Turtle Diet

A Turtles Diet

There are a variety of turtle which you can have as a pet. The different varieties have different turtles diet. It is important for you to know which type of turtle you are going to have for a pet and knowledge of what do turtles eat when they are kept as pets.

Turtles diet is very special and a complete knowledge of it is very important to have a healthy pet. They are not like ordinary pets whom you can give scraps when you are having dinner. They are sure to fall sick if you feed it such food. There is not many regular turtle food like dog or cat food available off the shelf. There are some kinds of food sticks that are available for turtle food but these do not fulfill complete food requirement of turtles.

Decision as to what do turtles eat is important when we find out what kind of turtle we are going to have as a pet. The turtles can be found to be herbivorous, omnivorous or carnivorous depending on the variety and the kind of habitat they have in their natural condition. You will find River Cooter turtle eating plants whereas Map turtles are meat eaters. While American Box turtles are found to be omnivorous, Malayan Box turtles turn out to be plant eater who eats meat sometimes. A baby Red Eared Slider will eat worm or bugs as a baby but as they grow up they turn into meat eaters.

When we start looking through the turtles diet we find that they are one type of reptile who likes to have variety of food. They are prone to eat seasonal plants especially if they are plant eaters. Other turtles too like to have variety in their daily food. If you are certain to have a turtle as a pet you have to find out what do turtles eat. Some of the minerals like vitaminD3, phosphorus and calcium are important for turtles diet to make it a healthy pet. Most of the food that turtles eat contains phosphorus so you don't have to bother about it too much. It is the calcium part which has to be fed to the turtle in its daily diet. The source of calcium for pet turtle can be crushed shell of a boiled egg, crushed oyster shell, cuttlebone and plaster blocks crushed.

The utilization of the calcium in a turtle's body is possible only if it is getting enough of vitaminD3. The body of the turtle manufactures this vitamin when they are outdoors under direct sunlight. If you keep an indoor turtle you must provide good lighting meant for reptiles for your pet to manufacture vitamin D3. If your turtle receives correct amount of both vitamin D3 and calcium it will remain healthy and happy. The vitamin D3 can also be given to the turtle orally.

Coming to the question of what do turtles eat it is useful to know that turtle do not require too much of protein. The turtles diet should include fruits, vegetable, flowers and meat. The turtle will be happy if it can hunt some small fish if you can release some in the water where the turtle lives. Your turtle needs clean surroundings so make sure that its tank and surrounding areas are cleaned of feces and food scraps otherwise your turtle would fall sick in contaminated water. Also give it clean drinking water.

Paul Bryan is the owner of what do turtles eat - a complete turtles diet and care website for all owners of this wonderful pet reptile.

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