Turtles

Aquarium-Terrarium

Diet 

What you feed your turtle is probably the most important thing for you to know because if you feed him a proper diet this is a vital factor in maintaining your turtle's health!

Coaxing your turtle to eat the proper foods is usually the most difficult task that anyone planning to keep a turtle should probably learn first of all.  It is puzzling, but quite a few turtles especially the ones that are caught in the wild, either won't eat at all or fixate on only one food item. This could be related to the stress of being captured and removed from his familiar "home".

 It's been found that both temperature and lighting can also be a factor in triggering a turtle's appetite and of course they have their own individual food preferences as well.  If a turtle is not provided with the ideal circumstances to eat in he will actually stop feeding.   A turtle differs from warm-blooded animals in that they are not required by their metabolism to eat. They will just slow down their activities and stay in their shells until they are provided with the right conditions. The unfortunate thing is, that if they are "stuck" in a tank or housed in an outdoors in one area, the better conditions just won't arrive unless you, as their keeper, make an effort to create them!  If you do not, your turtle will gradually become weaker and weaker until he eventually becomes debilitated and then of course he will inevitably die.  You see why it is so important to find a way to coax your turtle to eat! 

Researching Any Problems With Your Turtle's Appetite

Here are some of the reasons you might look for initially when and if your turtle refuses to eat: 

If he is housed outside, try feeling him in the late morning hours.  If  it is early in the year or late in the fall, it may simply be a matter of adjusting the time he feeds to a later hour so he has a chance to get warmed up a bit first. 

If night time temperatures are reaching below 65°F, your turtle 
does need to warm up his body temperature prior to eating.

You see, cold turtles aren't able to digest their food properly so his location is an important factor when considering a place for an outdoor turtle area.  Check and see if his enclosure is facing the east, if it is it will get morning sun.  If it is facing west, it might not get any sunshine until later in the day. West and north-facing turtle enclosures just are not good at all.

Believe it or not, some turtles are just very shy and won't eat out in the open. If this is the case, you will need to provide an eating area 
where he can feel safe such as an area near a bush or shrub or by his hide box. 

Where is his food?  In the sun or shade? Try placing the food dish in  where it is partly shaded in the summer. Turtles can overheat 
very rapidly, and he may not want to go out into the sun to eat if it’s too hot.  In the fall, when it’s a lot cooler in the daytime hours, then you can place the food dish in the sun.

Does your turtle like the kind of food you are giving him? Wild turtles are omnivores and will eat earthworms, snails, grubs, beetles, caterpillars, grasses, fallen fruit, berries, mushrooms and 
flowers. They'll try anything that smells edible. But they have never found  hamburgers or bacon and eggs out in the wild! Give your turtle what he requires, not what's easiest for you to give him. If you find something your turtle really enjoys, then you are half-way to breaking any bad eating habits. If it loves earthworms, give him chopped worms with grated yellow squash and cantaloupe. Maybe you could try him with a plate of worms and chopped collard greens and 
strawberries. (Sound yummy? *smiles*)

If your turtle is housed indoors and you have more than one housed together, the dominant turtle may not let the weaker turtle eat.  Be sure each turtle has his own individual food dish. Place the food in shallow plates of some sort.

After you have eliminated types of food, location, shyness etc., as causes to a hunger strike and your turtle is still not eating, then you will have to look at medical causes. For a beginning turtle keeper it will be very difficult to tell from behavior if a turtle refuses to eat due to illness.  If he still hasn’t eaten after a week, then a trip to a veterinarian who is knowledgeable about turtles may be necessary.

Food Choices When Your Turtle Is Eating

Turtles have specific dietary needs to see that they stay in good health. A well-balanced diet can be easily achieved by providing a combination of common grocery store foods and backyard findings.

Diet 

Each feeding should include a food from several food groups. Include a protein, a vegetable and a fruit, or a protein, a fruit and a green leafy vegetable.  By offering a variety of foods to your turtle, you are increasing the chances that he'll get the minerals and vitamins needed to ensure good health. You are also lessening the chances of him fixating on just a few foods.

Feed young turtles a small amount daily or every other day. Adults can be fed every two days in late spring and summer.  Regardless of the age of your box turtle, a feeding schedule should be made up ahead of time.  

Clean water should be always be readily available as well.

Protein should make up about fifty percent of his diet. Protein foods should be chopped up small enough so that the turtle cannot get its fill of food with only a bite of protein. Mix the protein together with the vegetables and fruits. All meats should be sprinkled with a calcium supplement containing no phosphorus.  Cuttlebone given to birds may also be shaved onto food stuff or left in the turtle's area so he can forage on it when he wishes to. It is high in calcium.

Regularly feed live, whole foods like pesticide free earthworms, slugs, wax worms, beetles, grubs, sow bugs.  Boiled, chopped chicken, feeder fish or beef heart.

Once in a while he should be given low-fat soaked dog kibble, soaked puppy dog bones, low-fat premium canned dog food, cooked lean steak, mealworms and crickets that have been filled with enriched food. You can give him prepared box turtle food products as well.

Very rarely he can have boiled egg, tofu or low-fat cat kibble.

Don't ever give him raw meats, fatty meats or processed meats.

Vegetables should make up about thirty percent of his diet. (only the section of the vegetable that is colorful because that contains the most nutrition). Always try to use fresh vegetables and steam or grate hard vegetables prior to offering them to your turtle.

He can regularly have summer and winter squashes, peas in the pod, sweet potatoes, okra, grated carrots, green beans, wax beans and cactus pads with all the spines removed.

Once in a while he can have mushrooms, corn on the cob and tomatoes.

You can rarely give him sprouts, broccoli, cabbage, beets and cauliflower.

Fruits should make up about ten percent of his diet (they are like dessert to your turtles).  Almost all turtles love fruits and each turtle seems to have his own favorite.  Look for your turtle’s favorite. If he is a picky eater, you can use the fruit to lure him into eating other foods.  Chop the fruit into small pieces and mix it with foods the turtle should eat but refuses to. 

He can routinely eat grapes, fresh figs, blackberries, raspberries, mulberries, apples, crabapples, strawberries, cantaloupe, kiwis, cherries and persimmons.

Only occasionally give him bananas and watermelon.

Leafy dark greens should make up the remaining ten percent of his diet. They contain fiber and many minerals and vitamins and greens will also keep your turtle healthy due to their their cleansing action. so provide your turtle with greens often.

You can regularly give him collard greens, mustard greens, dandelion greens, carrot tops, wheat grass and turnip greens.

Only occasionally feed him romaine, red leaf lettuce, endive.
parsley, kale or Swiss chard.

Don't ever give him spinach, rhubarb leaves and iceberg lettuce.

Most of all, have fun with your new pet turtle!

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