dissolve more slowly in water.

Here's another recipe for making your own food.

Take the following products:

• squid – 0.3 kg;
• pollock – 1 kg;
• shrimp – 0.5 kg;
• gelatin or agar-agar – 150 g;
• hake – 1 kg;
• water – 750 ml.

Prepare the mixture as follows:

1. Grind fish and seafood in a meat grinder.
2. Dissolve agar-agar in water and let it swell.
3. Mix the resulting minced meat well and heat over low heat for 10 minutes.
4. Add dissolved agar-agar, mix thoroughly for 15 minutes.
5. Pour the prepared mixture onto a baking sheet or into a plastic container and let it cool completely.
6. Place on the refrigerator shelf for 5 hours.
7. Cut the resulting mass into small pieces, wrap each in a piece of foil.
8. Place them in the freezer.

For feeding, a portion of frozen food is taken out 4 hours in advance and thawed at room temperature.

The food is taken out 4 hours in advance and thawed at room temperature.

This supply will be enough for a red-eared pet with a shell size of 20 cm for a whole year.

Variety of choices

The usual length of small turtles is from seven to thirteen centimeters. When buying a water baby about five centimeters, you need to understand in advance that it may increase slightly in size over time. Several types of turtles are well suited for quickly adapting to home keeping.

Musk (Sternoterus)

It is a representative of the genus of mud turtles, and the smallest specimen. Its length does not exceed fourteen centimeters, and the average size of the shell is seven centimeters.

A special feature of the musk turtle's structure is its long neck. She can easily reach her hind legs with her jaw. Its carapace is smooth, but at an early age there are three clearly visible grooves on it. The turtle has a dark, uniform color, only light stripes are present on the head.

This turtle has a long neck

In its natural environment, this waterfowl lives in the south and east of the United States, and much less often in Canada. Small reptiles prefer freshwater bodies of water with muddy bottoms. They spend most of their lives in water.

Spotted (Clemmys guttata)

A fairly common species of turtle among exotic lovers. Domestic aquatic little beauties are recognizable by yellow spots located along the entire plane of the carapace - the dorsal shield of the turtle shell. Such spots are also present on the head, neck and paws.

This species can reach a length of no more than twelve centimeters. The neck of this turtle is quite short. Spotted turtles have a creamy-yellow ventral shield (plastron) with large black spots over the entire area.

In their natural environment, these creatures live almost throughout the Atlantic coast of the United States. Rarely found in Canada. In living conditions, they prefer swamps, small rivers with silted bottoms, and swampy wooded areas. They overwinter on the muddy bottom of reservoirs.

12 cm is the maximum height of this turtle

Flat (Platemys platycephala)

It is a species of the snake-necked turtle family, as well as the only representative of the species of flat turtles. The usual body length is 14-15 centimeters, rare specimens reach eighteen.

This cute version of small aquarium turtles features an orange and yellow head pattern that resembles a crown. The carapace in babies is dark brown with a yellow edging, and the plastron is yellow. This color scheme often plays a decisive role in deciding whether to keep this species at home.

The only species of the genus flat turtles, which previously also included some other species of the family.

The turtle has a long neck with small spines. The dark tail and paws contrast beautifully with the variegated color of the smooth and somewhat flattened shell. The chin is decorated with a cute mustache.

This species often lives at home due to its bright appearance and calm nature. Flat turtles can be kept several times in one aquarium. The calm environment can only be disturbed by males during the mating season.

Reeves pond turtle

This species (Chinemys reevesii) is often found in domestic pet stores. The length of the oval-shaped shell in adults does not exceed thirteen centimeters, so they can be kept in an aquarium without any problems.

The carapace of the Reeves pond turtle can be of different colors: yellow-brown, dark brown, black. The legs and neck are usually black, gray-green or olive in color with white or yellow lines on the sides.

This species of small pet turtles has a peaceful nature. It is allowed to keep several specimens in one aquarium. The pond turtle is diurnal and can provide many funny moments to its owners. It tames very quickly, each specimen has an individual character.

These turtles are peaceful

The Reeves pond turtle is native to China and Japan, and less commonly found in Taiwan and Korea. Natural habitats include ponds and streams. In sunny times, Reeves likes to crawl out onto clay and sandbanks.

What not to feed

These aquatic reptiles eat whatever is offered to them. But they cannot digest all the food they eat, which leads to disruptions in the gastrointestinal tract and, consequently, to diseases.

What not to give to a turtle:

• fruits and berries with seeds;
• food from the table;
• sea ​​fish;
• fatty freshwater fish;
• citrus peel;
• flour products;
• onion, radish;
• Turtles have difficulty digesting pork and lamb fatty meat;
• poisonous elodea;
• amber snails.

You should not give a lot or often tomatoes, cabbage, legumes, spinach.

Herbivores

Any vegetables, fruits, root vegetables or greens can be used as the main diet. Starting from dandelions and carrots (clover, thistle, alfalfa, regular lawn grass) and ending with a variety of lettuce, carrots, cabbage, etc.

