Caring for turtles inevitably involves feeding them and with this comes a few complications. Although, it should be an enjoyable time there are a few mistakes you as a turtle owner can make when trying to feed your turtle. Here are a few things to keep in mind which will help make feeding your turtles pleasant for both you and your turtle.1) Feed your turtle in a separate tank from their aquarium
If you have an aquatic turtle it's always best to feed it in a separate tank or bowl instead of their aquarium. Aquatic turtles in particular are very messy eaters and tend to leave quite a bit of mess behind when it comes to dinner time. Feeding your turtle in a separate tank prevents bits of their food remaining in the aquarium, leaving the tank dirty and ruining the freshness of the water.
2) Supplementing the food with essential vitamins
Before you serve your turtle their food, use this time to drizzle or sprinkle some important vitamins over their food. Two essential vitamins that can be used as dusting or dressing for their food is:
- Calcium
- Vitamin A
Calcium can come in the form of a powder and you can obtain calcium powder from most pet stores or even online from a respectable source. All you have to do is sprinkle the calcium power over their foods and watch them gobble it up. Make sure to buy non-phosphorus calcium powder to ensure you don't unbalance your turtles calcium to phosphorus ratio.
Cod liver oil is a good source of vitamin A and can be drizzled over their vegetables before serving it to them.
3) Feed your tortoise in small amounts
One problem which comes with caring for turtles that owners have is the fact that their tortoise eats food in small amounts and often leaves their vegetables and fruits unattended for long periods of time, occasionally coming back to nibble on it later. The problem with this is if there is a large amount of food left over then it is likely to spoil. A good solution to this problem is to serve your tortoise smaller amounts of meals through the day instead of one large meal all at once.
At every serving of a small meal wait for them to finish their food completely before providing another helping. If this is impractical for you try measuring the amount of food your tortoise consumes in a day and provide them with that, so as to prevent any leftovers and food spoiling. Whatever foods are leftover at the end of the day must be removed you don't want any pest or parasites infecting it and your tortoise eating that down.
