Though feeding turtles might seem harmless, feeding young turtles could result in serious health complications. This is especially true.
Turtles in the wild are omnivores, meaning they consume both animal prey and plant matter, such as fish, earthworms, insects, plants, and vegetables.
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Fresh Fruits and Vegetables
Diet of a turtle should consist primarily of fruits and vegetables, especially leafy greens such as collard greens, kale, mustard greens and dandelion; carrots, squash and red, orange, yellow and bell peppers also provide good sources of nutrition. All vegetables must be thoroughly washed to remove dirt or chemicals before consumption.
Do not feed turtles any baked, processed human foods high in sugar and flour as these will not provide essential vitamins. They could potentially harm their health in other ways such as shell deformities.
Feed your turtle fresh fruits and vegetables that you have grown yourself or purchased at local markets that sell homegrown produce, to avoid severe digestive problems in their digestive systems and possibly obesity. Avoid feeding any dairy products such as milk, cheese and chocolate as this can cause serious digestive distress in their system. Likewise, avoid giving turtles sweet, salty or oily human foods like candy chips and fries as these could also wreak havoc with digestion issues or lead to obesity. Ideally it would be best if they could access fresh local markets offering homegrown produce for their diet! The best way of giving fresh produce would be growing them yourself or buying it locally from market vendors who specialize in selling homegrown produce from local farmers markets who sell local suppliers who specialize in local grown produce – especially since these may cost significantly less!
Canned Fruits and Vegetables
Fresh food is always preferable for turtles, but canned produce can serve as an adequate replacement in an emergency. They can eat all kinds of veggies found in cans like green beans, squash and carrots as well as fruits like bananas and apples.
Before feeding fruits or vegetables to your turtle, be sure to cut them up into small pieces to prevent choking. It is also a good idea to give them food that contains vitamin A; especially during winter when turtles can be at risk of starvation.
Some canned food may be fed to turtles, such as sardines or tuna. When feeding canned foods as supplements to their diet, they must first be rinsed and cooked thoroughly prior to being given back as this could potentially expose them to bacteria infections that cause health problems for their turtles.
Canned Fish
Turtles enjoy eating a wide range of foods, but you should avoid feeding any from your kitchen. Fried foods contain high amounts of grease and salt while vegetables cooked with too much oil can also lead to health concerns for them. Instead, offer freeze-dried crickets or shrimp which contain vitamins that might otherwise be lacking from canned food products.
Kale, collard greens, mustard greens and bok choy are great greens to feed turtles; just beware when feeding spinach, rhubarb or beetroots which contain high levels of oxalic acid as it prevents their calcium absorption which could result in metabolic bone disease in turtles.
As eggs contain both high amounts of protein and can be toxic to turtles, you should provide yours with alternate food items, such as small portions of fish from time to time or some boiled chicken and beef heart (raw meat can carry dangerous bacteria), earthworms or insects such as earthworms.
Fresh Fish
Turtles enjoy hunting for food, so adding live fish or insects once every week to their terrarium will bring excitement and fun! Just ensure the source is reliable so as to not introduce disease into their environment.
Most aquatic turtles are omnivorous, so they should receive both animal prey and plant material as food sources. This may include commercial turtle pellets, sardines, shrimp or other low-fat species of fish as well as garden vegetables and fruit such as carrots, tomatoes, squash collard greens kale and romaine lettuce that should all be chopped into bite-size pieces before feeding to your aquatic turtle.
Freshwater plants such as duckweed, water hyacinth, and anacharis make excellent foods for captive turtles to consume. You’ll find these at most pet stores and they provide essential nutrition. Finally, small treats of dry cat or dog food can also provide beneficial supplements, but should only make up part of the turtle’s regular diet; anything more could pose long-term health issues.
