- High Protein Content Food. The first thing you need to know about feeding your musk turtles is that they should be fed high protein diets.
- Fruits And Vegetables. Musk turtles are omnivores. That means that they will eat both fruits and vegetables. ...
- Commercial Foods. Some musk turtles like to eat commercial foods. This option is ideal for those who live in areas where it is difficult to find fresh foods.
- Turtle Food Mixes. Another option for feeding your Musk Turtles is to make your mixture of foods. ...
- Algae. Algae is one of the best sources of nutrients for Musk Turtles. You can also buy algae supplements for your Musk Turtles.
- Freshwater. Your musk turtles need clean and fresh water to stay healthy. They may not drink as much as other species, but they still require plenty of water.
What should I Feed my musk turtle?
These turtles usually prefer fresh and live foods but will easily accept dried foods when their favorite foods are unavailable. In captivity, a varied diet will ensure a musk turtle lives a long and healthy life. Keep reading as I discuss what you should feed your musk turtle and what not to feed it. What Can You Feed Your Musk Turtles?
What can I feed a baby turtle?
To feed a baby turtle, start by figuring out what kind of turtle you have since different varieties of turtles prefer different foods. If your turtle is an herbivore, provide it with a variety of fruits and vegetables, as well as aquatic plants like duckweed and water lettuce.
How to take care of a baby musk turtle?
Use a soft brush and clean, tepid water to wash the shell. Baby Common Musk turtles generally need much the same care as adult specimens. They can be kept in much smaller containers but will need much shallower water levels as well until they get bigger.
Do musk turtles eat seaweed?
Other species include razorback musk turtle, loggerhead musk turtle, and flattened musk turtle. Musks turtles have a fascinating dietary need. They would eat a wide variety of water, fish, and insects in the wild, but they also eat some seaweed.
What should I feed baby musk turtle?
Common Musk Turtles Food Pet common musk turtles will eat earthworms, cut-up fish and shrimp, crickets and bloodworms. Most pets will eat pelleted turtle foods, as well, including Reptomin and Mazuri Freshwater Turtle Diet.
How do you take care of a baby musk turtle?
Musk Turtle care sheetHousing: a turtle terrarium of at least 60cm in length.Heating: basking temperature of 100oF and intense UVB.Water Maintenance:temperature of 80oF and a strong filter.Diet: carnivorous mix of shrimp, meat and insects.Decoration: basking platform with a ramp.
How often should you feed baby musk turtles?
Bog wood and rocks are always an excellent addition to a Musk turtle enclosure especially since these turtles like to crawl out of the water on branches to bask occasionally. Musk turtles less than 6 months old should be fed twice daily and turtles over 6 months old should be fed once every other day.
What human food can musk turtles eat?
Shredded carrots, squash, and zucchini are great foods that turtles can eat, too. You can also go with edible aquatic vegetation such as water lettuce, water hyacinth, and duckweed. “For fruits, consider shredded apples and melons, as well as chopped berries,” recommends Dr. Starkey.
Can baby musk turtles swim?
Musk Turtles are fairly good side to side swimmers but really struggle swimming upwards. They are mainly bottom walkers.
Do musk turtles need a heat lamp?
Although common musk turtles do not always emerge from the water to bask, a basking light is essential for captive turtle health. High-quality UVB bulbs are especially necessary for helping turtles metabolize calcium and to avoid vitamin A and D3 deficiencies.
What veg can I feed my musk turtle?
Avoid feeding your turtles vegetables that contain little to no nutritional value, such as mushrooms, cucumbers, and eggplants. Instead, provide the turtles with fresh, nutritious vegetables, such as kale, collard, mustard greens, lettuce, spinach, cabbage, celery, and watercress.
Do musk turtles need light at night?
Many turtle owners wonder if they need to keep the light on in their turtle's tank at night. Luckily, the answer to that is no. Your turtle will be just fine if the light is turned off during night time hours.
Can you overfeed a musk turtle?
