Your growing turtles!
Once your turtle starts to grow, you can phase out the Turtle Delite if you like, and replace it with Goldfish TEN, a round pellet also made by Wardley. They will gobble these up very EAGERLY, and this plus the ReptoMin will now become the "staple" diet, or the main diet they will need as they approach adulthood. Also it's best to feed the pellets one kind at a time, since they may prefer one over the other, or one one day, and the other the other!
The hamburger can be cut to about twice a week, and greens can be added. They will now get the vitaminized hamburger as a TREAT rather than the main diet, as they did in the very beginning. They will always eat the hamburger with great delight, but it's best to go for more variety now that they're growing larger!
Greens such as the outer edges of Romaine (not Head) lettuce works very well for starters, as do Dandelion greens. They prefer the tall leaves growing in the shade rather than the really "bitter" ones growing out in the open hot sun, and some will eat Collard greens, and these too are very good for them! In fact the more greens the BETTER...... but very YOUNG turtles seem to not like them!
Also now that your turtles are getting larger (4 - 5 inches), you can gradually phase out the more expensive pellets, and feed them lots of greens, in addition to the hamburger. In PLACE of the pellets, you can now use dry cat food! This is a GREAT food for ALL 4-inch-plus RES, and up to adult size.
My adults get the dry cat food, raw vitaminized hamburger, and greens.
MALE or FEMALE?
After about 3 - 4 years of steady constant growth and feeding, you will be able to tell the sexes apart! Once they reach the age of five or six, they're able to breed, and the female will outgrow the male. The male will get to 6 - 8 inches, and the female, 7 - 12 inches.
Here you will see the two main easy-to-tell differences between the two - namely the claws and the tail. Please take a look at the following pictures:
Here is an adult FEMALE. Her front claws are of normal length, and never change from youth up.
Likewise her tail is also unchanged. In fact there are no real changes in the appearance as she grows, except for her size!
Note how her vent opening (on the tail) is DIRECTLY EVEN with her top shell (the shell facing AWAY from the camera).
Now let's take a look at the MALE
Note HIS front claws. They're really LONG when compared to those of the female! By the way, his BACK claws are of a more normal length. He uses his long front claws for breeding.
Now let's take a look at his tail!
Note how the vent extends well BEYOND the upper shell. This will show after about 3 - 4 years or sooner, and in fact the tail-method works for nearly ALL adult turtles! If you got a Wood turtle from me, the tail-method works for them TOO!
Again a reminder: The YOUNG turtles always resemble the FEMALE, and once your RES reaches about 5 inches, you'll be able to tell!
It's Sunday, Aug. 14 as I write this, and I have had a great time working on this page! Please bookmark it and come back often, as I will be adding other little goodies to it from time to time, and from here you can go directly to my HOME PAGE!
Thank you again, and the best be to you..... and your turtles!
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