My GF recently recieved 2 turtles as a birthday gift. She has always loved turtles and is ecstatic about this gift. One of the problems that has risen is how often and how much to feed these 2 Turtles? She has done a fair bit of online research, and has been seeing information that seems to contradict itself. This has mostly been about the frequency of feeding, a range of 2x/day to 1x every 2 days. So whats the straight dope? Any turtle experts out there?
(I am not sure of the kind of Turtle, but I think it is a Painted Turtle, these turtles are from Ontario)
Ok, turtles can go for a long time without eating. I have a Red-eared slider myself. I, however, give into his demands for food - he bangs the glass, really hard, if he hasn’t been fed - and feed him one pellet a day. I am sad when we go away for the weekend and I can’t feed him daily, but really, he doesn’t need it.
If the purpose of having the turtle is to eventually consume it in the form of turtle soup, then you want to maximize growth with frequent feeding. If it is a pet, then feeding daily or every 48 hours is sufficient. Obesity is a problem encountered in turtles, lizards, and snakes.
If the turtle is being fed in an aquatic environment, then water quality is a huge potential problem.
WHat’s your setup? Is there adequate underwater swimming room? 20 gallon (long) is the absolute too-small-minimum size tank for two painted turtles. And you’ll need a filter, a heater, a full-spectrum light, and a place for both turtles to get out of the water. They have to dry off periodically. A float is better than a pile of rocks, because it offers less surface area for bacterial growth and frees up more swimming space for exercise.
I use Reptomin, now that I only have one turtle. When I had dozens I used Purina Trout Chow. You can get trout chow from some reptile-specialist pet stores, but make sure it’s fresh; I would throw mine out every 6 months if I didn’t get through all 50#.
I feed every 2 or 3 days, enough to fill the stomach; couple teaspoons per turtle.
I am not at sure about the breed of turtle. They are currently very small, maybe 2 inches tops from tip to tail. I believe the tank is a 15 gallon tank. There are rocks along the bottom which gently slope upwards to form a small beach area. There is a rock that is in the middle of the tank, gently sloped, with a fake log (the kind you get at fish stores) supporting the higher end. This provides 2 sunning areas, with minimal swimming area loss (the turtles can swim underneath the rock and through the log). It is by a window that gets plenty of natural sunlight all day, as well during the evening the heat lamp is turned on. This lamp is aimed at both the rock and the log, the Turtles apparently enjoy sitting on these in the evening. The water at its deepest is about 2-2.5 inches deep, the turtles can just reach there mouths/noses out when in the deep end and sitting at the bottom.
A filter is owned by my GF, but she is unsure if this filter needs to be totally submerged to work, or if just the bottom can be submerged. Currently it is not in the tank. There is no heater. What is the heater used for? Is it absolutely necessary? The heat lamp and being in the sun all day isn’t good enough?
As to the food, currently they are being fed some food bought at a petstore, can’t remember what it is called. The food is in pellet form, maybe 1 cm long. As these Turtles were just recieved on Sunday, and the tank set up that day, I have only seen one feeding. A single pellet was given to each turtle. One didn’t try to eat, the other ate about half of one before swimming away. The food was removed about 30 minutes after being served.
These turtles were born in August, and are still very young. Is there anything special that needs to be done for Turtles that are only 7 months old?
It’s easy to visualize a fat lizard or snake, but what does an obese turtle look like? Do their shells expand oddly, or are there extra-bulgy bits of turtle flesh coming out of the holes in its shell, or what?
Your turtles are too small. A seven month old painted turtle should be at least 3 or 4 inches, IIRC. My hatchlings always grew very quickly.
They need deepwater swimming area. There should not be gravel or sand or anything on the bottom; bare glass. There should be only enough rocks, etc. to form a basking area. There absolutely must be a filter. That is your first priority.
Second priority is you must get a full-spectrum fluorescent light. Window glass filters out ultraviolet light, so your turtles will begin to have calcium absorbtion problems. They may have already; that may be why they’re not growing.
Feed them some extra protein: chopped up fish, sprinkled with reptile vitamins. Non-fatty fish: orange roughy is a good choice. While they’re growing, feed them as much as they’ll eat. As long as your water is filtered.
Third priority is heat. It’s impossible to regulate the temperature from heat lamps. Submerged aquarium heaters have thermostats. The water temp should be around 70F.
Aquatic turtles have some pretty specific, but still pretty simple, requirements. If you don’t meet them they’re not likely to thrive. Two inches at seven months is not thriving.
My friend had a tortoise*–probably 2+ foot diameter shell, and she fed it canteloupe, grapes, etc. It used to just maw on banana, smushing its face right in there and getting bits of banana plastered all over its snout. Very cute.
*she bought it before realizing it would live to be 100; it has gone to a specialist to raise but not before being her classroom pet for years. At one point it busted out of its area over the weekend and set off the motion sensors so she got called in by the cops to come round up her tortoise.
Carry on.