Herbivore = Plant eater

Carnivore = Meat eater

Omnivore = Plant and Meat eater.

Extremely wide variety in diet is one of the keys to good health for most reptiles. Rotate foods for them and they will end up with a more rounded well- balanced overall diet. This will also help prevent their becoming finicky. There are some foods that do contain calcium oxalates that can bind the calcium but this is more of a concern for herbivores than omnivores. Omnivores can eat those foods as long as the amount is small and those are not fed often. All turtles eat live prey that can transmit parasites to them; this is why a veterinarian on an annual or semi-annual basis should test them.

 Commercially prepared turtle foods are not as bad as some think because they do contain a good deal of the vitamins/ minerals the turtles need. However there are no exact known values for nutrition in turtles, as there are for dogs and cats. The dietary needs of turtles are not well researched so information is empirical. The reptile floating food sticks are good for supplementing the diet in aquatics, and there are also pelleted diets made for the semi-terrestrials. These should not be the total diet; a turtle raised only on commercially produced food is not going to be at the optimum health level.

Photo Courtesy of Sal Scibetta

Generally aquatic turtles will eat only while in the water. Most aquatic hatchlings are totally carnivorous, but as they grow they become omnivorous. Offer vegetation at an early age even if they don't eat it. Feed hatchlings daily, adults can be fed every other day or 3 times a week. Many people advocate feeding trout chow as the staple food, but keep in mind, that food was developed for farmed fish. The goal for fish farmers is fast growth to optimal weight of their stock for these fish to be sold at market. That's fine for a fish farm but not your pet turtle, so use this food in small amounts. Growing too fast is harmful to a turtle. High proteins in the diets of hatchlings will cause them to deform as they grow this is commonly called "pyramiding". High levels of protein can also cause gout. Low calcium levels will cause deformation in the condition commonly called "soft-shell"; the hatchling will die if it doesn't receive enough calcium. What then should you feed? Keep in mind that not every turtle will eat all of the foods listed but try as many as possible.

The Staple Diet

Consists of whole animals such as insects, feeder fish; guppies and minnows, but be aware of the fact that goldfish are too high in fat. Goldfish should only be fed occasionally as treats. NEVER feed wild caught fish because those can easily transmit parasites or other diseases to your pets. Pet store fish can too, but those are safer than wild caught fish. Frozen fish are not a good food source. Freezing raises thiaminase levels in the fish. Thiaminase is a naturally occurring enzyme that destroys the B vitamin thiamine, which then leads to a B vitamin deficiency. Fish in grocery stores is often sold without bones, which will cause calcium problems because the bones are where the calcium comes from.

Other whole animal foods are pinkies, small amphibians, earthworms, mealworms, super worms, blood worms, glass worms, wax worms, tubifex worms, black worms, slugs, gut loaded crickets. Feed the prey items as the staple diet, but rotate it with the following foods.

Other foods for variety in the Diet

Consists of reptile food pellets, goldfish food pellets, plankton, catfish or trout chow, brine shrimp, cichlid food, boiled eggs, lean but not ground beef, cooked chicken, koi food, smelt, grasshoppers, flies, daphnia. Many of these foods come packaged as frozen fish food. Those are a great source of foods, but they need to be thawed for turtles before feeding. Don't forget the thiaminase problem with frozen foods.

The freeze- dried or desiccated insects such as flies, meal worms, and crickets are not good foods. Those are like cardboard and not easy to digest. There is one use for these freeze-dried foods; the freeze-dried cubes that are spongy can be used once a week as a means of feeding your turtles liquid vitamins because those vitamins can be injected into the cube.

Remember to thoroughly wash all fresh vegetables and fruits to remove any residual pesticides, herbicides, and/or bacteria that may be on them. Feed more vegetables than fruits. Too much fruit will cause diarrhea. Vegetables to use are romaine lettuce, collard greens, dandelion greens, alfalfa, yellow squashes, cooked sweet potato, clover, parsley, cilantro, fresh corn, peas, lentils, kale, bok choy, tofu, watercress, cereal grasses, turnip greens, mustard greens, alfalfa sprouts, shredded carrots, beets.

Apple, plum, pear, peach, nectarine, banana, apricot, strawberry, other berries, melon, basically anything that isn't citrus.

Some of the vegetation that contains the calcium oxalates that may bind calcium are, rhubarb, spinach, the cabbage family, broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, brussel sprouts. Those are ok to feed to an omnivore in tiny amounts as treats.

Frozen vegetables and fruits are ok as long as you supplement the diet with a good reptile vitamin and mineral preparation. The freezing process allows the thiaminase levels to rise just as it does for frozen fish.

Tortoises are not at all the same classification as turtles; they are in a different category all together. They are herbivores needing less than 3 % protein, many people confuse box turtles with the tortoise, but a box is a different animal. The box, like most aquatics is an omnivore. In fact box turtles are sometimes classified as semi- aquatic turtles. They enjoy bathing in a shallow pan of water. Before feeding allow the box turtle to warm up first. He must be warm to properly digest the foods. Feed all ages of box turtles every other day.

Many box turtles thrive on vegetation in the diet, but they do need insects and meat to eat as well. The diet should consist of 50% protein foods; i.e., insects and meats, and 50% plant matter. Of the 50% plant matter the diet should consist of 25% fruit and 75% vegetable. The ornate box turtles seem to be a little more carnivorous than the other species of box, but they do need vegetation, too. Box turtles will eat in or out of water.

