Hi! Introduce yourselves here. :: Hey there

[GNAF35]

Hey, my name is Ashley. I'm 19y/o and attending my 2nd and finale yr at Northern College to becoem a vet tech. I own two RES. I got my first one, Kameko in May '07, which he was born in April '07. I belive he is a he, as he is only 9 months old it's hard to tell yet. I do belive he is a male since he has longer front claws then my yr old has. Michael Angelo came shortly after, around August. But he/she (not sure) was born in January '07. He which may be a she due to it's size already, is probaly 4-5 inches long. So my question is, am I over feeding, when she came she was a lot smaller. She is not fat by any means just large. So in that case I would think im not over feeding by that much, but I also know she will grow larger(shell size) if she is fed more. Not too sure, tell me what you think.
Anyways here are some pictures:
X mas time kameko on left michael angelo on right

kameko left michael angelo right

Jerry top left, Tom top right, kameko left, michael angelo right

Michael Angelo when I first got him (august) she's probaly the size of half that rock atleast now.

Kameko when I first got him... sooooo small aww

[emma]

Welcome to the forum! Your kitties are so cute and they look just like one of mine! Your turtles are very pretty too!
So, how were your turtles when you first got them? How much have you been feeding them and when? What have you been feeding them?

[GNAF35]

Kameko was just a hatchling so he didnt want to eat for a few days at the beging.. and he had a 7hr drive up here.. kinda scary for a baby. But he eats great now. Michael angelo always ate enough.. Right now they get to share between the two of them, 1/2tsp of two different shrimp types, 1/2tsp of two differnt pellet types twice a day. So 2tsp of food per turtle per day. I am going to lower their food intake tho. Since I've been reading up I realized that was too much. I will have to do this gradually tho. The thing is the food container says to feed as much as consumed in 10min, which after reading this site is a complete lie. My turtles finihs that food in like 5-6minutes.. they're just fast eaters i guess. They probally should be getting half of what im feeding them.

[emma]

Yes. Make sure the amount of pellets you feed are the amount you think can fit into your turtles head. Are you feeding your turtles any lettuce, carrots, or fruits? The shrimp should only be fed like once a month. And you can cut down with the feeding to only once every other day.

[GNAF35]

i've been trying since i got them.. they will eat a little romane lettuce but that has only been since this week, do u have any suggestions, i've tried strwaberry, kale, iceberg, carrots, dandelion leaves, melon, etc.. they are still little guys.. in age atleast lol.. well kameko is still small.. and now when i look at michael angelo i realize he is begining to pyramind.. im so happy i found this site in time, so atleast i can fix her/him before its too late.

[emma]

Well, your turtles still may be to young to like lettuce. Have you been reading through the sections on feeding in the main site on what foods are better than others? Look through that. Iceberg lettuce is very bad for turtles and provides no nutritional value. My turtles eat the green and red lettuce. Just keep offering the veggies to them.
And for calcium, you can add some cuttlebone into their diet. You can find this in the bird section at almost any store.

[GNAF35]

Yea i read through that section earlier today, it helps a lot.. a lot of sites say the exact oppoiste but u can tell this site is right. yea i had little calcium dissolvable turtles but ill look into the cuttle bone. how do u feed it? do u break it into little piece or just place it into the water and let it do its own job?

[emma]

Dissolvable turtles? Those really do nothing to help a turtle. I used to have those until I figured out that my turtles started to eat them. They are just useless and a waste of money.
When you get the cuttlebone all you have to do is take off the hard backing so your turtle will be able to eat it. You can break it into reasonable sized pieces so your turtle can take nibbles off it from time to time.

[GNAF35]

How much do you feed at a time?

[emma]

It doesn't really matter. You can always make sure though that there is cuttlebone in the tank.

[GNAF35]

ok thanks