While commercial turtle pellets are nutritious and convenient, fresh food is more varied and offers a more diverse range of vitamins and minerals. While these are excellent choices, fresh food can be even more beneficial for your pet. You can also buy commercial pellets in a variety of flavors and colours to offer your turtle a more varied diet. Regardless of your pet’s specific nutritional needs, commercial pellets are an excellent choice for many reasons. Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of live food for your pet turtle.
Contents
Fruits
Most box turtles prefer fruits over vegetables, but don’t forget to offer your little friend a variety of different fruit and vegetable varieties. You can offer your turtle kale, mustard greens, collard greens, peas, bananas, apples, pears, and tomatoes, as well as flowers such as hibiscus. These can also be offered to your turtle, as long as they are cut into pieces.
Although it is not recommended for you to feed your pet iceberg salad, most vegetables and fruits are safe for turtles to eat. However, you should not feed your turtle raw chicken or beef. These animals can carry Salmonella, and you might end up transferring the bacteria to your pet. Nevertheless, turtles can adapt to beef, which is another good option. So, it is best to keep away from raw chicken altogether.
You can also feed your turtle some aquatic plants. Water lettuce, water hyacinth, and duckweed are all suitable foods. Fruits and vegetables are a good source of vitamins for turtles. However, you must ensure that you limit the amount of strawberries your pet consumes. Old strawberries contain hydrogen cyanide, which is poisonous to turtles. You can also give your turtle the pellets of red-eared sliders, dandelion plants, water lilies, and anacharis.
Meat
Many pet owners mistakenly feed small turtles meat from other animals. This can cause many problems for your turtle. Not only are you feeding it too much, you’re also potentially pyramiding their diet. Turtles need protein, but too much can be harmful. You can substitute meat with pellets or dried insects. Just make sure to choose foods that are low in fat and contain no chemicals. Here are some foods you should avoid giving your turtle.
You can offer your pet a variety of foods. You can try cooked chicken or beef, or you can give it a mix of these foods. You can also feed them live prey, such as crickets, moths, feeder fish, and worms. Be sure to purchase these prey from a pet store or raise them yourself. Plant food is another good choice, but be sure to select leafy greens. Some vegetables may contain chemicals called oxalates, which can be harmful to your turtle.
Pellet diet
Small turtles can live happily on a pellet diet, as long as they receive the recommended amounts of protein and fat. Some brands have very high protein levels and are excellent for supplanting regular food. Many owners give in to their turtles’ begging for more. The good news is that most pellets can last for several months and are available at pet stores. Alternatively, you can prepare your own meal by blending fresh ingredients.
Alternatively, you can also buy pellet food made for aquatic turtles. Turtle Pride makes three types of pellets. Your turtle may prefer one type of pellet, depending on its preferences. The food comes in 1.86oz. and 2.2 lb. packages and is priced at around $4-5 per lb. The first two are usually a staple in the diet for hatchlings and juveniles, while the third is a supplement for larger turtles.
Live food
A healthy diet includes a variety of vegetables and fruits. While younger turtles will mostly eat meat, older turtles should get 80 to 90% of their diet from fruits and vegetables. For your small turtle, its primary food should be green leafy things like lettuce, spinach, and kale. You can also add small amounts of flowers for variety. Calcium is a vital part of turtles’ diets as the shell is made up mostly of bone. If you want to add calcium supplements to your turtle’s diet, you can buy a calcium supplement.
Providing a varied diet for your turtles will increase their health and help them live longer. A diverse diet will help them grow faster and have fewer problems regulating their moods. Even your baby turtle may perk up a bit when you see it! You should purchase several different types of live food and alternate them to ensure your turtle’s overall health. If you choose to feed your turtle live food, be sure to buy it from a reliable source.
