If you have recently brought home a turtle or tortoise, it is essential that you know how to provide proper feedings at home in order to keep it healthy and happy. By understanding their specific dietary needs and needs, this will ensure their wellbeing is taken care of properly.
Provide your turtle with a variety of foods at home to keep him or her healthy and active, such as nutritious fruits and vegetables, meat and seafood.
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Fresh Fruit and Vegetables
Fresh fruits and vegetables can make an excellent addition to a turtle’s diet, providing essential vitamins and minerals.
Your turtle should not rely on them solely as a food source for calcium supplements. Instead, diversification in his diet should be encouraged.
Your turtle should receive a variety of foods during each meal to ensure a balanced diet and prevent them from becoming bored.
Your turtle may enjoy feeding on vegetables like carrots, bell peppers, kale, spinach and beet greens; all of which contain high concentrations of phosphorus and calcium.
Canned Fruit and Vegetables
Canned fruit and vegetables can provide your turtle with an additional source of nutrition, provided there is no added salt or oil present. Always provide in moderation to avoid health concerns for yourself as well as your turtle!
Even though box turtles can be opportunistic eaters, it’s still essential that they receive an assortment of foods in order to ensure they receive all of the essential vitamins and nutrients.
Vegetables and fruits should comprise an integral part of a box turtle’s diet. Ideal sources include carrots, kale, squash, zucchini, green beans, and peas.
Meat
Meat can provide turtles with essential proteins. It can either be fed as treats, or added into their daily food regimen as an essential source of nourishment.
Meat contains high amounts of fat and should be provided to turtles in moderation to prevent excessive shell pyramiding and malformed scutes.
No matter the species of turtle you own, providing variety in their diet is key for their wellbeing and overall strength. Doing this will keep them happy, healthy and strong!
Seafood
Seafood refers to any fish or shellfish consumed as food by humans, such as bony fishes as well as crustaceans such as shrimp, crab and lobster.
Mollusks such as clams, oysters, mussels, periwinkles, whelks snails and abalones are also considered seafood.
Seafood such as crab is packed with proteins, vitamins and minerals such as zinc, selenium, iron and Vitamin B12. In addition, they provide Omega-3 fatty acids.
However, it is essential that any seafood you purchase for your turtle be wild-caught and unprocessed as farm-grown varieties often contain harmful organisms which could harm his health.
Live Food
Feeding turtles at home requires some special consideration. You need to ensure you offer them a varied diet with sufficient nutrients, while providing enough variety and balance in their nutrition intake.
As much as possible, your food should replicate what a turtle would find in its natural environment. Therefore, try to limit cooked/processed items.
Fresh fruits and vegetables make an excellent treat for your turtle. Cut them up into bite-size pieces and provide them on an ongoing basis as rewards.
Your turtle may also benefit from receiving dried food such as pellets or frozen vegetables with meat as a protein-rich addition to its diet, especially if they’re young and still developing.
