Aquatic baby turtle food

Aquatic Turtles: Care and Feeding Basics to Be Aware Of

The fundamentals of aquatic turtle care and feeding

By PawTracks October 8, 2022

Did you know the difference between turtles and tortoises is that turtles live at least partially in the water, while tortoises live exclusively on land? Both types make great pets, but caring for them can be a time-intensive task. If you’re considering buying an aquatic turtle, you should first know how to best take care of one. You certainly don’t want to bring a new turtle home and realize you’re in way over your head. Read on to learn the fundamentals of aquatic turtle care.

Contents

What is the water vs. land ratio?
What should an aquatic turtle’s environment include?
What do turtles eat?
What are the signs that a turtle is sick?

What is the water vs.

land ratio?

Most turtles spend some time on land; even sea turtles venture to dry ground to lay their eggs. Turtles do not need and should not have enclosures full of water. Small floating platforms that turtles can climb onto should suffice for turtles that spend most of their time underwater. However, some aquatic turtles enjoy exploring the land and need more of a dry area. Research the particular species of aquatic turtle you’re interested in to find out how much time they spend in the water compared to on land.

What should an aquatic turtle’s environment include?

Turtles usually don’t like to be handled and may bite. That means your new reptile will spend most of its time chilling out in its habitat. Their environment should be quiet, with the correct water temperature, lighting, and filtration system. It is vital to their health and well-being for their environment to mimic the dwellings of turtles in nature. Your tank should include the following:

Plenty of space: First and foremost, you will need a tank of sufficient size to allow your turtle room to swim freely. Individual turtles need at least a 40-gallon tank filled with chlorine-free filtered water.
Clean water: Because turtles eat and defecate in their water, they need a filter to prevent the waste from polluting the tank. In addition, you’ll need to empty and clean the tank with a bleach solution at least once weekly.
A basking lamp and heater: The habitat will require a basking lamp and a submersible heater to keep the water cooler at one end than the other. A platform at least partially out of the water is necessary, preferably with a ramp to create a shallow area for basking. Turtles need exposure to an incandescent and UV lamp or direct sunlight for 10 to 12 hours daily for optimum health.
Extras: You can put gravel or stones at the bottom of the tank as long as they are big enough that your turtle won’t try to eat them. Only one turtle species should live in any given tank, but most can coexist with some fish.

What do turtles eat?

All turtles (but not all tortoises) are omnivores, meaning they eat both plants and meat. Aquatic turtles can eat a variety of foods, though they can survive on a diet of commercial turtle pellets and frozen or dried fish food. Alternatively, you can feed fresh foods to a turtle. Foods that are healthy and safe for turtles include insects like grubs and crickets, earthworms, small fish, and dark leafy greens such as kale and collard greens. Adult turtles only need to eat three to five times per week, and baby turtles may need to eat up to twice a day. In addition, turtles need a calcium supplement, usually in the form of a powder, dusted on their food two to three times per week.

What are the signs that a turtle is sick?

Aquatic turtles can live upward of 20 years, so anticipate having your shelled friend for quite some time! Healthy turtles should be active and alert, eat regularly, have a hard shell and clear skin free of lesions, and have clear eyes and nostrils. Note that turtles shed their scutes (plates that make up their shells) periodically.

These are some telltale signs that your turtle is unwell:

Hyperactivity or lethargy
Discharge from the eyes, mouth, or nose
Discoloration or growths on the shell or skin
Sneezing
Not eating
An overgrown beak
Abnormal feces

If you notice any of these symptoms, take your turtle to the vet as soon as possible. Calcium deficiencies are relatively common in aquatic turtles, hence the recommendation to supplement their diets with calcium. Turtles often carry salmonella, which can be transmitted to and cause illness in humans. Always wash your hands after handling turtles or parts of their enclosure.

Though they may be tedious to care for, having an aquatic turtle as a pet is a rewarding and interesting experience. The various species of turtles have slightly different behaviors, so be sure to pick one that fits your personality. Soon, you’ll have a reptilian buddy to enjoy!

