Here is what I found out. Observations in the wild have found that musk turtles do almost all their eating in the water – not on land. The first possibility is that your turtle is too young. Common musk turtles love aquatic foods and a few types of meat-based products. To me, the Big Three foods are earthworms, bait fishes, and liver dusted in bone meal. You can join me on. Don’t worry about starving your turtle, in the wild they are used to go entire months without food, and you are not taking all the food away, you are still giving it the possibility to eat a lot of food. Turtles require suitable levels of calcium and phosphorus in their diet to maintain a healthy skeleton and a strong shell. They can climb up to a height of 6.6 feet on aquatic trunks of trees. But if possible such a vegetable should be avoided. What do musk turtles eat? 2. they need a minimum of a 20 gallon aquarium but you can get anything bigger . I’ve written about the best heaters for turtle tanks here – select a suitable water heater to bring the temperature up to around 22’C. Can turtles eat fruits? Freshwater turtle eating both plants and fresh meat such as fish, insects, and fruits. They also enjoy eating both aquatic insects and terrestrial insects that end up falling into their water, such as damselfly nymphs and dragonflies. As we know Musk turtles are kept as pets. Almost every vegetable will benefit your musk turtle, but as I said some of them have very little nutritional value so they won’t do too much good for your turtle, and others have too much phosphorus which can actually be bad for turtles. Mud and musk turtles eat commercial aquatic turtle diets well, but need some fish and invertebrates in their diet. The rest is OK, although the beef can make a mess of the tank. But how do people manage to find out... Are Box Turtles Nocturnal? Alongside a varied diet another crucial aspect of feeding musk turtles is therefore supplementation. What turtles eat fish? And since the shell of a turtle is made out of bones, the calcium is even more important for turtles than for any other animal. They can be ordered from some reptile suppliers. Just wait until it reaches maturity, then you can try again to feed it vegetables. These turtles are mostly carnivorous and they usually feed on small creatures like snails, crawdads, mollusks, insects and any other small creatures. But too much phosphorus can also make the shell a lot softer, and as a result much weaker when it comes to defending the turtle from predators. Furthermore. Turtles look for creatures to eat in the soft mud or sand. You can feed your Razorback Musk Turtle a high quality commercial pelleted diet for turtles. Your turtle should eat a balanced diet comprised of fruits, vegetables, and meat. Now let’s take a closer look at which items you should avoid and why you should avoid them. These foragers eat algae and seeds as well as invertebrates like insects, crayfish, snails, leeches, and tadpoles. A 1:1 ratio means that the amount of calcium is equal, or almost equal to the amount of phosphorus. Musk turtles can eat almost every type of vegetable, the only ones that should be avoided are those with a high volume of phosphorus and those with little nutritional value. 1. musk turtles eat turtle pellets , feeder fish , worms , crickets , etc . Your email address will not be published. So keep pasta away from your turtles. Common Musk Turtle Diet Musk turtles are primarily carnivorous by nature, and they eat a variety of small snails, mollusks, crayfish and aquatic insects, such as dragonfly and damselfly nymphs. Observations in the wild have found that musk turtles do almost all their eating in the water – not on land. Note that marine fish can be very high in salt so it is advisable to only feed these occasionally. If you are not sure how old is your turtle, then read this article: How Long do Turtles Live?, there you will find a few methods that will help you approximate the age of your turtle. Skip the plants, at least until the turtles mature. Crickets are routinely available from reptile stores or can be ordered online. These are aquatic turtles and so they come onshore only for the purpose of laying eggs. While musk turtles may eat the odd piece of pond weed in the wild, their diet is almost exclusively made up of meat. It is possible to plant those that your pet enjoys so that they keep a steady supply and have a source of constant food source for the pet. I am now interested in getting them again. If it still doesn’t eat replace more of its food with vegetables. I have a job so I can pay for it all. A 2:1 ratio is great, and this is what you should be aiming for, if the ratio goes higher it’s ok, but ideally this is the ratio that you are looking for. Supplement the commercial diet with feeder fish, crickets, roaches, mealworms, bloodworms, and earthworms. They can swallow tadpoles too! I personally like to feed my musk turtle greenleaf and redleaf salad, they are not too expensive and he seems to like it. On short, we can say that calcium is great for turtles