As with all animals, turtles will not thrive if they are not fed correctly. Vitamin deficiencies are a major problem among turtle owners who do not pay proper attention to the foods they offer their animals. Turtle species have a wide variety of dietary needs. Be sure to check your turtle's individual animal sheet to determine what sort of foods your turtle will need. Most turtles should be fed both plant and animal matter in order to remain healthy. Young turtles may require more animal-based, or high protein, foods in order to properly grow. Turtles are generally tempted to eat by both scent and sight, and many people recommend feeding them a large variety of foods to interest them in eating.

Most turtles will thrive if they are fed around noon, giving them a chance to begin to warm up and move around before food is introduced into their enclosure. Young turtles will usually need to be fed more often than adults, as they are growing. Generally, they will eat every day, while most adults should be fed at least every other day.

Animal proteins may be offered in the form of meat or insects. Commonly, cooked chicken chopped into pieces is offered to turtles. Raw, chopped lean beef or beef hearts may be given sparingly. Some turtles will accept pinky mice. If you feed pinky mice, it may be easiest to purchase them pre-killed and frozen. This can be quite convenient, as it saves you from having to raise the prey items and also allows you to keep them in large quantities for long periods of time, rather than making frequent trips to the store. Before feeding, a frozen food item should be fully defrosted and, if possible, warmed to the temperature it would have been when it was alive. Insects fed to your turtles should usually be gut loaded, fed on tropical formula fish foods or dry dog food that will be nutritious for your turtle. Many people offer gut loaded crickets. Mealworms are another popular choice. However, most experienced turtle owners prefer Zophobas sp. (kingworms or superworms) which have a lower exoskeleton to meat ratio than smaller types of mealworms. Animals who continually eat small mealworms may develop impactions due to the high ratio of indigestible shell material to actual meat. Another very good food is earthworms. It is also possible to feed turtles on slugs or snails caught in your own garden. To ensure that they are pesticide-free and will be safe for your turtle to eat, keep them in a separate enclosure for several days and feed dark leafy greens to them. Within this time period any poisoned insects will have died and your turtle will receive a nutritional benefit from the gut loaded insects that remain. Some turtles will eat small live feeder fish, like goldfish, and others may be fed larger fish that have been frozen, warmed, and chopped. Shrimp are another option.

A wide variety of plant material should make up the majority of some turtles' diets. Some aquatic turtles will feed on vegetation growing in their enclosures, so you may want to take this into consideration if you plan on growing plants in the bottoms of their tanks. Some safe plants that will not suffer terribly from turtle nibbling include Water Lettuce, Hair Grass, Canadian Pondweed, and Java Fern. Melons with the rinds still attached, vegetables like green beans, leafy foods like collard greens, and berries or plums are all usually good choices to feed to your turtle. These items may be offered raw, and you may wish to chop them into pieces that your turtle will find more manageable. Harder items like melon, carrot, or apple may be shredded as appropriate. Most aquatic and semi-aquatic turtles will need a mix of plant and animal material.

Generally, herbivorous turtles will need about 90 percent of their diet in vegetables and ten percent in fruit. More carnivorous turtles, like Box Turtles, may be healthier on a regimen including fifty percent animal protein and fifty percent plant matter. The plant portion of the diet should contain approximately three-fourths vegetables and one-fourth fruits.

Treats in the form of sweet peppers, strawberries, chard, hibiscus flowers, nasturtiums, rose petals, or geraniums may be appreciated by your turtle. Some people also choose to offer commercial turtle chow or reptile pellets and sticks on occasion. Canned dog food or dry kibble soaked to soften it may also be offered as treats. When offering canned dog food, you should use a premium brand of low fat or "lite" formulation.

You should try to get a good estimate of how much your turtle will eat on average and try not to feed it much more than that, in order to prevent excess from spoiling in the enclosure. This may be more of a concern with aquatic turtles and semi-aquatic turtles that eat under water than with turtles that eat on land.

turtles require vitamin supplements, animals that are fed a proper diet should not generally need extra vitamins. In fact, excesses of vitamins A and D3 may even cause some serious health problems for turtles. Phosphorus-free calcium supplements may be helpful, although calcium can also be obtained from dark leafy greens and canned dog foods. Many calcium supplements contain phosphorus, but it is now known that enough phosphorus can usually be obtained from normal diet items. Vitamin D3, which is manufactured in the animal's body upon exposure to full spectrum (UVB) ultraviolet light, is necessary so that the turtle can properly utilize this calcium. Diets too high in protein can cause problems including kidney damage and abnormal shell growth. Turtles that have developed such abnormalities will retain them for life. Obesity in turtles may be a health concern; this condition may be identified by fat bulges at the groin or armpit areas of the turtle.

Part Two - Housing	Part Four - Pro-Active Care
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