advice for my turtle's diet

[sensei]

Hello everyone,

Recently, I sought advice for my turtle's diet and was told that feeding it chicken daily was not healthy and that I should offer fruits instead. So, I introduced a variety of fruits such as mango, banana, peach, and Falsa (Grewia asiatica), among others. Despite my efforts to provide a diverse selection, my turtle did not seem interested in them. It barely took one or two bites of the peach and ignored the rest. Could anyone suggest which fruits are preferable for turtles?

TURTLE: BROWN ROOF TURTLE

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Turtles and tortoises can be picky sometimes, here are some tips on introducing a healthier diet:

• Once you have offered the food, then back away and observe from a distance. Turtles will often eat more readily if they feel they are not being observed.
• A natural habitat can often encourage a turtleto eat well.
• Introduce the new food slowly and in small quantities. Cut the new food up into very small pieces and add it slowly to the tortoise's existing diet, increasing the volume bit by bit. Moistening the new and the old food and mixing them together will make it almost impossible for the turtle to separate pieces that are stuck together, and at least some of the new diet will be ingested, especially if the old and new diets are both cut up into very small pieces. This can take some time, but if you proceed slowly and are consistent then there is no reason why it shouldn't work.
• You could also try to smear the smell of the chicken on the fruits you try to offer.

Please remember:
A turtle can be stubborn, so you must stick to your aim of introducing the new diet. A healthy turtle can go for weeks without food, and providing it is fully hydrated no harm will be done. A healthy tortoise will not starve itself.


Once your turtle has accepted a better diet, its health will go from strength to strength, and its shell should grow normally. In captivity, it is almost impossible to provide the same diet that a turtle would have in the wild, but you can do your best.

Quite simply, your turtle needs to be eating a diet as close as possible to what it would eat in its natural habitat. It will help to ensure that your tortoise has a long and healthy life and only you can make the change.

This adapted to turtles form the Tortoise Table: https://www.thetortoisetable.org.uk/tortoise-diet/introducing-a-new-diet/

I will also tag some more members with more experience in water turtles @Markw84 @Yvonne G @mark1 @EppsDynasty

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

Also, have you already treated the marks on his shell mentioned in your other thread and made the improvements to his tank?

 

[Markw84]

Hello everyone,

Recently, I sought advice for my turtle's diet and was told that feeding it chicken daily was not healthy and that I should offer fruits instead. So, I introduced a variety of fruits such as mango, banana, peach, and Falsa (Grewia asiatica), among others. Despite my efforts to provide a diverse selection, my turtle did not seem interested in them. It barely took one or two bites of the peach and ignored the rest. Could anyone suggest which fruits are preferable for turtles?

TURTLE: BROWN ROOF TURTLE

I'm not sure what so many places seem to advise against a higher protein diet and want to promote fruits and vegetables for young turtles. Having some vegetable matter available is a good plan, but the main diets of most aquatic turtles is insects, crustaceans, and any animal matter they can find.

Chicken by itself is not a good diet as it lacks too many nutrients by feeding the meat only. Worms, snails and crustaceans as well as some small fish would be ideal. In captivity that is not usually practical - so a good turtle pellet (or even a good koi pellet) is and excellent food. It normally will take a bit of time to get the turtle used to seeing the pellet as food, but introducing the pellet to the diet is a must. A good pellet can be the main diet with worms, insects, snails, crustaceans as an occasional treat.

 

[sensei]

Also, have you already treated the marks on his shell mentioned in your other thread and made the improvements to his tank?

Yes, I installed a new UV bulb and increased the tank size, although the upgrade wasn't substantial. I applied an antiseptic to the marks following advice from a local pharmacist, but there hasn't been any improvement yet. It seems like the hard part of the bottom shell is being removed, revealing a reddish-pink skin underneath.

 

[The_Four_Toed_Edward]

It might take a while for the treatment to work. Have you kept him dry for at least 30 mins after applying the antiseptic?

 

[sensei]

I'm not sure what so many places seem to advise against a higher protein diet and want to promote fruits and vegetables for young turtles. Having some vegetable matter available is a good plan, but the main diets of most aquatic turtles is insects, crustaceans, and any animal matter they can find.

Chicken by itself is not a good diet as it lacks too many nutrients by feeding the meat only. Worms, snails and crustaceans as well as some small fish would be ideal. In captivity that is not usually practical - so a good turtle pellet (or even a good koi pellet) is and excellent food. It normally will take a bit of time to get the turtle used to seeing the pellet as food, but introducing the pellet to the diet is a must. A good pellet can be the main diet with worms, insects, snails, crustaceans as an occasional treat.

i am consistently giving him mix of best turtle feed i could find, everyday but only thing she eat in the end would be either cucumber or chicken. 😔

 

[sensei]

It might take a while for the treatment to work. Have you kept him dry for at least 30 mins after applying the antiseptic?

Yes, 30-40 minutes, but I've also noticed that during this time, she constantly tries to return to the water, possibly due to the heat. The average temperature here is around 107.6°F or 42°C.

 

[sensei]

I'm not sure what so many places seem to advise against a higher protein diet and want to promote fruits and vegetables for young turtles. Having some vegetable matter available is a good plan, but the main diets of most aquatic turtles is insects, crustaceans, and any animal matter they can find.

Chicken by itself is not a good diet as it lacks too many nutrients by feeding the meat only. Worms, snails and crustaceans as well as some small fish would be ideal. In captivity that is not usually practical - so a good turtle pellet (or even a good koi pellet) is and excellent food. It normally will take a bit of time to get the turtle used to seeing the pellet as food, but introducing the pellet to the diet is a must. A good pellet can be the main diet with worms, insects, snails, crustaceans as an occasional treat.

I also believe she is wild-caught, maybe she has never eaten anything like that before, that's why she isn't interested in that