what to feed a baby red eared slider turtle

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

What do baby red eared sliders eat?

Red-eared sliders need a diet that is a mixture of both animal and plant materials. Young red-eared sliders eat more animal protein, so babies should start with a diet that's more on the carnivorous side. ... They often eat submerged plants like anacharis, water hyacinth, water lettuce, duckweed, azolla (fairy moss), and frog-bit.

How to take care of a red eared slider turtle?

For example, feed your baby turtle a portion of pellets once a day along with 1 to 2 guppies or worms. Provide your baby turtle with 1 to 2 leafy greens daily. Young red-eared slider turtles may not show interest in vegetables, but you should introduce them to their diet early.

What do red-eared slider turtles eat?

Calcium and Vitamin D are important elements for the health of the turtle shell and should be mixed in the regular diet of your turtle. In the wild, baby red-eared slider turtles are not so fortunate like those ones kept as pets.

What can I Feed my red eared turtle?

On occasion, you can offer them leafy greens, freeze-dried shrimp or krill, crickets, superworms, rosy red minnows, and even pinky mice. Thanks! Can I feed my red eared turtle crickets?

How do you feed a red-eared baby 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 do you take care of a baby red-eared slider turtle?

0:555:01Basic Baby Red Eared Slider Turtle Care 2020 - YouTubeYouTubeStart of suggested clipEnd of suggested clipAlways use a treatment such as rough to safe which gets rid of chlorine. And make sure that theMoreAlways use a treatment such as rough to safe which gets rid of chlorine. And make sure that the water is more safe for a turtle. It might seem like five gallons is not enough space for swimming. But

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 many pellets do you feed a baby red-eared slider?

Feed them as much as they can eat in 15 to 20 minutes. Give them enough food that would fit inside their head, if it were completely empty.

Can baby red-eared sliders eat fruit?

Some experts recommend fresh fruits such as bananas, berries, apples, and melons. However, this isn't a natural staple in the red-eared sliders diet, and it may cause diarrhea. If you offer any fruit at all, limit it to very small quantities as a special treat. Don't feed frozen fish, or at least not very often.

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.

What do baby sliders eat?

Omnivorous Diet: Baby sliders eat vegetation, moths, earthworms, crustaceans, tadpoles, snails, and any other small animal they can catch in the wild. Their diet is not limited to one thing, so you should not feed them just one prey.

How do I feed my baby turtle?

In general, you should feed a baby turtle a little more protein than you would an adult turtle. You can replace some fruits and veggies with a little more pellets and feeder fish if your turtle is still growing. Pellets are a great option here, but you could opt to feed him live food instead.

What can red-eared sliders not eat?

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

What is the best food for baby turtles?

The answer is simple baby turtle food of course. But seriously baby turtles require a special diet when it comes to feeding them properly. They will usually take to lettuce of all kinds except for iceberg, worms, krill, river shrimp, mealworms and pellet food. Variety is the best thing for your baby turtles diet.

What fruits can baby turtles eat?

Fruits can include apples, cantaloupe, bananas, berries, and mangoes. You can also feed them non-toxic aquatic plants like water hyacinth, water lettuce, and duckweed.

Do baby turtles eat everyday?

Baby turtles should be fed every day. Afternoons and mornings are ideal feeding times; they are typically most active then and will be more likely to eat the food provided. While people generally agree that babies should be fed each day, how much food they need is debated.

Do red-eared sliders like to be petted?

Turtles are arguably the cutest of all of the reptiles. Because of this, they are often desirable pets. However, turtles don't really enjoy being handled and petted the same way other domestic animals do.

How much water do baby red-eared sliders need?

Fill the Tank With Water Red-eared sliders need an adequate amount of water in which to swim. At a minimum, the water should be about twice as deep as your turtle is long—a 4-inch turtle should have a minimum water depth of 6-8 inches.

Do red-eared sliders need to be in water all the time?

The answer is, yes. Red-eared sliders need to be in the water. For starters, red-eared sliders lack saliva and need water to swallow their food. They can eat without water, it's just a lot more difficult.

Do red-eared sliders like to be handled?

Generally speaking, red-eared sliders dislike handling and prefer to be left alone. One of the easiest and most effective ways you can build trust with your pet red-eared slider is with tong feeding. Don't hand-feed — this is likely to get you nipped!

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.

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.

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.

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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.