When preparing a diet, take 2-3 times more greens than fruits and vegetables. As additives to the main food of herbivorous turtles, you can use bran, dry yeast or dried seaweed, and soybean chaff.

What can overfeeding cause?

An important condition for the nutrition of a red-eared pet is not only a variety of diet, but also a regime. Overfeeding leads to diseases: pyramidal shell and obesity.

Not only the diet, but also the regimen is considered an important condition for nutrition.

Overeating in juveniles is extremely harmful, because they are actively developing, as well as during the adaptation period after purchasing or after illness of a red-eared turtle.

It is not recommended to force feed turtles. But long-term fasting is also contraindicated for them.

A healthy reptile should swim freely in the water and easily crawl onto the island. Excess weight will prevent the turtle from hiding its head in its shell.

Reproduction

In the spring comes marriage time. During this period, turtles (age 6–8 years and shell 9–12 cm) are far from water bodies. Turtles can also mate in water. The sperm of turtles can be stored in the female’s tract for up to 1 year or more; as a result, a female caught in the wild can “personally” lay completely full-fledged eggs after 5-6 months. Between May and July, females lay eggs three times in holes dug in the ground. During the season, the female produces 1–3 clutches. The depth of the pits is approximately 10 cm. The eggs that fall into them are beautiful: their shells are snow-white, they themselves have an oblong, regular shape, size 30 x 20 millimeters, weight approximately 8 g. In any clutch there are about 5–10 eggs, and they The female buries it most carefully. After approximately 2-3 months, these eggs produce tiny turtles about 24–25 millimeters long, weighing 5 g, with a large yolk sac on the belly.

The shell of young turtles is usually dark brown with yellow lines. They dig small tunnels near the nest, where they spend the winter in most cases. In the spring, turtles crawl out of their shelters onto the surface of the earth and begin an independent life. The incubation temperature is about 25–30°C and the duration is 54–90 days. Incubation humidity 90%. The water depth for newly born turtles is approximately 5 cm. Young individuals feed on daphnia and insect larvae.

Drinking regime

Red-eared turtles from the family of freshwater turtles live in the wild in small lakes with well-warmed water by the sun or ponds with swampy shores. For these reptiles, fresh water is vital (they cannot live without it for even a couple of days). The redfish spends its entire life in water - activity and sleep, eating and the process of defecation.

The red-eared turtle spends its entire life in water - activity, sleep, eating

The question of whether a turtle has a need to drink has not been fully studied. The structural features of her body do not allow water to linger: in the process of drinking, it pours out of her nostrils and flows down her neck. Moisture, so necessary for reptiles, penetrates through its skin, as well as from the products it eats.

Features of feeding small turtles

Particular attention must be paid to feeding turtles, because a deficiency of vitamins can negatively affect their development.

Young turtles are predatory animals, so they often ignore plant foods. Animal food plays a predominant role during their feeding period. They require food 1 or even 2 times every day.

Juveniles desperately need calcium and vitamin D. They should be added to their food at every feeding.

Baby turtles desperately need calcium and vitamin D intake

One of the rules for feeding baby turtles is to serve pieces of food the size of a blueberry.

Food

The favorite food of ordinary musk turtles is small fish, aquatic insects, mollusks, shrimp, algae; these reptiles do not disdain a variety of carrion, for which they have earned a reputation as orderlies of reservoirs.

If a musk turtle lives in a home terrarium, then, given its taste preferences, there is a high probability of contamination of the water with food debris, so for feeding it is recommended to use tweezers or special needles adapted for threading food. Most likely, the turtle will not immediately understand the purpose of such devices, but if you wave a tasty piece of meat in front of its nose, it will get used to it quite quickly. Mobile young individuals can begin hunting for small fish kept in the same aquaterarium, for example, guppies.

How long can a turtle not eat?

A red-eared slider may not eat at all for 10 to 90 days; this period is individual for each individual. Young turtles can starve for the least amount of time. In this case, reptiles can lose up to 40% of their mass. But you should not starve them; you should offer food regularly.

When keeping such turtles at home, it is necessary to create feeding conditions for them that are as close to natural as possible. And then the pet will be able to remain active and healthy for a long time.

What do you feed your red-eared pet? Share your experience in the comments.

How to find out age

Unfortunately, sometimes even store salespeople are unable to accurately tell the age of a red-eared turtle, so owners have to deal with this issue on their own. The following data will help you find out the age of a reptile:

• 2 years – females 8-9 cm, males – 7-8 cm.
• 3 years – females 10-14 cm, males – 8-10 cm.
• 4 years – females 13-16 cm, males – 12-14 cm.

In addition to calculating age based on pet size, you can find out the approximate number of years in the following way:

• Shell color - in young turtles the coating is green. After 4 years of life, the shell begins to darken; in older reptiles the cover is almost black.
• Rings – rings are formed on the shell when reptiles reach one year, 2-3 rings are added every six months. After 4 years of life, the ring appears once a year. By counting the number of rings, you can roughly estimate the age of the turtle.