Can Turtles Eat Strawberries

Can turtles eat strawberries? Turtles love strawberries!! In fact, you can feed your turtle most kinds of berries, like strawberries and raspberries, and a variety of tropical fruits such as guava, banana and papaya. They also enjoy various types of melons, such as honeydew, cantaloupe and watermelon, apple and pear, too.

Identify your Turtle’s Type

Most kinds of turtles can be fed fruits and vegetables; however, if you have just brought your pet turtle and are not sure of its type and kind, pay a visit to the vet and find out what foods are most suitable for your specific type of turtle. Because of the wide variety of turtle species, it may be difficult for you to know the type on your own.

Which Veggies Are Best?

Among vegetables, aquatic or box turtles enjoy and can be fed chunks of squash, grated carrot, cooked corn, and several others. Nearly all kinds of turtles can eat leafy greens, including collard, romaine lettuce, mustard, kale, watercress, dandelion and parsley.

Add Aquatic Plants

Adding aquatic plants to your turtle’s tank will help you find out which plants he likes to eat. Generally, turtles like to eat plants that float, such as azolla, water hyacinth, duckweed, water lettuce and frog-bit. They sometime also like anacharis, which is a submerged plant. You can plant the ones your turtle enjoys so that they keep growing and function as a source of continuous food supply for your pet.

Live Animal Feed

Along with fruits and vegetables, turtles also enjoy eating live animals, such as snails, fish, insects and larvae. If your turtle lives in a pond, some of these may turn up naturally and your aquatic turtle is likely to try them out. You can also add a few species for experimentation. If you’re wondering where you’d get these, you will be pleased to know that they are sold by many aquarium shops. Try earthworms, crickets, beetles, goldfish, rosy red minnow or guppies, or any other small inexpensive fish. All turtle species will probably not like them but if you have an aquatic turtle, it is likely to enjoy all these live foods and even small frogs. If your turtle lives in a tank, you should remove all the uneaten live creatures, except the fish.

A Separate Feeding Container

It would be a good idea to use a separate container for your turtle’s feeding. Leave it in a tub half-filled with warm water for approximately half an hour. You can add the strawberries to the tub, along with any other fruits or vegetables. Your pet will probably make a mess. The warm water will also help your turtle to defecate. You can then put it back in its tank which will stay clean. If you feed it in its own tank, the water will become dirty very soon. You may still choose to do this, but then you must ensure that you have a strong filtration system in place. Turtles can be fed after 2 to 4 days.

The Best Way To Feed Turtles

An aquatic turtle will often eat food while he is in water. This is because to swallow any food, it needs to be submerged in water. You may place the food on the dry area in its home; however, he is likely to drag it into the water before eating it. It would be wise to be there as your turtle eats so that you remove any food that has not been eaten after a few minutes. If you’re feeding your turtle live aquatic animals, you can leave them in the water. Any live insects that are not eaten within a few minutes should be placed back in their storage area for the next meal time.

Is Your Turtle Shy?

If you just bought your turtle and it doesn’t eat while you watch, it’s probably going through an adjustment phase. In this situation, it would be best to leave it alone during mealtimes until it becomes used to your presence.

How Often Should Turtles Be Fed?

If you have a baby turtle, you should offer it food every day. For adult turtles, you may need to feed most types two or three times weekly. You may offer food daily if you wish to, but as turtles rarely overeat, there isn’t much at risk.

To return to the initial question, can turtles eat strawberries, the answer is of course ‘yes’. You can add strawberries to your turtle’s diet as a treat, in addition to other components that can form a balanced and healthy diet for your pet turtle. Remember that a healthy diet in addition to a clean healthy environment will lead to a long and healthy diet for your pet turtle.   

References:

http://www.buzzfeed.com/turtlefeed/turtles-love-strawberries-ruc

http://allturtles.com/turtle-care-sheets/water-turtle-care/water-turtle-feeding/

http://small-pets.lovetoknow.com/what-do-turtles-eat

http://www.what-do-turtles-eat.info/what-do-pet-turtles-eat/

http://www.fishpondinfo.com/turtles/turfeed.htm