and phosphorus is not so great for turtles in high quantities. Almost every vegetable will benefit your musk turtle, but as I said some of them have very little nutritional value so they won’t do too much good for your turtle, and others have too much phosphorus which can actually be bad for turtles. Lastly, it can be a good idea to start a journal of feeding records. Sea turtles live in salt water of the oceans and seas and the fresh water turtles live in fresh water of ponds, lakes etc. Phosphorus is what gives turtle shells a little flexibility, which is great because this little extra flexibility makes them more resistance to bites and other types of impact. Courtship and mating probably take place from late April through June. But just because they can eat them, it doesn’t mean that every vegetable is good for them. This will mean less wasted food, a more accurate feeding regime, and represent a useful source of information for your vet if there are ever problems with your turtle. We are a passionate group of writers and researchers who write about pet turtles and turtles in general. © 2020 KeepingExoticPets.com. Just remember that if a vegetable has more potassium than calcium you should keep it away from your turtle. Come and join our reptile-keeping community and prepare for some exciting discoveries! If your turtle is aquatic, its diet should be 65% to 90% meat (e.g. Hello, I am Phyllis, and I have 20 years of experience in working with animals at the zoo, and I am also the owner of 4 tortoises and one little cute turtle. In captivity you can feed earthworms, small fishes and shrimps, live crickets and market available pelleted food for the turtles. Some of the vitamins and nutrients from vegetables that help people remain healthy have little to no beneficial effect for turtles. Sitting there with your face pressed up against the glass may therefore not be the best bet; instead consider giving your pet a little privacy while they eat. If your turtle is hungry then it should start feeding rapidly. They sometime also enjoy anacharis, which can be a underwater plant. Turtles are reptiles, and similar to all reptiles they are ‘cold blooded’ or ectothermic. If you have a powerful filter you should only need to check it once a fortnight and clean the entire enclosure once every 3 months or so. A mineral-rich supplement is fed to feeder insects like crickets or roaches for 24-48 hours, before the insects themselves are fed to your musk turtles. Vegetables are one of the main sources of calcium that a musk turtle has, so making sure that you feed them vegetables with high amounts of calcium is important. But, the ocean turtle’s diet depends on what their species different species that also different diet food. Their diet is made up from aquatic insects, earthworms, crabs, crayfish, snails, fish eggs, clams, small fish, millipedes, tadpoles, adult frogs … How big a tank will they need? Most vegetables have a calcium to phosphorus ratio, this ratio can be 1:1, 2:1, 5:1, 1:2, etc. Most human-safe fish can be fed to your musk turtles – either raw or cooked. Did you know that if you ate nothing but rabbit, you’d die? The only turtles that eat cooked food prefer pizza, live in a sewer, and fight crime. While those vegetables don’t actually harm musk turtle, they only manage to fill their stomachs, but don’t provide too much nutritional value. Can turtles eat pasta? And there are two possibilities. Because of the diseases that some snails carry, it is not recommended that these be fed to … Over time you’ll gain a better understanding of how often your turtle needs feeding, which foods are most readily accepted, and any seasonal variations in appetite. So this got me wondering, are box... We are a passionate group of writers and researchers who write about pet turtles and tortoises. Get the green or red leaf lettuce that has more nutrients. In the wild, musk and mud turtles are generally carnivorous. While these aren’t cheap to buy, they do represent a carefully formulated diet that is ideal for ongoing maintenance. Turtles can eat them, but they shouldn’t. In the wild, the Common Musk Turtle would eat a wide variety of water fish and insects. And as a result most of them have a calcium to phosphorus ratio. Photo by U.S. Instead, drop the food into the water infront of your turtle. Pasta contain little to no nutritional value for turtle, and they can cause digestive problems. The turtle’s food habit is depended on their species, the structure of their jaws, their habitats and the food sources availability.. Turtles are omnivores but hawksbill turtles prefer to eat sea sponges and leatherbacks prefer jellyfish. Do this until it starts eating the vegetables. Eggs hatch in 2 or 3 months, and upon hatching young turtles are less than an inch in upper shell length. A better alternative here is known as “gut loading”. Once again, however, be sure to limit the intake to avoid increasing sodium levels too rapidly. The first step in feeding musk turtles is therefore ensuring that their water is warm