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What Do Aquatic Turtles Eat?

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Aquatic turtles kept as pets are typically more difficult to care for than most pet parents realize. Turtles should eat a variety of commercially available turtle pellets (which includes required protein for their health) in addition to live food and a variety of vegetables. Turtles can even enjoy the occasional fruit or treat!

Each individual turtle’s diet should be thoroughly considered and researched based on the natural diet of the species and in coordination with a reptile veterinarian.

Foods for Turtles

Most semiaquatic and aquatic turtles, like red sliders, painted turtles, and pond turtles, are omnivores, which means they eat a combination of animal protein and vegetables. Some species, such as the spiny soft-shell turtle, are considered carnivorous and eat primarily animal protein. Typically, aquatic turtles eat more animal protein when they are young and more veggies as they get older. It’s important to continue to evolve your turtle’s diet as they age.

Carnivorous turtles should eat a mixture of multiple commercially produced turtle pellets in addition to live animal protein. Omnivorous turtles should also receive the pellet mix, as well as approved vegetables and plant matter. The typical ratio of foods for an adult omnivorous turtle include:

What Do Turtles Eat?

Adult turtles should be offered food every two to three days, while juveniles typically eat daily. Many companies offer commercially available pellets for aquatic and semiaquatic turtles. It is essential to rotate different brands of pellets, so your turtle is exposed to multiple varieties. By switching brands, or combining 4-5 different brands at once, pet parents are more likely to meet the turtle’s nutritional needs for vitamins, minerals, and macronutrients. This will ensure a strong, healthy, and long-lived turtle! Common commercial diets include:

Aquatic Turtle Formula, by Fluker Farms
Aquatic Turtle Diet, Mazuri
Reptomin Floating Food Sticks, by Tetra
Natural Aquatic Maintenance Formula Turtle Food, by Zoo Med
Gourmet Aquatic Turtle Food, by Zoo Med

Adult turtles should also receive a vitamin and calcium supplement sprinkled on their diet two to three times a week. There are many brands of supplements available—make sure to use one labeled for turtles or reptiles. Talk to your veterinarian to determine which brand most appropriately meets your turtle’s needs. Turtles may even enjoy calcium blocks or cuttlebone to chew on to increase their calcium intake and to help keep their beaks trim. Remove any uneaten food from the water, as the waste can contaminate it.

Turtles, like most animals, enjoy treats from time-to-time. Treats should never make up more than 5% of their overall diet and include:

Commercially available aquatic turtle treats
Dog or cat kibble
Fruits, such as banana, melon, apples, and berries
Insects, live or freeze-dried

What Vegetables Can Turtles Eat?

Nutrition plays a crucial role in keeping aquatic and semiaquatic turtles healthy. Vegetables are often underutilized but should make up most of the adult omnivorous aquatic turtle’s diet. Just like with turtle pellets, it is crucial to offer a wide variety of dark, leafy greens in addition to other vegetables. A turtle should never eat the same vegetables their entire life. Instead, offer 2-3 types of greens each feeding and 1-2 types of other veggies. Each week or two, rotate through the options below to keep your turtle healthy and happy. Highly nutritious vegetable sources for turtles include:

What Live Food Can Turtles Eat?

Live food is important to provide protein for both carnivorous and omnivorous aquatic turtles. Carnivorous turtles will eat a higher percentage of live protein in addition to a variety of pellets. Dead fish should be removed from the aquarium immediately, as they can spread disease. Feeder fish should be the primary live food offered, but others can be used occasionally. Common live prey items include:

Feeder fish, such as goldfish, guppies, bait minnows, and smelt
Insects, such as earthworms, waxworms, mealworms, and bee moth larvae
Shellfish
Brine shrimp
Slugs
Snails

What Fruits Can Turtles Eat?

