Red-eared sliders are opportunistic omnivores that feed on both animal and plant foods. To keep them healthy and prevent illness, it is important to provide them with a balanced diet.
Turtles should be fed a diet consisting of fresh, dried and pelleted food. Hatchlings require high protein to sustain their growth while adults require a lower protein diet.
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Fresh Vegetables
Fresh vegetables are an ideal way to give your slider turtle a variety of foods. Not only are they high in vitamins and minerals, but they can also aid in preventing digestive issues.
For your turtle’s health, the ideal vegetables to feed them include kale, cabbage, collard greens, spinach, romaine lettuce and bok choy. These foods are packed with calcium as well as essential vitamins A, C and D.
In addition to vegetables, your slider turtle should also be offered a small portion of fruit. Be careful not to give them too much fruit since this could lead to diarrhea.
Babies and young adults require more protein than adults due to their rapid growth. Therefore, they should be fed a protein-rich diet such as pellets or insects daily.
Adults should consume 75% fresh vegetables, leafy greens and aquatic plants in order to meet their energy requirements and promote healthy growth. They should eat several times a day in order to stay satiated throughout the day.
Pellets
Pellets provide turtles with a convenient and straightforward food source that contains essential vitamins and minerals for good health.
Some pellets contain protein, an essential building block for juvenile turtle growth and development. A high quality pellet should contain at least 40% protein.
It is essential to provide your turtle with a varied diet in order to ensure they get an optimal nutritional intake. Combining commercial pellets with fresh greens and plant matter will provide them with the ideal balance.
Fluker’s Buffet Blend is an ideal way to add variety and variety to your slider turtle’s diet. It contains freeze-dried shrimp and can be combined with regular pellets for optimal nutritional benefits.
Aquamax Dense 4000 is a lower-protein pellet designed to serve as either an additive or part of the staple diet for herbivorous adult turtles such as Sliders, Painteds and Cooters. However, this may not be the best pellet available and should be combined with another pellet specifically designed for turtles to create a complete diet.
Insects
Insects are an integral part of a slider turtle’s diet. Not only do they supply your pet with essential vitamins and nutrients not found elsewhere, but they’re also great fun!
They contain essential fats that other types of food often leave out. You can purchase freeze dried insects at most grocery stores.
Sliders can eat a variety of foods, but it is best to provide them with a balanced diet that offers different food groups. This will keep your turtle’s appetite high and prevent her from becoming bored with the same old dishes.
Adult sliders primarily feed on aquatic plants like elodea, duckweed and water lettuce. They may also consume small fish, earthworms, redworms, insects, snails, slugs and tadpoles.
Fruit
Red-eared sliders can eat a variety of fruit, such as apples, melons and bananas; however, only feed your turtle a small amount per day as too much may lead to diarrhea.
Fruits provide an excellent source of protein for slider turtles’ diets. They can be fed alongside live insects such as earthworms, crickets and mealworms.
Red-eared sliders do not need as much protein as they used to, so it’s wise to reduce their meat consumption in order to make room for vegetables. They make excellent hunters and can often find food by swimming along the bottom of ponds or lakes waiting for fish or insects to pass by before snapping them up.
Red-eared slider turtles in the wild feed mainly on aquatic plants. Some common aquatic plants you can grow in your tank include Anacharis, Frogbit, water hyacinth and duckweed; these are easy to keep, cost-effective to care for and safe for slider turtles to consume.