Too much protein in the diet of hatchlings will cause the shell to deform, as it will in aquatics, so be careful not to over do protein in a growing turtle.

All of the vegetables & fruits mentioned above for aquatics are fine for semi-terrestrial turtles too. Box turtles are especially attracted to red foods. Berries, cherries, plums & tomatoes are favorites, but don't overdo fruits, because as stated before it leads to diarrhea. Red foods will help to maintain the box turtles vivid colors, which may fade in captivity. Cooked potatoes are ok for the box as well as the sweet potatoes.

Gut loaded crickets, earthworms, wax worms, mealworms, slugs, grubs, snails, moths, grasshoppers, cicadas, chopped cooked chicken, as a treat feed chopped beef heart. Pinkie mice can be fed and if the turtle will take it, an occasional feeder fish. Sometimes people feed lunch- meats to turtles, these are high fat foods loaded with chemicals. If you feed any don't do it often.

Wax worms are high in fat, so don't over feed.

Slugs, snails, and grasshoppers are notorious for transmitting parasites, so those annual parasite checks are not to be ignored.

Pinkie mice are fattening and the soft bones are not that great a source of calcium if the baby mouse's stomach isn't full of its mother's milk.

Mealworms and some other insects have the exoskeleton called chitin. I call it the "Hard Candy Shell". That chitin is difficult to digest and can cause constipation and/or intestinal impactions. Do not overfeed those either.

 Uncooked meats can transmit Salmonella, E.coli, Campylobacter, and several other enteric bacterial infections, which can be passed to you. Be very careful especially when feeding chicken to turtles.

Organ meats such as beef heart and liver can cause gout when over fed to reptiles.

 Crustations can transmit shell-eating bacteria to turtles. Many people feed crawfish to turtles, it can be done but be aware that it can cause problems.

 Pyramiding is a condition believed to be caused by feeding too much protein to hatchlings. The shell deforms from too fast growth. The hatchlings need protein but at a lower percentage than adults. Under 35% is better for hatchlings.

Too much protein in the diet causes gout. High levels of uric acid can cause cystic calculus (bladder stones) to form. After ingestion proteins are naturally broken down in the body, the end result of that break down process is uric acid. If the level of uric acid is too high it can precipitate into the joints causing painful arthritis, this is gout. It can also cause stones to form in the bladder, which could become a serious situation that may require surgical removal of the stones. Gout is not curable, it may be controllable but little is known about this condition in reptiles, so it's best to try to avoid the condition in the first place.

Calcium for hatchlings is double the dose for adults. It is an absolute must for growing turtles and gravid females. Low blood calcium levels do not produce symptoms in turtles as fast as they do in other reptiles, but it's vital to their well being. The shell should be hard like bone by the time they are around 1 year old. Calcium isn't just for bones; low calcium will lead to heart, and other major organ problems.

Low fat, low protein, premium dog foods can be fed but only as a treat. Never feed this as the staple diet. The phosphorus levels are too high for one thing. These dog foods are not formulated for the needs of reptiles and are not healthy for them.

For some strange reason people advocate cat food for feeding turtles; that is a mystery to me. Cats are 100% carnivores. It makes no sense to feed a carnivore diet to an omnivore because the protein levels & amino acids are extremely high for an omnivore. Cat food can lead to many problems including kidney disease, heart disease, and gout.

A well-fed turtle shouldn't need much supplementation, but they do need some. In my opinion a healthy one should be supplemented at least once a week. Liquid vitamins/minerals for reptiles are easier to use because they can be found in fruit flavors to attract the turtles. Pet-Tabs the vitamins made for dogs may also a good source of vitamins for turtles and may even be better for them than reptile vitamins. Some veterinarians recommend this and others do not. This is because dog vitamins are well researched; whereas, reptile vitamins historically are not. Dog vitamins may not be healthy for turtles at all, but they may be better than nothing. There are no known absolute values for each reptile species requirements. Only a small piece of a dog vitamin should be used. There are several new brands of reptile vitamins on the market that may be worth using. "Minerall" is a new one that is very popular. T-Rex has a liquid vitamin spray that may not work well when sprayed on the food but it has worked very well for my turtles when given directly in the mouth. As hard as we try to feed all the right foods, we cannot completely simulate a wild setting. Who knows if they are receiving all the needed vitamins and minerals in the wild in the first place? If the turtle isn't healthy then 2-3 times a week is best.

UV/B fluorescent lights should be used to photosynthesize their vitamin D.

This recipe was derived from a large zoo's copyrighted aquatic turtle diet, but has been revised for a turtle that has gout. These changes that have been made deem it no longer a copyrighted recipe.

4.8 ounces of catfish (other fish is fine if catfish cannot be located)

9.6 ounces of a premium brand low protein dry dog food

0.96 ounces of alfalfa pellets and/or iguana food pellets

0.96 ounces of bone meal (can use ground bone meal tablets made for humans)

6 ounces of greens (collard, mustard, dandelion, etc.)

Options: add some yellow squash to the mix for a great source of vitamin A.

Then dissolve 8 small packets of Knox or other unflavored gelatin as per box instructions. Mix the dissolved gelatin into the ground up ingredients. Spread it out in a 12 inch long cake pan, let set over night. Cut into cubes and freeze. Makes a very large supply of food.

Written by Jan McArthur, RVT

References used: Reptile Medicine & Surgery, Douglas Mader

Feeding Reptiles, Liz Palika

The Complete Guide to Reptile Nutrition, Reptile News Press

The General Care & Maintenance of Box Turtles, Phillipe deVosjoli