Red eared slider turtles tend to accept most forms of food readily, from commercial pellets and fresh fruits/veggies/dark leafy greens for pets to dark leafy greens which helps provide essential nutrition.
Red-eared slider babies should be fed more often and provided with a diet high in meat and protein than that of an adult turtle, along with a calcium supplement powdered form containing vitamin D3.
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Diet
A healthy turtle diet includes providing them with an appropriate variety of foods. In nature, slider turtles hunt by swimming along the bottoms of ponds and lakes in search of fish, aquatic plants or insects; you can replicate this effect in captive environments by providing various foods.
At first, baby red-eared slider turtles must be fed more animal material such as fish, worms, crickets, and shrimp than vegetables. As your turtle grows older, gradually introduce more plant material.
As adults, sliders require a diet containing both commercial pellet food and fresh food sources. Pellets can easily be stored away and readily accepted while providing essential nutrition – but their consumption should never account for more than 20% of their diet.
Fresh foods should include an assortment of greens, particularly dark leafy varieties that are high in calcium, as well as carrot tops and squash. Red-eared sliders often enjoy eating live feeder fish as well as various canned shrimp varieties.
Feeding Schedule
Red eared sliders hunt in the wild by sitting motionless, waiting for fish to swim by before seizing one with their flippers. Additionally, they feed on aquatic plants and algae. Pet turtles should be fed a diet consisting of animal protein (commercial pellet food, worms or feeder fish) as well as dark leafy vegetables such as romaine lettuce, kale, collard greens, turnip greens, mustard greens or Swiss chard for optimal health; fruit should only constitute 10 percent of their diet at most.
Feeding schedules should be tailored according to the age and species of turtle. Baby and juvenile sliders require more frequent meals as they continue to develop and require additional nutrients. As a general guideline, hatchlings or juveniles should be fed once every other day or once daily and then gradually transitioned over time to feeding every two days as their turtle matures into an adult.
Enrichment
As semi-aquatic animals, sliders must receive the appropriate diet and environment in order to remain healthy. Since their waste releases into their water and can harbor bacteria, their tank must be regularly cleaned out, drained out and filled back up before being sanitized with an effective household bleach solution solution1.1
As pets, turtles require a varied diet that includes commercial turtle food and leafy greens as staples, along with animal portions such as freeze-dried shrimp/krill/earthworms/rosy red minnows/crickets as supplementary foods.
As a rule of thumb, only offer enough food for the turtle to consume within 15 minutes. Some foods may need to be cut up to make them easier for it to consume. Avoid feeding it directly from your hand as this could cause unnecessary stress; rather use a bowl or sink instead – doing so will prevent unnecessary handling in the main tank and minimize unnecessary handling of your turtle!
Health Care
Red-eared sliders are long-lived reptiles that require a balanced diet for health and welfare. A diet consisting of dark leafy greens, aquatic plants and commercial turtle pellets should provide them with all of the required nutrition. In order to prevent turtle boredom it’s also important to offer variety through enrichment food sources like feeder fish (goldfish, guppies or minnows), earthworms, snails or even tadpoles are ideal enrichment foods which should be added gradually into their diet in small doses for enrichment purposes – such additions will certainly improve health!
Be careful not to overfeed your turtle with high protein foods as this could create an imbalance in its diet, leading to conditions like pyramiding of its shells, metabolic bone disease and liver or kidney damage. A variety of vegetables such as romaine lettuce, kale or mustard greens is key – particularly greens like romaine, kale or mustard as well as fresh fruits (bananas berries or apples). Live feeder fish could harbor parasites; don’t move your turtle while feeding it as this may cause stress which could result in diarrhea –
