Turtle Eating Habits

Video Transcript

"Hi, my name is Tim Cole, I'm with the Austin Reptile Service. I've been keeping reptile amphibians for over forty years and we're going to talk about turtle feeding habits. One of the things to keep in mind, when you get that new turtle, is it may be scared and stressed and probably won't eat right away so give it some time to settle into its new cage and get rested, then offer it some food. Depending on the species, if it's a salad eater, you're going to offer it on a shallow tray, that it can get into the feed. You also want to dust their salads with vitamins that are necessary, such as, calcium or multi-vitamins. Some of your turtles will eat live insects such as earthworms and crickets. Tortoises will feed on your Native grasses sometimes flowers. Very few fruits are actually healthy for turtles and tortoises so you want to avoid those or of you're giving it to them, it needs to be in very small amounts. Turtles and tortoises will not feed unless they are comfortable with their caging and if they're healthy, if a turtle is not healthy, they will probably not feed. Some turtles will eat fish such as the alligator snapping turtle. You want to feed them minnows and not goldfish, goldfish are not as a clean a fish or healthy a fish, as a minnow would be."