Food for Turtles

Turtle Food

• Turtles should eat specially formulated turtle food. Find good turtle food in a pet supply store, at a discount store or online. If you find a food made specially for your type of turtle, buy that type. Otherwise, basic turtle pellets or reptile pellets (as long as the package says the food is good for turtles) will work. Feed your turtle pellets every day. The amount of pellets should depend on his size. Smaller turtles should have a pinch of pellets. Larger turtles can have a pile of pellets that fills up the bottom of your cupped hand. A good way to tell exactly how much to feed your turtle is to watch how much he eats. Your turtle should eat all of the pellets you give him in about 10 minutes. If you are giving him too much, he won't eat it all, and if you are giving him too little, he will eat it very quickly and still appear to want more. Turtles have vivacious appetites, so don't give your pet as much as he will eat, because he will likely continue to eat until he gets sick.

Vegetables

• Turtles like vegetables. The best vegetables for your turtle are shredded carrots and celery, and pieces of lettuce. Start with small amounts of these vegetables every other day. Some turtles will take awhile to get used to eating this type of food and might not like it at first. As your turtle discovers how good it tastes, she will eat more. For turtles who live in water, try floating the pieces of vegetables.

Other Proteins

• In the wild, turtles get protein from eating small fish, flies and other bugs. Find these protein sources at a pet supply store. Some stores sell the actual animals or insects to feed turtles. Other stores sell special supplemental foods that have these things included in them. You do not need to feed your turtle flies, bugs, fish, or other sources of protein. You can buy the supplemental foods to feed him instead. He should have some of these a couple of times a week.