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Greetings!

I've done a forum search and noticed that the majority of forum-posters prefer Reptomin & Mazuri for hatchling turtles.

My question is about some of the other brands.

At local pet stores in the downtown Toronto area these are the types that are available

Monster Diet Link
Nutrafin Basix Link
Nutrafin Max Link
Wardley Link
Hikari Link
Exo Terra Aquatic Turtle Link
HBH Turtle Bites Link

I'm most interested in opinions about Monster Diet, and HBH. They both say they are Calcium and Vitamin D3 enriched -- does this mean I can use the UVB light every other day instead of every day?

Also, I have been using Rep Cal Phosphorus Free Vitamin D3 and Calcium supplement on Nutrafin Basix food. Basically I coat dry pellets in the powder and then place the dry pellets on the dock. The turtles take them off the dock and eat them. Again, can I use the UVB every other day instead of every day? How often should I be using the supplement?

I've also been unable to find Mazuri pellets in Toronto. I've visited the local chains (Petsmart and PJs). Does anyone know where I can locate these and how much they are?

-Thanks!

Ooh Monster diet looks good...

Using the UVB every other day is fine, it's not a dailty need to do thing.

Turtles in the wild don't get to bask everyday at all!

If you're set on Mazuri you can always order it in bulk online, I think a few people here do that.

Just remember that I turtle can metabolize the calcium and absorb it properly without the uvb light.

Hey urbancleo,

Where did you read that they can absorb it ok. Do you have a reference?

Was that a can't or a can?

Of the products you listed, I do use the Hikari pellets in rotation with other pellets, including Reptomin and Mazuri. The ingredients in Monster Diet, if I remember correctly, are similar to Mazuri. I used Nutrafin when my RES was younger as well (it didn't have the fancy names you listed). If you compared the pellets and rotated a few, it would be OK.

My turtle didn't like Monster, wouldn't eat it. But he loves Mazuri (go figure). He also loves Reptomin. When he was little he liked zoo med aquatic turtle food but once he tasted Reptomin, he wouldn't have any more to do with the zoo med.

I actually don't give Mazuri to smaller hatchlings. When I tried with my painteds when they were small, the balls were rather large for them to swallow and too big to really bite and break up.

Tenodera wrote:Ooh Monster diet looks good...

Using the UVB every other day is fine, it's not a dailty need to do thing.

Turtles in the wild don't get to bask everyday at all!

I disagree. Absolutely use the UV light every single day.

Turtles in the wild bask whenever the weather is fine. Even when they are not basking, they are exposed to UV, because UV penetrates cloud cover. Even just floating in the water, a turtle gets UV every single day. In addition, the sunlight they are exposed to is much stronger than the UV lights we use inside. If a turtle is not getting natural sunlight, use the UV light every day.