what to feed a baby red eared slider

What Do Baby Red Eared Slider Turtles Eat?

• Protein Diet. Turtles of all sorts can consume the same nutrients, including snails and earthworms. ...
• Vegetable Diet. You can offer carrots, squash, and other dark leafy greens vegetables in an aquarium. ...
• Fruit Based Diet. Baby turtles can only eat a limited number of fruits, but it’s worth noting which ones are high in nutrients.

Full Answer

Can red eared sliders live in an outdoor pond?

Some red-eared slider turtles can live year-round in an ?outdoor pond in warm climates. However, creating a healthy pond environment and protecting your turtle from predators, cold spells, and pesticides must all be taken into consideration. Moreover, can turtles and fish live in the same pond?

How many babies can a red eared slider have?

The largest ever recorded nest was 238 eggs laid by a green turtle. Red-eared sliders lay from 10 to 30 eggs. Snapping turtles lay from 20 to 40 eggs, but they can lay up to 100 eggs per nest. How Are Turtles Born When eggs are laid, incubation lasts from 45 to 75 days, depending on the temperature inside the egg.

How many eggs does a red eared slider turtle lay?

Red Eared Sliders are some of the most common and beloved pets in the world. If you own a female, it’s important to know how many eggs she will lay and what you can do with them. Red Eared Slider turtles usually lay between 10 and 30 eggs. The eggs are oval in shape and have a softshell.

How do you care for a red eared slider turtle?

Things to remember when feeding your red-eared slider:

• Fresh, clean, water should be available at all times
• Feed juvenile turtles daily. Adults may be fed every other day unless instructed by a veterinarian
• Turtles need to be fed in water
• To help keep the habitat clean, consider offering turtles food in a smaller feeding aquarium

What can a baby red-eared slider turtle eat?

What Do Baby Red-Eared Sliders Eat?Mealworms.Earthworms.Shrimp.Snails.Tadpoles.Crickets.Small fish.

What vegetables can baby red-eared sliders eat?

Like humans, red-eared sliders are also omnivorous and have a very varied diet. Sliders can eat many types of vegetables- such as green beans, tomatoes, lettuce, kale, and squash- but also a wide range of fruits – skinned apples, bananas, berries, melons, nectarine, and mango.

How often do you feed a baby red-eared slider?

Baby red eared sliders grow quickly and need to eat more often than adults. Feed them a portion of food the size of their head. This will be around a full tablespoon for a four inch turtle. Feed them every day until they reach six months of age, after which you can then switch to feeding every other day.

Do baby red-eared sliders eat everyday?

As pets, red-eared sliders and other aquatic turtles can be fed daily as hatchlings and juveniles, reducing the feedings to every other day as adult turtles.

What can I not feed my red-eared slider?

Avoid These Red-Eared Slider FoodsFeeder fish.Crickets.Earthworms.Crayfish.Ghost shrimp.Krill.

Can baby red-eared sliders eat lettuce?

Many turtles will stop eating out of boredom if they are fed the same diet. Providing a variety of foods in their diet is key to keeping a healthy appetite. Adult red-eared sliders can be fed: Dark leafy greens: romaine lettuce, kale, dandelion greens, turnip greens, mustard greens, or swiss chard.

How old is a 3 inch red-eared slider?

Conclusion. Red-eared sliders can grow as big as 12 inches (30.5 cm) when given the proper care, especially during their growth years. They grow up to 3 inches in their first year and then an inch per year after that.

How long can a baby red-eared slider go without food?

Baby or juvenile red-eared sliders would not be able to last more than a week or so without food, whereas older red-eared sliders will be able to last a month or two. A well-fed adult will be able to live without food for up to two months, three at an absolute stretch, but that really is not advised.

How do you raise a baby red-eared slider turtle?

4:2215:23What To Feed Baby Red Eared Slider Turtles!!! | DIY Reptiles - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipMeans is that they eat both plant matter. And animal matter like these insects. So these guys willMoreMeans is that they eat both plant matter. And animal matter like these insects. So these guys will kind of scavenge in the wild they'd eat like much larger dead fish and stuff or maybe some other type

How long should baby red-eared sliders bask?

Leave the heat light on for 10-12 hours during the day. It should be shut off at night to allow the turtle to sleep. It is okay for the turtle tank to cool down at night. UVB light is not for heat production but so the turtle can produce vitamin D3 to allow absorption of calcium from the diet.

Do baby red-eared sliders need a heat lamp?

Turtles are reptiles, which means they are cold-blooded. They are unable to regulate their internal body temperature. They need heat from an outside source to stay warm. If your pet turtle is kept indoors, as most pet turtles are, you will need to provide them with a source of heat and light.

What does a baby turtle need?

They require a habitat with plenty of clean water for swimming as well as dry land where they can rest, hide and bask in the sun. A tank that can hold at least 40 gallons should give your pet turtle an adequate amount of room to move around in.

2. Baby Red Eared Slider Habitat

Baby red eared sliders need a proper and safe habitat to stay healthy and happy. Before getting a turtle make sure you can provide them with everything in the list below:

3. Baby Red Eared Slider Tank Setup

For every inch of your turtle’s shell length you will need to provide them with a minimum of 10 gallons of space. For adult sliders, this can mean purchasing a tank up to 120-gallons.

4. How To Care For Baby Red Eared Slider Turtles

Babies are more likely to get sick because of their developing immune system.

