How much turtles eat

Create a personalised ads profile. Select personalised ads. Apply market research to generate audience insights. Measure content performance. Develop and improve products. List of Partners vendors. Featured Video. Related Topics. Article Sources. The Spruce Pets uses only high-quality sources, including peer-reviewed studies, to support the facts within our articles.

Read our editorial process to learn more about how we fact-check and keep our content accurate, reliable, and trustworthy. Plus, growing turtles need the vitamins and nutrients that can be found in feeder fish livers.

As turtles age their diets change and they begin to eat plants and other vegetation. Most pet turtles are omnivorous, meaning they enjoy both plants and meat, so treating your pet turtle to a small fish snack every now and then is a good idea.

Pet turtles, depending on their size and age, enjoy small fish like minnows and gold fish. Knowing the age of your pet turtle will help you decide whether or not to feed it fish, as well as how often. You should also look for fishmeal to be one of the top three ingredients listed on the label, and for added vitamins and minerals to be called out in the ingredient list, says Dr.

Sill unsure what to choose? Consult a veterinarian. But maintaining a clean habitat with healthy water is very important, says Dr. That varies with the size of your turtle, but generally a portion of pelleted food may last 4 to 6 weeks, depending on supplemental feeding and pet size, says Dr.

If your turtle is still juvenile, feed it every day, advises Dr. Once it reaches adulthood around 7 years old , you can feed it every other day—or about 4 to 5 times a week.

Stick with around 1 cup of food per day, then increase or decrease that amount depending on how your turtle responds. Besides fruits and vegetables, you could offer sparing amounts of meat to your turtle, says Dr.

If your turtle stops eating, keep an eye out for other common turtle problems. Watch for shell problems. A turtle's shell is an indicator of health and wellness. Changes to the shell can indicate poor nutrition, especially, though not exclusively, too little calcium in its diet.

If you notice deformities, such as cone-shaped lumps or a flaky, rotting shell your turtle might not be getting the appropriate nutrition. Talk to your vet immediately. While rare, turtle food and pellets can be contaminated with certain parasites. Change in a turtle's appetite, energy, and weight might indicate a parasite.

A runny nose or drooping eyelids can indicate a deficiency. Serious infections are marked by mouth-breathing, mucus in the mouth, or wheezing. Make food decisions for long-term health. Your turtle could live for a very long time if cared for properly.

Begin considering long-term health at an early age. Many health issues can be caused by an improper diet, so you should make decisions about feeding your turtle with an eye on its long-term well-being.

Buy pellets from reputable companies and avoid off-brand, cheap pellets. Look into pellet reviews online and discuss with your vet to keep up-to-date on any recalls on turtle food. Make sure any produce you feed your turtle is fresh.

Also, wash it before feeding your turtle. Remember, any pesticides or bacteria harmful to humans can also be harmful to your turtle. Prepare any produce that you feed your turtle as you would prepare it for yourself.

Look into supplements. Because vitamin deficiencies are responsible for many turtle health problems, talk to your veterinarian about health supplements to ensure that your turtle is getting the nutrients it needs. Calcium is a particularly important nutrient for turtles. Calcium supplements for turtles can be purchased at a pet store. Dust calcium over the food up two or three times per week.

Include your email address to get a message when this question is answered. Always wash your hands after handling your turtles as they may carry certain diseases harmful to humans. Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0. Related wikiHows How to. How to. Reptile Specialist. Expert Interview. More References About This Article. Co-authored by:. Co-authors: Updated: July 30, Categories: Turtles and Tortoises. Article Summary X To feed a baby turtle, start by figuring out what kind of turtle you have since different varieties of turtles prefer different foods.

Italiano: Nutrire un Cucciolo di Tartaruga. Nederlands: Een babyschildpad voeren. Thanks to all authors for creating a page that has been read , times. Reader Success Stories Ron B. You can learn more on my article about the best filter for turtle tank. If you are afraid that your turtle might be eating too much, you should try to counter this by encouraging them to exercise more.

An easy way to do this is to add ornaments to your turtle tank. I recommend checking out some of these cool ornaments that your turtle can climb on. How much and how often you should feed them depends on when they reach maturity. Now that you know how much to feed your turtle. In general, it is best to feed your turtle every day or every other day. However, the exact answer depends on the age of your turtle. Here are some good rules of thumb for frequency of feedings:. Moreover, you need to give your turtle a healthy, balanced diet of more than just turtle pellets.

This ratio should apply to juvenile and young adult turtles. As the turtle ages, I would phase out one of the pellet feeding days and replace it with leafy greens and veggies. This then begs the question, how many leafy greens, vegetables and treats should I be feeding them?

This means that you can give them slightly more than the size of their heads, as a lot of this food is not quite as dense and nutritious as the turtle pellets.