Aquatic ornamental turtles are frequent inhabitants of home aquariums. These cute reptiles are loved by children and adults alike. In order for a turtle to live a long and fulfilling life in a closed tank, you need to create appropriate living conditions for it and pay special attention to the correct diet.
In the article we will look at popular brands of complete food and treats for aquatic turtles, how many times a day, at what time and how to feed them correctly, whether turtles need mineral and vitamin supplements, differences in the diet of adult and small pets, and also depending on the species turtles.
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.
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.
Reproduction of representatives of the species
Representatives of this species mate from the age of 4 (males) and from 5 years (females). In order for animals to produce offspring in the future, you need to prepare an aquarium in advance. The water level should be at least 10 cm. This is necessary so that the female does not remain without water for a long time during the mating period. Then you need to prepare a dry place where the female will lay eggs in the future.
For proper mating, there should only be one boy and one girl in the aquarium. Otherwise, male turtles will fight, and they do it very aggressively - they bite off each other’s tails and paws. After the female lays eggs, they must be transferred to an incubator - a container with sand. The layout is similar to a chicken incubator. The ideal temperature for egg maturation is 25–27 C. On average, it takes about 5 months for a turtle to be born.
Incubator container
After hatching, the babies should not be allowed into the aquarium with adults, since the latter do not have developed maternal and paternal instincts, and they can attack turtles.
If turtles are properly cared for and feeding recommendations are followed, they will delight their owners for decades.
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.
How often?
And another significant issue for turtle owners is the frequency of feeding.
Here, there is no need to focus on how often the red-eared turtle feeds on something, if you do not put restrictions on it - these creatures are not endowed with increased intelligence, and eat as much as food appears within reach. Therefore, it is recommended to give food to very small turtles a couple of times a day, and to those that have reached adulthood – once every two to three days (but in sufficient quantities).
The volume of food is the size of 2 pet heads.
Between main meat meals, you can feed with plant foods - washed duckweed, pieces of vegetables or fruits. And don’t be afraid to leave your pets hungry – it’s even good for them; overfeeding is much more harmful than underfeeding!
Author - Dasha Blinova, website www.sympaty.net - Beautiful and Successful. This article has been checked and approved by a veterinarian. Knyazeva Anna Vladimirovna, veterinarian in private practice, Moscow. Learn more about the site's authors. Copying this article is prohibited!
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 picked 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.
Conditions of detention
You need to create an aquatic home for an animal based on the type of turtle, since each has its own nuances.
Keeping turtles in an aquarium comes down to meeting the general and basic requirements for aquatic turtles:
- an aquarium with a volume of at least 50 liters;
- presence of heat and light sources;
- a sufficient amount of food needed for a particular type of food.
Requirements for an aquarium
Only a horizontal terrarium is suitable for a turtle, since animals prefer to swim longer. Although the depth is of little importance for reptiles of this class, it is worth paying attention that the height of the container should be at least 30-40 centimeters. The material of the house should be durable glass or plastic, but it must be non-toxic. If a completely enclosed aquarium is intended, ventilation must be provided. Tap water is also suitable for filling, but it is better to use settled water and pour a volume that covers a little more than half the container.
Important! There is an interesting calculation of the length of its aquatic house required for an animal: the length of the aquarium should be 7-8 times the length of the shell of an adult animal.
To see the locking turtles, you need a glass house with at least 50 liters of water. It is recommended to line the bottom with bulk soil and plant several underwater plants - this way the animal will live in conditions close to natural conditions. Be sure to build a shelter at the bottom, it can be a piece of driftwood or a clay pot, or any other decorative element will do, the main thing is that it fulfills its main function - protection, and the reptile fits well in it.
Flatback turtles are a little more demanding in terms of living conditions, and they must be taken care of in a special way, otherwise the animal is unlikely to survive for long. This species cannot be kept together with other species. An aquarium with a volume of 50 liters or more is lined with small pebbles along the bottom, a layer of about 2 centimeters.
Spotted turtles need a container with a volume of 70 liters or more. Among all aquatic turtles, they are considered the most active, so it is necessary to provide sufficient space for swimming. The bottom is lined with gravel; underwater plants would be useful.
For Chinese turtles, not just an aquarium is created, but a real house with a volume of 100 liters or more. An island of land must be built on which several large stones are placed so that in the future they can be heated with a heat lamp. The bottom must be lined with soil, several underwater plants are planted, and decorative elements are installed.
