How to Feed Painted Turtles
- 1). Painted turtles will eat a variety of foods. Fresh or live fish are best (frozen fish are not recommended). Leafy vegetables such as spinach, turnip or mustard greens, dandelion and aquatic vegetation make up the other part of your turtle's diet. If fresh fish is not an option, worms, insects and prepared commercial turtle food is also fine as a supplement, but a well-balanced natural diet is generally preferred.
- 2). Prepare the correct proportion of food. Painted turtles are carnivores, so the diet should consist mostly of meat or fish, about 70 percent. The other 30 percent should be vegetation.
- 3). Sprinkle a calcium supplement with vitamin D3 on the food once or twice a week, and provide a cuttlefish bone for gnawing.
- 4). Feed turtles every other day (for young, growing turtles) or three times a week (for adults). Maintain this schedule even if turtles appear hungry between feedings.
- 5). Provide only as much food as the turtles can eat in 30 to 45 minutes and remove any excess.
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