Updated On September 23rd, 2025
Pet's info: Reptile | Turtle | Female | unspayed
I keep getting conflicting info on feeding red eared sliders. Some articles say 75% of the diet should be leafy greens ONLY (no fruit unless you want turtle to have diarrhea) and 25% commercial turtle food. (NO "people"food like meat or chicken) This article says the opposite. I'm not sure which is correct.
1 Answer
Published on October 8th, 2019
Thanks for reaching out about Ruby. Meat such as chicken, is a poor food since it is low in calcium and high in phosphorus. My usually recommendation is 1/3-1/3-1/3, meaning parts vegetables (green, red, yellow, orange), pellets and live fish (goldfish, tetras). The benefit of whole live fish is environmental enrichment (hunting, foraging) and has a skeleton with calcium, muscle and organs rich in other nutrients. Vegetables provide a wide variety of vegetables and the pellets a fairly balanced diet. Water temperature, a basking site with UVB and heat and water quality are also important. Good luck.
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