Some turtles may enjoy fruit occasionally as well. Fruit should be offered raw. Cut or shred any fruits to help with swallowing and prevent choking. To help keep a turtle’s beak trim, you can offer pieces of cantaloupe with the rind still attached. Some common turtle favorites include:

Apple
Melon
Berries
Banana
Grapes
Oranges

What Can Turtles Not Eat?

There are a variety of items and foods that should never be placed in an aquarium with an aquatic turtle:

Frozen vegetables can be used occasionally, but not as a staple vegetable. They are deficient of essential vitamins, and frequent feeding can result in long-term illness in your turtle.
Frozen or freeze–dried fish are often deficient in essential vitamins and should not be fed.
Earthworms and other insects from your yard should not be offered, as they may introduce bacteria, pesticides, or parasites to your turtle.
Dog or cat food can be okay to give as an occasional treat but should never be used as a main diet staple.
Raw chicken or beef should not be offered as they commonly contain foodborne disease.
Avocados
Toxic plants, like amaryllis and some ferns
Fake plants, which may confuse the turtle and cause accidental ingestion

References

Pollock DVM, DABVP, Christal. Lafeber.com Care of Aquatic & Semiaquatic Turtles.
Horton DVM, Susan. Chicago Exotics Animal Hospital. General Care of Aquatic Turtles.
Morris, Paula. Chelonia.org Basic Care - Water Turtles. 2005.
Kaplan, Melissa. Anapsid.org. Red-Eared Sliders. 1994.

Featured Image: iStock. com/talitha_it

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How and what to feed red-eared, marsh and other aquatic turtles

Aquatic ornamental turtles are frequent inhabitants of home aquariums. These cute reptiles are very fond of children and adults. In order for the 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 right diet.

In this 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 adults and small pets, as well as depending on from the type of turtle.

Features of feeding aquatic turtles

Aquatic turtles eat plant and animal food. During the period of growth and formation of the body, turtles need food rich in protein. Natural products can be added to the diet in combination with ready-made dry food designed specifically for aquatic turtles.

Natural products are served to turtles in small pieces. A single portion is determined so that in a 30-minute snack, the turtle can completely eat the entire piece of food served. For young reptiles, 2-3 pieces of 1 cm3 are usually enough, and for feeding adult turtles, the size of the pieces should be slightly increased. If after a snack there is a half-eaten piece in the aquarium, the portion can be reduced at the next feeding.

A few more important rules for feeding aquatic turtles:

natural food should be thermally processed before feeding the reptile;
food served must be at room temperature;
food can be placed in the aquarium in a special feeder located on the ground in order not to pollute the water;
feeding with tweezers is allowed;
To create a balanced diet, you can combine prepared food with natural food.

Overview of artificial food for turtles

Dry food is recommended not as a main food for aquatic turtles, but as a supplementary food that goes well with natural food.

Dry food for aquatic turtles offers a wide range of products from different world manufacturers. We will briefly review the types of artificial food and other healthy treats for pet reptiles.

Complete dry food

Complete dry food can be given to baby and adult turtles every day. The composition of such a product includes useful components of plant and animal origin, selected taking into account all the requirements of the reptile's body.

Popular brands:

Sera;
Zoomir;
Tetra ReptoMin;
Dajana.

Treats

Non-complete feeds are classified as Treats. They can only be given to adult turtles and no more than once a week.

Popular treats:

JBL Tortil;
Tetra ReptoDelica Snack;
Sera Raffy Royal;
Zoomir "Tortila M" Strong shell, etc.

Vitamin-mineral complexes

At home, turtles cannot get all the trace elements necessary for their body, which they extract in the natural environment. So that the reptile does not get sick and feels good, it must be periodically fed with special vitamin and mineral supplements. You can buy ready-made complexes in pet supply stores.

Vitamin and mineral supplements for turtles:

MIX – mineral supplement with calcium;
MIX - general strengthening supplement;
mineral block "Tortila";
Beaphar Turtle Vitamin - vitamin complex;
FIORY Tarta Vigor - feed supplement with vitamins;
mineral block Ca+D3 "Tortila M";
Sera vitamins;
Dajana – mineral stone for aquatic turtles.

