Nutritional Advice

Correct nutrition is very important for maintaining health. ‘You are what you eat’

If we eat a poor diet, we cannot be surprised if we get sick.  The same applies for your pet terrapin.  This is especially true when an animal is outside of its normal environment and reliant upon us humans to feed it.  Choosing what to feed your pet terrapin is very important, the appropriate diet depends upon the species of your terrapin as well as life stage and health status.

We suggest you discuss what to feed your pet terrapin with your vet at a consultation.  It will help if you bring along the packaging of any commercial diet you are currently feeding.

As a general rule however aquatic species of terrapin are generally omnivorous.

Therefore they require some whole animal flesh items like fish, shrimp or worms as well as some fruit and vegetables. The proportions of animal material, fruit and vegetables will change depending on the species and life stage of your turtle.  A common problem is to continue feeding your terrapin the same diet he or she enjoyed as a young animal (mostly animal protein items plus some vegetables), rather than change to a diet more suitable for adults (mostly vegetables with some animal protein occasionally).  This can lead problems, such as kidney disease or gout in older animals.

A young turtle should be fed

• Redworms
• Insects and insect larvae,
• Small live shrimp
• A good quality pelleted turtle food. (The terrapin equivalent of dog or cat biscuits!)
• Vegetables and fruit should be offered (but don’t worry if they are ignored!)
• Feed most days.

An adult turtle should be fed

• Feed only every other day or 2-3 times per week.
• Offer vegetable and fruit in every meal.
• Once a week offer small amounts of good quality turtle pelleted food and 1-2 small pieces of whole small fish, shrimp or crickets.

The main difference in feeding of adult turtles is the feeding frequency. It is easy to over feed an adult turtle. Healthy adult turtles do not need to be fed every day.

Commercial terrapin diets

There are number of ‘complete turtle diets’ available in pet stores. These are advertized as complete, or almost complete, solutions to all of your terrapins nutrition concerns.

Compared to the wild diet these diets are still generally too high in protein, may have high sugar levels and inadequate amounts of fibre, but can be a useful source of vitamins and minerals.

We do not recommend that you feed your tortoise solely on these products but there are cases where will advise their use in combination with other dietary advice.

In our Shop we sell the Zoo Med Forest Tortoise Food which is useful in supplementing the diets of some of the Asia and American Box terrapins. We also sell the Mazuri Freshwater Turtle diet which is intended for more carnivorous terrapins again following the direction above we recommend feeding two or three times per to juvenile terrapins and once per week to adult terrapins.

Some of the reptile shops in Mong Kong sell ‘soft’ pellet diets and canned insects for terrapins. We recommend that these are not fed as a sole diet but as used in balance along with fresh food products.

Other Common Diets

A diet of pork meat, shrimp and rice is not a balanced diet and is not suitable for your pet turtle. Pork or shrimp meat contains mostly protein, with low levels of calcium and vitamins.

Calcium/Vitamin Mineral Supplementation

As with all reptiles great care must be taken to ensure a varied diet adequate in all essential trace elements.

We recommend adding calcium supplementation (with or without Vit D3 depending on your environmental situation) to the fruit and vegetable part of the diet.

Proper calcium supplementation during the carnivorous phase of juvenile terrapins is critical to balance out any Calcium: Phosphorus imbalances in the meat/protein based diet

Add a good quality vitamin/mineral supplement once per week.

If you have any questions about the suitability of your current diet for your pet terrapin and what supplementation is needed, please contact us to schedule a consultation.

Do not wait for an obvious problem such as stopping eating, it is best to be proactive and avoid health problems through providing a healthy lifestyle and good diet to your pet turtle.

I am sure your doctor will tell you the same about your health too!