It's essentially a form of Metabolic Bone Disease and occurs when your turtle is overfed. It's not good for the turtle and could lead to their organs being squeezed or being damaged. The biggest culprit of shell pyramiding is usually from feeding your turtle too many pellets.
What can baby turtles eat besides turtle food?
Animal-based food sources for turtles can include processed pet foods like drained sardines, turtle pellets, and trout chow. You can also feed them cooked chicken, beef, and turkey. Live prey can include moths, crickets, shrimp, krill, feeder fish, and worms.
How deep should the water be for a musk turtle?
An aquarium of 80 liters (20 gallons) is enough for one, and to keep two make sure you have an aquarium double that size! When your turtles are small, make sure your water is not too deep. This is because musk turtles are not great swimmers. They tend to sink to the bottom as they do not have an air bladder like fish.
How long can musk turtles stay out of water?
Generally speaking, a turtle can go about 8 hours without water in a warm and dry environment.
How old do turtles have to be to be considered adults?
Turtles are not considered adults until they are at least 7 years old. However, after three years their appetite should taper off naturally. When you notice your turtle eating less, it may be a sign that it is ready to transition to a new diet. Talk to your vet first, however, when you begin changing feeding frequency.
What happens if a turtle stops eating?
If your turtle stops eating, keep an eye out for other common turtle problems. Watch for shell problems. A turtle's shell is an indicator of health and wellness. Changes to the shell can indicate poor nutrition, especially, though not exclusively, too little calcium in its diet.
How to make sure a baby turtle eats?
Create a food-friendly environment. Turtles need to feel comfortable to eat. In order to make sure your turtle will eat in its tank, create a food-friendly environment. To keep a clean home for your turtle you will typically want to feed it in a separate cage. This is not as imperative for baby turtles.
What do turtles eat?
If your turtle needs a meat-based diet, you can feed it mealworms, earthworms, crayfish, minnows, snails, slugs, and wax worms.
Why is it important to feed a baby turtle?
It is the time when they most need vitamins for growth and development. It is vital to establish that your baby turtle is fed in a comfortable, safe environment so that it will eat and get all of the nutrients it needs.
Why do turtles have a runny nose?
Change in a turtle's appetite, energy, and weight might indicate a parasite. Respiratory infections can be caused by a vitamin A deficiency. A runny nose or drooping eyelids can indicate a deficiency. Serious infections are marked by mouth-breathing, mucus in the mouth, or wheezing.
Do turtles have a long lifespan?
Transition to new food types and portions. Turtles can have a lengthy lifespan, meaning they are long-term pets. You need to be prepared to care for your turtle well past babyhood. Remember, food types and amounts change with age.
1. High Protein Content Food
The first thing you need to know about feeding your musk turtles is that they should be fed high protein diets. It means turtles’ diet should contain more than 15% protein. The best sources of proteins are:
2. Fruits And Vegetables
Musk turtles are omnivores. That means that they will eat both fruits and vegetables.
3. Commercial Foods
Some musk turtles like to eat commercial foods. This option is ideal for those who live in areas where it is difficult to find fresh foods.
4. Turtle Food Mixes
Another option for feeding your Musk Turtles is to make your mixture of foods. This way, you can control what goes into the mix and ensure that it contains all the nutrients your turtle needs.
5. Algae
Algae is one of the best sources of nutrients for Musk Turtles. You can also buy algae supplements for your Musk Turtles. Algae is an excellent source of minerals and vitamins.
6. Freshwater
Your musk turtles need clean and fresh water to stay healthy. They may not drink as much as other species, but they still require plenty of water.
The Diet of a Musk Turtle
Musk turtles are omnivores, which means that they will eat fruits, vegetables, as well as meat, insects, and pellets. A well-balanced diet for a pet musk turtle will be mainly based on pellets, with the occasional fruits, vegetables, and dried insects.
How to Set Up the Tank of a Musk Turtle
The tank is where your musk turtle will spend most of its life so it’s important to make it as comfortable as possible. Luckily for us, musk turtles don’t require too many things in their tank, but the things that they require are completely essential.