Important! Amphibians, or semi-aquatic species, the Chinese and red-eared turtles, can easily leave their home over the rocks of a land island and go on a walking journey around the apartment. To prevent this from happening, it is recommended to cover the part of the aquarium with dry land with glass or a special lid.
Necessary equipment
The terrarium must be equipped with the following elements:
- Submersible heater for maintaining a constant temperature in the aquarium, on average from 20 to 25 degrees, depending on the type of animal and time of year. A device made of glass or plastic is immersed in water. A plastic device is preferable - it is stronger, has a safe suction cup, and the reptile will not get burned on it if it touches it.
- Thermometer for constant monitoring of the temperature in the terrarium.
- A water filter can be connected to an aeration device; it is necessary to purify water and enrich it with oxygen. The air tube of the aerator must be brought to the surface.
- A light lamp with a timer is necessary for the proper organization of daylight hours (from 9 to 13 hours, depending on the time of year and the type of animal).
- Land surface for semi-aquatic turtles. An island of land in an aquarium is, without a doubt, mandatory, but it is no less preferable for aquatic ones - there the animal can rest and warm up.
Temperature
For a specific subspecies, a certain temperature is set. The average is from 20 to 26 degrees.
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:
- Grind fish and seafood in a meat grinder.
- Dissolve agar-agar in water and let it swell.
- Mix the resulting minced meat well and heat over low heat for 10 minutes.
- Add dissolved agar-agar, mix thoroughly for 15 minutes.
- Pour the prepared mixture onto a baking sheet or into a plastic container and let it cool completely.
- Place on the refrigerator shelf for 5 hours.
- Cut the resulting mass into small pieces, wrap each in a piece of foil.
- 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.
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.
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.
Caring for your turtle
The first thing you should pay attention to when purchasing a pet is its appearance and size. A turtle that is under 5 cm in size at the time of purchase will be very difficult to raise. At this age, small individuals are susceptible to various infections and diseases.
This is how natural selection takes place. Therefore, a turtle 5–7 cm in size will be the best choice when purchasing
At this age, small individuals are susceptible to various infections and diseases. This is how natural selection takes place. Therefore, a turtle 5–7 cm in size will be the best choice when purchasing.
You should also carefully examine the color of the shell. The claws and tail must be intact. The skin looks healthy and the eyes shine. After the pet is in the aquarium, watch how it swims. A healthy turtle should swim smoothly, without leaning in different directions.
Healthy turtle
Features of treatment
After purchasing a pet and moving it into an aquarium, it may go through an adaptation period. Typically it will take 2 to 5 days. At this time, the animal becomes a little inhibited, or, conversely, very active. There is no need to panic and pick up the animal. Give him peace and time to adapt to new conditions. After a while, the turtle will get used to the new environment and become calmer.
When trying to pick up a turtle, do it very carefully and always with both hands. Not all representatives are willing to make contact. Some may flounder, hiss, and defecate in fear. The shell becomes slippery in water; keep this fact in mind when removing your pet from the aquarium.
After you hold the turtle in your hands, be sure to wash them with soap. Despite being kept clean, turtles are often carriers of salmonellosis. To avoid the spread of infection, you must always monitor the condition of the aquarium and the quality of the food.
Cleaning the shell
Since green algae in an aquarium is a source of infection, it is important to regularly clean not only the container, but also the turtle’s shell. They cannot do this themselves. During the decomposition process, algae also fall under the surface of the shell, and as they decompose, they harm the shell
During the decomposition process, algae also fall under the surface of the shell, and as they decompose, they harm the shell.
You will get used to the fact that once every 3-5 days you need to take the turtle out of the water and wipe its shell with a clean cloth, a special soft napkin, or gently brush it with a toothbrush. During the process, you should try to remove all small particles of algae and other dirt.
Cleaning the shell with a toothbrush
Some unscrupulous owners try to make the turtle's shell beautiful and lubricate it with various oils or creams to add shine. This is strictly prohibited, as it harms the skin and interferes with the healthy “breathing of the body” of the pet.
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.
Mineral and vitamin supplements
A young reptile needs calcium during the period of active growth, formation of the skeleton and shell. Every day there should be a pinch of bone meal in the diet; it is added to the main feed. Adults should be given 1 teaspoon of bone meal once a week. This supplement is sold at a pet store or at a market that sells grain for poultry.
As a substitute, you can use eggshells ground in a coffee grinder.
Pet stores offer a large selection of vitamin supplements for red-eared turtles. They must be given in strict accordance with the recommendations on the packaging.
An expired vitamin supplement can become poisonous to a turtle; you need to pay attention to this when purchasing and storing vitamins.
Bone flour
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.
