Meats and Natural Foods
Besides earthworms and mealworms listed at the beginning, there are lots of other "goodies" as well!
A "cautionary note" about crickets:
Crickets are a GREAT food, as are grasshoppers you can find in your yard, or a nearby field, but these are an ACTIVE food. Use caution with these, because I have seen on numerous occasions where turtles get into such a "feeding frenzy" that they attack each OTHER........ often with claws torn off, faces bit, and tails shortened! This is a FINE food if you keep your turtles separately, otherwise it's best to kill the cricket first before feeding.
Over all...... I avoid live foods altogether!
MEATS:
I have been a "turtle-raiser" now since the late 1960's, and have never had any problems using beef, and to this day I speak HIGHLY of it!
The best I have ever used is "93% Lean" ground beef (or higher), and IN this other things can be added. I take the whole pack of meat, pat it out, and add a little powdered bone meal, powdered oyster shell, and/or Rep Cal, and a little Linatone liquid, or 8-1 Skin and Coat food Supplement, and completely mix it all together by hand. A good mixing requires several minutes of actual mixing, literally squishing the hamburger together over and over...... and over again, to where all the ingredients are mixed together totally!
Then I take this and roll it into little golfball-size pieces, and wrap them in plastic "cling wrap", and freeze them. For EXTRA protection (against freezer-exposure), I store these in an air-tight plastic bag........ and in here they will be good for several months!
I keep just one out (in the refrigerator), and this way I always have one "thawed and ready", and the others remain safe and frozen until needed!
I feed meat about 2 - 3 times a week, and as a "treat" I always toss in a few pellets afterwards! Even a "full" turtle always seems to have just enough room left over for a few of these!
VARIETY!!
Basically I feed them every day, and each day I like to give them something different (from the "menu" I have shared with you here on these pages), and mine are all looking GOOD! I have heard this referred to as "power feeding", as they grow quickly when fed this much...... and they seem happy!
CLEANING:
Here's a gross thought: Imagine living in your toilet :-(
Because of this I clean my turtle containers every day! I use Rubbermaid plastic containers, since these can handle rough treatment, and I empty them and spray them out every day, and I use the same water temp I just dumped out to refill the containers. A note concerning going on vacation: If I'll be away from my turtles for more than a few days, I stop feeding them about 3 days ahead of time, and when the day comes, I place about 3 inches of wet leaves into the container (after dumping the water out), turn off their overhead light......... then it's off I GO! The turtles spend their time sleeping mostly, and upon my return, I dump the leaves, refill their water, clean off the turtles, turn on their light, and boy are they ever HUNGRY!
However I have learned it's easier to just take my babies WITH me when I go places :-)
I'll post this now, and I'm trusting this page has been helpful to you!
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A few cool links!
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