Feeding and Nutrition :: frequency of feeding

[volley56]

My turtles are 1.5 inches so I am guessing they are younger than a year old. How much do I feed them a day?

[SpotsMama]

Up until they get to be 4" long, they can have a many pellets as would fit in their heads (head only, not neck) if it were hollow - every day. When they get longer than 4", then they should be cut back to a headfull every other day.

You can break up the feeding into several small ones if you wish (and your turtle would probably like it) just so you don't go over the total allotment for the day. A good way to make sure you're feeding the right amount is to get one of the 7 day pill containers and put each day's pellets in it. Helps to keep track like that, especially if you've got several people in the household who like to feed the turtle.

Besides the pellets, your turtles can have all the cuttlebone and lettuce they want. A couple of times a week they can also get servings of other veggies like a little carrot, bell pepper, steamed sweet potato. Every week or so they can have a blueberry or piece of a strawberry.

[MoreBloodWine]

Just curious why every other day after 4" in length.

[TheComputerGremlin]

Once your turtle hits about a year old (or 4"), their main growth spurt ends. That initial spurt gets them to grown about 3.5" in one year's time. After then, the growth slows to about 1" per year. With the decreased growth comes decreased metabolism. So, to account for the decreased metabolism, we feed them less protein.

Just like how human children eat a lot when they are growing, less when they become adults, and even less when they become seniors. If adults ate the same as they did as children, we'd all be very, very fat!

[SpotsMama]

For a grown turtle that really loves his/her chow (and what turtle doesn't) you can feed him/her half a headfull every day instead of a whole headfull every other day. Comes out to be the same amount.