What can red ears turtles eat apart from the food we buy them?

Question

Actually I did ask this question because I ran out of pellets. Yesterday I brought them some little fishes. This evening I bought them pellets but I want to know what is good for them to eat so that I feed them every now and then something new for a change. Thanks brilliant answers.

Answer 1

Why not give them a little pocket money, let them loose in the local shop and find out..

£10 says they come back with crisps.

Answer 2

well they love garden worms, meal worms, snails, crickets, flies, crayfish small frogs, dragon flies and  anything that moves, but only as a treat.

main diet is fish and leafy greens. If not they will get sick.

You need to feed them feeder guppies, goldfish or minnows for protein and calcium daily drop 20 or so in the tanks and watch them disappear in a few days! When I got these two 36 yrs ago all we had in back then  were goldfish to feed , so after 36 yrs and still going strong. They can eat goldfish!

This way when they swim for their dinner they get exercise also!

http://flickr.com/photos/29035692@N03/

Answer 3

rosey reds (aka fathead minnows), romaine lettuce is a nice filler, a piece of cooked plain chicken, small piece for protein. worms. meal worms. wax worms

bugs are natural for them..good stuff

Answer 4

feed him lots of fruit like watermelons,apples,grapes etc.dont not feed them lettuce or cabbage because they have no nutrition as they are mostly made of water

Answer 5

That depends on their age.  If they are young, they need more protein, which can be found in krill, bloodworms, brine shrimp, etc.  They also need veggies and fruit, and as they get older, should be eating more veggies than meat.  Some veggies/ fruit my RES like are red-leaf and romaine lettuce, brocolli florets, shredded carrots, finely chopped and peeled apples, halved grapes, and small pieces of tomatoes.

Answer 6

lettuce Those guys are good at eating lettuce

Answer 7

get litlle gold fish like 20-30 of them they are gross to c them eat but its vry vry healthly for them  

Answer 8

Lettuce and goldfish.  Goldfish are cheap and fun to watch them eat them.

Answer 9

Um... this is kind of a scary Q to read.  Aren't you buying everything for them?  Things from the wild shouldn't be used.  Wild insects and outdoor plants can have mold, bacteria, parasites and pesticides.  So, please don't get food items from outside.

If you mean besides commercial pellets, a list of meat products would be:

Earthworms, rosy minnows or guppies (goldfish are high in fat and shouldn't be fed often), cooked chicken, gut loaded crickets, Phoenix-Silk-Butter worms, frozen Tubiflex or blood worms, krill, shrimp, snails...

A list of safe to eat water plants would be:

Anacharis, Duckweed, Water Lettuce, Water Hyacinth...

A list of vegetables would be:

curly kale, collard-turnip-mustard greens, dandelion flowers & leaves, romaine/red leaf lettuce; watercress; parsley; Swiss chard; shredded carrots; shredded squash (yellow; pumpkin; butternut, acorn; etc.), shredded sweet potato...  Just about any good veggie you can think of.  

But please do NOT use:

White potato.  Iceberg lettuce - it has no nutritional value.  Avoid too much spinach & broccoli as they bind calcium.  Brussel sprouts & cabbage should not be used.  And never Avocado as it is toxic/poisonous to most animals.

Fruits such as:

Cantaloupe, apple, pear, peach, orange, grapes, mango, grapfruit, etc. may be offered a few times a week as a treat item.

Make sure you keep a bird cuttle bone in the water for calcium.

Have fun with your turtles and I hope this has been helpful.