What to feed turtles? Beginner Tips

2024 Author: Priscilla Miln | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 00:21

If you decide to have a turtle in your house, then, first of all, you must clearly understand that the turtle is not a toy, but a living being. This is a real wild reptile that will not climb onto its owner's lap and will not purr like a cat, but rather simply will not react to you in any way and may even bite painfully.

Nevertheless, turtles are often kept in apartments as pets, because they do not require such care as a cat or dog, do not spoil furniture, do not shit in the corners, do not bark. And you need to walk the turtle only in summer in sunny weather, and even then not every day. It should be remembered that, being a cold-blooded animal by nature, the tortoise needs heating and proper nutrition, receiving with food what it receives in nature. Therefore, the question of what to feed is one of the main ones.

The widely held belief that a turtle can be given bread, cheese, milk, cottage cheese and even cat food is wrong from the outset. But what to feed the turtles?

Based on the type of food turtles can be divided into three groups.

• Predatory. Nearlyall these species live in water, and therefore feed mainly on food of animal origin (mainly fish and seafood), which makes up 70 to 90% of their diet, and only 10-30% is plant food. The main product in the diet of these turtles is lean fish. Before feeding turtles with fish, the meat should be deboned and cut into small pieces. Once a week, they should be given lean boiled meat, which is saturated with animal protein. As vitamins give the meat of snails or worms. In winter, multivitamins should be given for prevention. You can also use ready-made turtle food available at pet stores (such as Aquarius Turtle Menu or Tropical BioREPT).
• Herbivores. These turtles consume about 90% plant and 2 to 10% animal food. They are usually fed with a mixture of vegetables, herbs, fruits with the addition of proteins and vitamin and mineral supplements. Before feeding the turtles, the mixture should be finely chopped. Turtles up to a year old should be fed daily, but food should not be left for more than 2-3 hours. Adult turtles are recommended to be fed 2-3 times a week. For a turtle, this is not dangerous, but rather, on the contrary, it is only beneficial. In no case should you give your pet brown bread, milk, citrus peels and fruit seeds, as they contain alkaloids. Also, some types of indoor plants should not be eaten. Do not abuse sweet fruits, grapes, cucumbers, cherries, spices. In the summer, turtles enjoy eating dandelions, mother-and-stepmother, clover, as well as strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, etc.



Once a week, mineral (carbonate, calcium palmitate, borogluconate, glycerophosphate, bone meal, crushed eggshells) and protein (raw liver, bran, dry yeast, cottage cheese, boiled egg, minced meat) supplements should be given.

• Omnivores. They use both animal and vegetable food in a combination of approximately 50x50. What to feed the turtles of this group is clear from their name.

It is recommended to keep turtles in terrariums. With proper nutrition and proper care, they can live for over 30 years.