A Strict Rule on Turtle Diet
Turtle keepers must ensure a healthy turtle diet for their pets. They must always correctly estimate the amount of food they provide. Over or under nourishment is not healthy for turtles. More importantly, pet owners must be knowledgeable about the different turtle diets so as not to offer the wrong nutrition to their pets.
Vegetarians turtles eat vegetables and fruits, regardless of their age. These turtles enjoy spinach, lettuce, peas, pumpkins, beans, cabbage, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, mangoes, apples, pears, strawberries, grapes, figs, common melons, and papayas. These foods are rich in fiber, vitamins, and nutrients essential to the needs of the turtles. In fact, they should comprise between 50 to 70 percent of the turtle diet of adults. If the baby turtle is following a 70 percent non-vegetarian diet, do not panic. Try to change its diet slowly and soon enough it will become a vegetarian.
Vegetables and fruits should be served shredded. Make sure they are washed properly before serving. To help you remove any sort of pests on the skin of the vegetables and fruits, try boiling some water, add turmeric and dip them for 10-30 seconds. Rinse with clean, cool water, and then, shred.
On the other hand, for the non-vegetarian turtle diet, chicken, fish, meat, shrimp, prawns, and boiled egg whites are a must as they are all rich in animal proteins. They are part of the diet of your turtle. In fact, your pet will definitely love to eat them!
Remember though, a mature turtle must be provided with only 25 to 35 percent non-vegetarian food. On the other hand, the percentage is usually much higher for young turtles, it should be between 60 and 70 percent. But this percentage must be decreased to the recommended level over time. Moreover, do not serve your turtle raw non-vegetarian foods; they must be cooked. Chicken then becomes the best choice. Cooked fish is fine, but make it fresh-water rather than ocean fish. Frozen fish is not recommended. The best source of vitamin A, fresh liver, can be given more often. Chop it into small pieces and freeze it with some water in an ice tray to ensure its freshness.
Aquatic plants do not only function as decorations for the turtle tanks, but they also serve as essential parts of a turtle diet, their “mid-meal snacks”. These plants can be eaten when the pet turtle feels like eating them because they are already part of its environment. You should include water plants, such as the water lily, duckweed and water hyacinth in the tank.
Meanwhile, a live prey diet includes earthworms, mosquito larvae, crickets, cockroaches, mealworms, snails, and feeder fish (goldfish and guppies). Turtle keepers have the option to keep these inside the habitat, along with the turtle, or culture them separately to give only during feeding times.
Make sure you do not give your turtle too much live food. In fact, four to eight fish are more than enough. If introducing live feed into the habitat, always make a regular counting. Your turtle may eat more than it should.