Musk Turtle Size and Lifespan
On average most musk turtles live between 40 and 60 years and reach sizes between 2 and 4.5 inches.
How to Determine the Gender of a Musk Turtle
Unfortunately, it’s not that easy to tell the gender of the musk turtle, as most of the distinctive signs only appear when they reach maturity. So if you own a baby musk turtle you could try to figure out the gender, but it’s usually impossible.
Possible Strange Behavior
After a while, you will start to know the normal behavior of your musk turtle. You will get to know how your turtle swims, when and how it will play, and all sorts of different things. And as a result, you will also notice some occasional strange behavior.
Final Thoughts
This article should cover everything that you should know about how to care for a musk turtle. But if you still have questions you can always leave them in the comment section below and I will answer them as soon as possible.
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MuddyBob
I have had many mud and musk hatchlings and they always respond to live earthworms. You have to cut the worms up into smaller pieces for hatchlings, but the wiggling gets their attention. A distant second best is fish, probably due to the odor. Some hatchlings will eat pellets right away if you are lucky.
winnerbaldwin
I feed my musk Hikari Carnivore Pellets and Hikari Algae Wafers and have done since he was a hatchling. I break the algae wafers up as they are HUGE! The ittle fella hoovers them up! These are great too, as they sink. Hope this helps. C.D.B
MuddyBob
Hatchlings are easily stressed. In the wild they would normally hide in dense vegetation. Everything from large birds to snapping turtles are a threat to them. Do you have a photo of your setup? Temperature is important too. Musk hatchlings should probably have water set around 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
julesb
The Reptomin have never worked for me as well. Everytime I throw them in, I find it all by the filter. I have a baby Common Musk and I have started feeding meal worms. At first I would wait for him to finish one before iving another, now I just toss a few in and their gone the next day. They tend to lurk the bottom so its easy.
Grubb
I wouldn't recommend feeding only meal worms, they aren't very healthy and should be fed mostly as a treat. It is hard to get some turtles to eat pellets but they will eventually - it just takes some patience. Reptomin and Mazuri are both high quality pellets and are a healthy staple in a turtle's diet.
julesb
I sometimes throw reptomin in their anyway, but he just doesn't eat it. I've read that musk turtles, any young turtles in general are carnivorous. But like Britt_Brat, we just want them to at least eat something.
What do musk turtles eat?
Common Musk Turtle Diet. A common musk turtle living in a wild habitat eats a variety of insects such as crayfish, snails, earthworms, and mollusks. They also feed on aquatic insects like damselfly nymphs, tadpoles, and dragonfly and fish eggs. Although musk turtles are considered carnivores by nature, however, they may also eat algae.
How many eggs do musk turtles lay?
Common Musk Turtle Breeding. The females lay 1 to 9 eggs of elliptical shape that have a hard shell. This breeding usually takes place during the spring that may last till fall, but the eggs take about 60 to 80 to hatch.
What are the characteristics of musk turtles?
Their unique features include a deep brown face with yellow lines and a highly arched carapace that tends to become flat as they age. Male musk turtles have a longer tail than females. They have a pointed nose and a rather large head. They are not the prettiest turtles, but other characteristics make them a good pet.
How long do musk turtles live?
Also known as Sternotherus Odoratus or eastern musk turtles, common musk turtles can live up to 50 years or more. Their unique features include a deep brown face with yellow lines and a highly arched carapace that tends to become flat as they age.
Why is the bottom of a musk turtle called a stinkpot?
It spends most of the time walking on swamps or marshes. It gets its name ‘musk’ or ‘stinkpot’ because it releases an orange colored musk that carries a heavily unpleasant scent that scares away its predators.
What are the predators of musk turtles?
They have many predators like raccoons, skunks, large wading birds, large fishes, foxes, American Bullfrog, snapping turtles, and Northern Water Snakes.
Where are musk turtles found?
Found in a vast geographical array, common musk turtles are commonly found in the Eastern United States and Eastern North America. Their hatchlings are the smallest turtles in North America.
