Vegetables

[duuuhhtwinning]

Hi, this might be in another thread and I missed it. If so feel free to point me to the thread! I was wondering how much romaine lettuce and vegetables juvenile res should be eating. I have tried to give mine a couple leaflets but they do not seem interested.

Thank you!

 

[Yvonne G]

RES are pretty carnivorous. You can float a leaf of lettuce on the water but I doubt he'll eat any of it. Same way with a slice of zucchini. Let's ask @Markw84

 

[Aeon]

Romance lettuce.....!
NONE!
It have zero nutritional value!
It's 95% water.
As @Yvonne G pointed out RES are totally carnivores. They love chicken and duck even pork. They will eat fish both live or dead PLEASE THOUGH DO NOT GIVE THEM GOLDFISH! they will also eat crustations shrimp, clams. They will eat leafy greens (note on this, the darker green the higher nutritional value) you can also try them with tomato, spring onion, cucumber, cabbage etc. Every Turtle is different they each have their own character, personality, tastes, likes and dislikes. Have fun trying new things with her, get to know her and most of all enjoy har as your pet ; )

 

[Aeon]

PS....
There is always the pellet food which you should maybe consider as her staple diet...

 

[Markw84]

@duuuhhtwinning Red ears are primarily carnivorous/insectivorous as young. Probably as much as 90%. As they get older, the progressively get more vegetarian, where as adults they can be as much as 50/50 in preference. Many people make a mistake of not offering leafy greens to young turtles. Romaine lettuce is good to offer. It is indeed about 95% water, but so is almost every leafy green like endive, cilantro alfalfa sprouts, etc etc. Romaine is very high in vitamin A and young aquatic turtles are particularly prone to vit A deficiencies in captivity. So floating some romaine lettuce is a great practice. Often it will go untouched, but the more you offer it, the more you will start to see bites out of it.

I do recommend getting them on a pellet food as a staple ASAP. That is the best way to ensure the proper vitamins, and minerals like calcium. I find the Reptomin baby formula to be particularly easy to get my hatchlings to start eating and it has a higher percentage of calcium and D3 for young turtles. It also softens quickly and is easier for them to eat when especially young.

 

[Aeon]

Oh I didn't know that about romain being high in vit A thanks @Markw84.

 

[duuuhhtwinning]

I have them on a pellet diet now and the occasional “treat” here and there. I was just curious about he vegetables because I remember reading they’re supposed to be offered some, but wasn’t sure at what age. Thanks for the responses guys I appreciate it a ton!

 

[Toddrickfl1]

Along with feeding pellets I float various greens for my slider and Cooter hatchling including romaine, kale, turnip greens, mustard greens, etc, and they eat it right up.

 

[cdmay]

Here is a field observation regarding both red-eared sliders and their cousin the yellow-bellied slider, both Trachemys.
I’ve been able to paddle up on wild examples of both that were so busy munching aquatic plants that they weren’t aware of me.

As had been said by Markw84, as they mature their diet shifts to more vegetarian material.
Here is another point, we often refer to these turtles as being carnivorous as juveniles, and this is true—mostly. I would add that juveniles are INSECTIVOROUS as well. Various insect larvae, (nymphs and instars) comprise a very large part of the diet of wild RES and YBS. Think dragonfly nymphs, stonefly larvae and a bunch of other aquatic ‘bugs’.