Adult tortoise and small pet diet

The diet of aquatic turtles must be combined - natural food in combination with artificial food. Consider what foods can and cannot be given to aquarium reptiles.

Useful and harmful natural products for aquatic turtles:

You can give low-fat river fish in crushed form with chopped bones. You can not feed turtles with bony and oily fish.
May be fed with live gammarus and small crustaceans.
Raw shrimp and crabs are allowed.
Turtles should not be fed squid, although they love them very much.
It is strictly forbidden to give reptiles the meat of terrestrial animals and factory meat products (sausages, canned food, etc.). The digestive system of reptiles does not absorb such food.
Occasionally, you can treat the turtle with pieces of beef heart and liver. These products feed the body with vitamin A.
It is allowed to feed the reptile with food mice and frogs.
Turtles can be given natural plant foods such as carrots, lettuce, apple pulp, herbs, sprouted oats and barley.
Non-poisonous grassland plants, as well as algae and some types of aquatic plants, can be included in the diet.
Limited pieces of pear, watermelon, melon, banana, apricot and raspberry are served.
Do not give turtles citrus fruits, nuts, soybeans, beans, cabbage, bread, flour products, cereals, fish waste, dairy products, chicken eggs.
Foods high in phosphorus, stromagenic substances and oxalates are harmful to reptiles.
With pleasure and benefit, turtles eat various insects and larvae living in the water. They can be fed with coretra, bloodworms, locusts, crickets, fly larvae, earthworms and moths. The insect must first be decapitated. Can be given dried, frozen, or live.
Live and thawed mollusks, land snails, snails, marizas, etc. are well absorbed by the reptile organism. But it is better not to treat a turtle with slugs without shells.

Turtle menu specifics depending on their species

Water turtles are more often predators, so the basis of their diet is food of animal origin. If your aquarium has a semiaquatic or marsh reptile that prefers vegetarian food, the diet will be based on plant foods. In any case, the nutrition for the turtle must be balanced and varied so that the body of the domestic reptile fully receives all the necessary substances and trace elements.

Features of the diet of turtles of different species:

The red-eared turtle prefers fry, small fish with bones, insect larvae, chicken fillet, gammarus and shrimp. From plant foods, you can give apples, lettuce and slices of fresh cucumber.
Chinese amphibian Trionix enjoys beef liver, heart, lean fish, fry and small frogs. From plant foods, she will like fresh herbs and slices of tomato.
The European bog turtle loves lean meats, fish with small bones, and plant foods.
Musk turtle prefers to feed on algae, fish and aquatic insects.

How often and at what time to feed the turtles

It is recommended to feed the turtle at the same time. The first three years of life they are fed once a day, mainly food of animal origin. As they grow, the need for such food is lost, so plant foods and dry food become the main part of the diet.

Adult turtles are fed once every 2-3 days. In summer, turtles eat more often, but in small portions, and in winter they may not eat for several days, and then gladly absorb the increased portion. In the cold season, it is recommended to add vitamin and mineral supplements to the turtle's diet.

After the turtle has been fed, the remains of food are removed from the aquarium. In the subsequent feeding, fresh food is served. You can not feed the reptile with spoiled foods, they can cause poisoning of the body.

Major Owner Mistakes

Beginning pet turtle owners often make feeding and diet mistakes that can cause serious health problems for the reptile.

The most common owner mistakes are:

feeding the turtle food from his table - salty, fried, smoked and seasoned dishes are very dangerous for the body of turtles;
regular feeding with vitamin and mineral supplements - such complexes should not be given to turtles more than once a week;
make up an unbalanced diet, for example, they regularly treat a reptile with fish, forgetting about the need to feed other healthy foods, which leads to an excess of vitamin B and a lack of other trace elements in the body.

These are the most common mistakes in feeding domestic aquatic turtles, as a result of which reptiles develop various health problems.