enough. ... /musk-and-mud-turtles-introducing-five-interesting-species-. You just have to stop feeding your turtle so much meat and pellets, and start giving it vegetables as well. Snapping turtles, musk and mud turtles, and some other turtles will not usually eat fruits and vegetables but painted turtles, red-eared sliders, etc. Here is a list of some of the most common vegetables and their Calcium to Phosphorus ratio: With the help of this table you should be able to get a general idea of what vegetables you should feed your musk turtle. Unlike lizards, whose live food can be dusted with vitamin powder, this doesn’t work well in an aquatic turtle tank. For humans phosphorus is a very important mineral that helps filtering waste, repairing tissue and cells, etc. Turtles eat much more veggies proportionally than humans do, and pesticides on produce can harm turtle kidneys. Welcome to the site and we hope you find what you’re looking for. Some keepers have found that bivalves like cockles and mussels are also readily accepted by musk turtles. So eating vegetables or anything else won’t do them any good. Earthworms wriggle and writhe in the water, making them very appealing to musk turtles. Normally, turtles love to eat plants which float, such as azolla, water hyacinth, duckweed, water lettuce and frog-bit. It’s not uncommon for baby and juvenile musk turtles to not eat vegetables. We hope you will enjoy the site and that you will find what you’re looking for.​. I’ve written about the best heaters for turtle tanks here – select a suitable water heater to bring the temperature up to around 22’C. Some box turtles have even lived more than 100 years. With age, some of them become omnivorous. Always, write with any questions. Musk turtles are omnivores, animals that eat both meat and plants. Required fields are marked *. Pay attention to the food items your turtle(s) eat first, eat the most and also avoid or do not eat at all. Instead the best thing that you can feed your turtle is a balanced diet, that contains pellets, fruits, vegetables and meat. So let’s take a look at what calcium does for musk turtles, what phosphorus does for them and what is a good calcium to phosphorus ratio. Did you know that if you ate nothing but rabbit, you’d die? What vegetables can musk turtle eat? thank you I will use these for a veggie bath for my special needs musk turtle. Almost all vegetables contain calcium and phosphorus. To find out which vegetables can musk turtles eat, I decided to do some research. Fruits provide a lot of important vitamins and nutrients that keep turtles healthy. While musk turtles may eat the odd piece of pond weed in the wild, their diet is almost exclusively made up of meat. Alternatively, some garden centers sell them as a means to start vermicomposting. What food do they eat? Catfish pellets have been designed specifically for bottom-feeding fish. Save my name and email in this browser for the next time I comment. The first thing that you have to do is to determinate the cause. I recommend you opt for a good quality gut loading supplement, and follow the manufacturers guidelines to the letter. For example instead of giving your musk turtle iceberg salad, you could give it greenleaf salad which contains a lot of beneficial nutrients, and it’s actually loved by most turtles. And when I’m cooking something with vegetables is usually cut a couple of smaller pieces and feed them to my turtle, just to mix things up a little. In the wild, the Common Musk Turtle will feast on a varied diet. TurtleOwner.com is owned and operated by The Turtle Owner Team. Yes turtles can and should eat fruits. Follow these directions to post pictures: Musk turtles can eat lettuce. They tend to feed on aquatic invertebrates such as insects, snails, mollusks, crayfish, freshwater clams, fish and carrion. They are primarily carnivorous, although they do sometimes eat certain algae. You can fine-tune your pet’s menu based on observations, but to get started the food you prepare for your box turtle should be a combination of items that is roughly this ratio: 50% protein (worm, slugs, bugs, beetles) Fish and Wildlife Service – Midwest Region, Feeding Crested Geckos – Food Types, Safe Plants & Livefood, Giant Day Gecko Care Sheet (Phelsuma grandis), BN-LINK Digital Heat Mat Thermostat Controller for Seed Germination, Reptiles and Brewing Breeding Incubation Greenhouse, 40-108°F, 8.3A 1000W ETL Listed, Reptiles for Kids: A Junior Scientist's Guide to Lizards, Amphibians, and Cold-Blooded Creatures, 4.8 ounces Natural Aquatic Turtle Food (3 1.6 ounce bottles), Our hatchling formula is specially designed to support healthy growth for turtles up to 2 inches, It is is higher in protein to accommodate the rapid growth rates of hatchling and juvenile aquatic turtles, Highly bio-available source of calcium carbonate, Free of harmful impurities (not from Oyster Shells). heat lamp , a really good filter , they tend not to bask very much but you should get a small basking area anyways . There is nothing out there that can be named the best food.