My RES

NewLuv4Fish

AC Members
Jun 18, 2005
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I'm wondering about my RES, I've had him for about a year now at least and he isn't really all that much bigger. How often and how much are you suppose to feed them?
 
A 55, so plenty of room to get bigger...not room enough to get full grown but I'm moving soon and he'll be getting a bigger tank...regardless of whether he's really grown more before then or not.

I guess he's gotten a tad bigger but nothing drastic, or maybe I just see the turtle so much that I can't really tell a difference because its a gradual change. I should ask someone who only sees the turtle every now and then if they think he/she's bigger.

I also think maybe I'm not feeding it enough. How often should one be fed and how much? I've only been giving it store bought turtle food, I haven't thought it would want anything else yet since its still small because I heard they like the vegetables/fruits more when they get to full grown size.
 
You are right about they eat more veggies and friut when they get around 7"+. And the fact that you might not notice how big it gets and how fast. I recommend taking a picture every month or so next to a ruler or something.

I raised a hatchling (1.25") and in one year she was 4". I believe that they start to slow that growth rate down a bit once at 4-6". Her diet consisted of (and still does) live feeder guppies (as many as she can catch), large freeze dried krill (1-2) and a pellets and/or sticks, once a day.

Remember, only feed as much as the RES can eat within about 15 min. any extra scoop out and discard.
 
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You are right about they eat more veggies and friut when they get around 7"+. And the fact that you might not notice how big it gets and how fast. I recommend taking a picture every month or so next to a ruler or something.

I raised a hatchling (1.25") and in one year she was 4". I believe that they start to slow that growth rate down a bit once at 4-6". Her diet consisted of (and still does) live feeder guppies (as many as she can catch), large freeze dried krill (1-2) and a pellets and/or sticks, once a day.

Remember, only feed as much as the RES can eat within about 15 min. any extra scoop out and discard.


Ok I just measured my RES and it is around 3in. long, 2.5 wide....I can tell it has grown actually because the shell seems to be newer at the ends. But now I have another concern.. the top of the shell isn't flat, its kind of spikey (nothing drastic) and I thought they get like that if they were overfed too much store bought food with alot of crude protein in it. I don't see how I could be overfeeding it, especially since 5mins. ago I thought I might be underfeeding haha.
 
Send us a picture because it sounds like you have a Pyramiding problem. You really need to vary your turtle’s diet. Try feeding it Reptimin pellets, shrimp pellets, freeze dried shrimp, aquatic insect larva, earthworms, raw fish, market shrimp, small amounts of canned tuna, crickets, live fish (no goldfish), and later on plant material like leaf lettuce, kale, squash, water plants, etc…
What kind of lighting system do you have? You need a UVB bulb for bask under and a water temperature in the high 70’s. If you water temp is too low your turtles growth will become slower as well.
 
Its growing, just not a tremendous amount that I thought it would. The room its in always stays on the warm side bordering hot so not a problem there. It did have a basking light but the bulb blew or something, I haven't checked it out yet but for the most part its had a light.
 
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