5. Baby Red Eared Slider Diet

Adults and babies eat the same food items, but the ratio of meat to plant and feeding frequency is different.

6. Why Is My Red Eared Slider Turtle Not Eating?

It is very common for a baby red eared slider to refuse food during the first three days. This is due to the stress of being introduced to a new environment.

7. Is My Turtle Male or Female?

In very young turtles it can be difficult to accurately determine their gender.

8. Handling

A red eared slider baby should be handled only when necessary. Turtles are usually not adaptable to being held, it can cause stress.

Variety

Commercial pellets are fairly nutritious, convenient, and beneficial since they contain a good mix of vitamins and minerals. However, as the saying goes, variety is the spice of life. Offering a wide variety of foods is better than just dropping in a commercial turtle pellet for your little guy.

Nutritional Supplements for Red-Eared Sliders

A vet may recommend that a good reptile multivitamin with calcium and vitamin D3 be mixed with the turtle's food a couple of times a week. Also, an excellent way to provide additional calcium is to put a cuttlebone in the turtle tank.

Tips

Catching wild prey can be dangerous if they have pesticides on them and they can carry intestinal parasites. 1 The same goes for vegetation like dandelion greens that you pick outdoors.

What Do Red-Eared Sliders Eat?

Red-eared slider turtles are omnivores, so they eat both plants and animals.

Red-Eared Slider Food

Red-eared sliders are omnivorous so they can eat both plants and animals.

Summary

Red-eared slider turtles are omnivores, so they will eat both plant and animal matter. However, as they age, they need less protein.

What Red Eared Slider Turtles Eat

Since red eared slider turtles are omnivorous they can eat a huge variety of ailments. So to make things simpler I will divide them in 5 categories:

How to Properly Feed Your Red Eared Slider Turtle

Over the years I’ve read about countless methods of feeding turtles. But out of all of them two stood out the most, as being the most used and the most efficient. And they are the 15 minutes method and the size of the head method.

Red Eared Slider Turtle Feeding Schedule

The first thing that you have to take into consideration when thinking how often you have to feed your turtle, or when making a feeding schedule, is the age of the turtle. Baby red eared slider turtles need a different amount of food than juveniles, and juveniles need a different amount of food than adult red eared slider turtles.

Occasional Treats

Another thing that I want to address is that you can occasionally give your red eared slider turtle treats. As long as they are not too consistent, you can give your turtle a few live fish, fruits, vegetables or dried insects, without worrying that you disturb their feeding schedule.

Final Thoughts

While red eared slider turtles can eat a lot of things, not all of them can be good for them.

LEGAL INFORMATION

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Having a Baby Red Eared Slider is Exciting!

If you are in the process of learning how to care for your red ear slider hatchling, you are probably already enthralled by the cute wonder of your new tiny pet. But as cute as baby turtles are, they are also more fragile than an adult turtle ever will be.

There Are Two Main Challenges in Caring For a Hatchling

shell is one of the challenges. Your hatchling turtle’s new shell is still a bit soft, as it was designed to be for hatching. So now your turtle needs access to precise levels of full spectrum UV-A/B lighting plus an appropriate natural protein-rich diet in order for its shell to begin hardening as it should.

The Right Diet in the Right Environment

One of your biggest responsibilities in providing the right type of red eared slider turtle care for a hatchling turtle is offering the right mix of foods in the right quantities. The first thing to know is that, even as a baby, your turtle will likely want to do just about everything (feeding, hiding, excreting) in water.

What To Feed a Baby Red Eared Slider

They might look gross to you, but mealworms will make your turtle smile. The folks at Gimminy Crickets & Worms sell 1100 Count Live Mealworms that are organically grown on Amazon. Their worms are around an inch to an inch and a quarter long.

Provide The Right Minerals and Vitamins for Your Turtle

As you are learning the ropes of baby red eared slider care, there are three main ways to ensure your tiny charge gets all of the vitamins and minerals required for optimal health and shell growth.

Maintain Water and Ambient Aquarium Temperature

Even the most general red ear slider care sheet will likely mention the importance of maintaining the correct temperature – both ambient and basking – for your turtle tank. This is twice as important for baby turtles, which have a stricter, narrower temperature tolerance range than adult turtles.

How Often To Feed A Red Eared Slider

Red eared sliders have a particularly big appetite, and will act as if they are starving all the time! It is important not to give in and overfeed your turtle, as they will take as much as they can get without refusing any food.

How To Tell How Old Your Red Eared Slider Is

If you did not have your red eared slider from when it was born, or very young, then you will need to determine its age in order to feed it the proper diet that it requires. Some argue that you can find how old a turtle is by looking at its scutes, but this method is unreliable, and the scutes are hard to find on a red eared slider!

What To Feed A Red Eared Slider

Red eared sliders are actually omnivores, and in the wild, they will eat a mixture of both animal and plant sources. This includes worms, aquatic plants, fish and many other sources of food.

Why Is My Turtle Eating So Much?

You may notice that your red ear slider is eating very frequently, and begging for lots of food. This does not necessarily mean that it is hungry or starving, as turtles are naturally opportunistic eaters in the wild.

Why You Should Not Overfeed A Turtle

Turtles are actually very opportunistic, and will eat whatever is put in front of them. This can cause a problem, and make overfeeding them very easy. However, overfeeding a turtle is not advised as it can cause a few health problems for the reptile.

Conclusion

If you have a red eared slider, then it is important that you have a good feeding routine. Most red eared sliders can be fed once daily, or every other day if much older.