The following symptoms testify to improper feeding of the tortoise: coordination of the movement of the reptile is disturbed, it refuses to eat, shows lethargy, and motor activity decreases. An unbalanced diet of small turtles leads to improper development of the body and growth retardation. To eliminate such health problems for the turtle, make up a healthy and balanced diet for it!

Never try to treat a water turtle yourself. If there are certain symptoms that indicate an unhealthy condition, seek the help of a veterinarian specializing in the treatment of domestic reptiles. An experienced specialist will also tell you in detail how and what to properly feed waterfowl aquarium turtles.

Proper nutrition is the key to a healthy and long life of a domestic reptile!

Red-eared turtle: maintenance and care at home

This type of turtle is classified as a freshwater reptile. Its main feature is longish red-orange spots that are located just behind the eyes. Despite the fact that they do not have ears, they hear perfectly. Since the shield on their belly is colored bright yellow, they are also often referred to as yellow-bellies. The females of these animals are usually much larger than the males. Puberty of these animals occurs at 4 years.

Red-eared slider conditions

To keep such a reptile, you will definitely need an aquarium or terrarium, with a volume of 150-200 liters. Make sure the turtle has enough water to move freely. Ideally, the more swimming space she gets, the better.

In addition, artificial land must be created for it, on which the reptile can get out to warm itself. The island must have a sloping rise, stability, as well as the absence of burrs and sharp corners.

The island should occupy at least ¼ of the surface of the terrarium and meet certain requirements.

Heating . The temperature on it must be set at least 10 ° C higher than in water. Too high a temperature also does not need to be set, as the reptile can overheat.
Flooding . On an island, at least one side must be in the water.
Safety . The reptile should move freely and not get stuck between the island and the glass.
No toxicity . No toxic substances should be released from it.
Sustainability . The land must stand very securely, since this type of turtle is very strong and can easily turn it over.
Textured surface .

What do I need to buy to keep a turtle?

The most necessary things:

200 liter turtle tank.
Aquarium water heater 100W.
Aquarium filter (can be internal, but external is better).
UV lamp for turtles with UVB 10%.
Lamp for heating.
Aquarium lamp.
Thermometer.
Land, coast, island.

Red-eared turtle feeding

Omnivorous, feeding on a wide variety of food. Variety is important as it keeps the turtle healthy. You can feed: food for turtles, food for aquarium fish, vegetables, aquarium plants, insects, fish, invertebrates. In addition to variety, it is important to give a balanced diet high in calcium. Like all wild animals that live at home, there is a tendency to overeat.

The composition of specialized feeds is selected in such a way as to give turtles all the necessary substances. The high protein content of commercial feeds allows them to be fed in small portions.

To make the feeding more balanced, add calcium and vegetable foods and your turtle will be quite happy. Please note that calcium supplements are most often already included in commercial feeds, read the labels on the packaging.

Red-eared turtles need water to swallow because they do not produce saliva. They may take food on land, but will drag it into the water to eat. You can use this to your advantage and feed them in a separate container, so the water in the aquarium will remain clean for a longer time.

Tetra, Fiori, Sera food is perfect.

As for hibernation, which the reptile can fall into during the winter period, it is desirable to avoid it. The thing is that if you are new to keeping this type of turtle, then you may simply not have enough experience in caring for it in this period. Therefore, it is not necessary to stimulate hibernation in this reptile! Firstly, unfavorable conditions can be created for it for this period, and secondly, weakened animals may simply not survive it. To keep it from hibernating, keep the temperature at a level of at least 25 ° C, and the reptile will not even remember the long winter sleep.

Turtles that hibernate under natural conditions tend to burrow into plants or silt at the bottom of a reservoir that has a shallow depth and large dimensions. During this period, reptiles remain at the bottom all the time, oxygen is absorbed by them through membranes located in their mouth, pharynx and cloaca. In addition, the depth of the reservoir, the temperature regime and the level of oxygen in it are of great importance.