Feeding and Nutrition :: amount of food

[laurapa]

I have a RES that is about 4.5 inches long. I'm not sure exactly how old he is because I just got him a year ago from a friend, but he's at least 3. He is a small guy, I think because he has lived in a small tank most of his life.

I have been feeding him the amount of food his previous owner told me to. That's 4 reptomin pellets a day, and now I give him some red leaf lettuce (about a 2" piece torn into smaller pieces) daily and shredded carrots once a week. I feed him every day cause eating is the only exciting thing the poor guy has going for him. He is VERY active.

I'm confused about this "pellets in proportion to the size of the head" thing. Does that mean that the amount of pellets (every other day) should be EQUAL to the size of the head? That looks like a lot of pellets. And if pellets are supposed to be only 25% of an adult turtle's diet, that sounds like A LOT of vegetables and other foods. Am I way underfeeding my turtle?

[emma]

Yes. Feeding your turtle every other day might be lots better for your turtle. Have you looked through the sections about feeding on the main site? And yes, just feed your turtle the amount you think can fit into his head. That may look like a lot, but it really isn't for the size of your turtle. How many pellets are you thinking of?

[SpotsMama]

I confess I feed pellets to my turtle every day too - half a headful at a time - for the same reason you do - because it makes him so happy.

Pellets in proportion to the size of his head is the rule of thumb that we all use. On the veggies, some turtles on here eat huge quantities of lettuce - it always amazes me. Others, not so much. My Spot is 5 years old and veggies are not currently 3/4 of his diet - they are more like half or less. That's all he'll eat. But the amount of veggies that he eats is always increasing. I think within a year he may be eating three times as much volume in veggies as his half headful of pellets every day.