Food
In most turtle books nowadays you will find detailed information about the right way of feeding turtles. The time is over were cat food was recommended as the all-round food. Nowadays we know much more about the dietary needs of turtles, and almost any kind of food, from pellets to life food to frozen food can be bought in a good pet store or ordered through the internet.
I recomment and mainly use turtle pudding (turle gelatine). This pudding is principally a mixture of different essential ingridients and to which vitamines and minerals can be added. Since I started to feed turtle pudding two years ago, the turtles look much healthier, are more active and the reproduction success has increased enormously.
Self-Made Turtle Pudding
A lot of work but probably the best you can do for your animals. The pudding can be stored in the freezer for several month and is convinient to handle. Also easy to use for people who take care for your turtles during your absence.
Need the recipe ?
Food for juveniles and adult animals
Besides the above mentioned turtle pudding and fish, mussels, rain worms etc. there are several other items can be offered:
Beef heart
Is given with vitamines and calcium
Pellets
Not all snake necks like this kind of food.
Dry Food
like small fish and insects
Cuttle Bones
Often eaten by gravid females to cover their calcium requirement as you can see on the biting marks on the left piece
Food for hatchlings
Hatchlings can be tricky in respect to food. Some hatchlings only take life food at the beginning, others take frozen food right away. You need to dry different kinds of food until you find the right one.
Always keep in mind that frozen food (specially red mosquito larves) do not meet all of the hatchlings nutritional needs (vitamines etc.). Also, life food and frozen food present a risk of introducing diseases.
Tubifex
Life or frozen, can carry deseases
Brine Shrimp (Artemia)
Life or frozen
