These small creatures that are native to the United States thrive in the wild, but they make excellent household pets. Seeing as they are predominantly omnivorous, what food would best suit them, and why?
Also commonly referred to as Yellow Bellied Slider Turtles, these reptiles have gained popularity as beautiful and easy to maintain pets. They are largely omnivorous, but they have the tendency to prefer vegetative matter to meat. In captivity, however, they are fed pelletized foods that consist of meat, vegetables and fruit, all cut up and packed for easy feeding. It is important to shake up the diet to include snacks such as mealworms and waxworms, as well as small pieces of carrots, lettuce and various fruits from time to time. So, when buying food for your Yellow-bellied turtles, what brands should you go for, and what factors should you consider?
The Best Food for Yellow-bellied Turtles Comparison Table
Name of Turtle Food | Turtle Life Stage | Quantity | Check on Amazon |
|---|---|---|---|
Zilla Land - Turtle & Tortoise Fortified Daily Food | All life stages | 6.5 Oz | |
Fluker’s Buffet Blend Aquatic Turtle Food | All life stages | 7.5 Oz | |
Tetra ReptoMin – Floating Food Sticks | All life stages | 10.6 Oz | |
Adult | 2.0 Oz | ||
All life stages | 6.0 Oz |
The Best Food for Yellow-bellied Turtles Products Review
Zilla Land – Turtle & Tortoise Fortified Daily Food – Can be fed to turtles of all ages
Even though this food’s formula delivers a balanced diet to your turtle, its primary objective, other then overall health, is to make sure that your turtle’s shell maintains ideal color as well as keeping your aquatic pet active.
Key ingredients
- Ground corn
- Ground oats
- Ground wheat
- Dehydrated alfalfa meal
- Fish meal
- Soy oil
Made using foods that are considered very nutritious as far as turtles go, the Zilla Land – Turtle & Tortoise Daily Food works to make sure that your reptile obtains as much nutrition as is necessary to keep it healthy while in captivity.
The ingredients are prepared by drying them up, then making them into pellets so that they are readily available to the turtles. Even though the quantity of vegetables is quite large, your turtle will be able to access a good deal of protein from it, an aspect that is most commendable. Protein makes up an important part of the turtles’ dietary needs since they need it for proper growth and development, and the smooth running of multiple physiological functions.
Aside from having lots of protein, your small reptile will benefit from a wide range of nutrients that includes Vitamin A, Vitamin B12, Spirulina which is basically a cyanobacteria biomass that is very beneficial to both humans and animals, Vitamin C and K. These are all essential in making certain that your pet’s physiological functions run as best as they should, and they also contribute to an incredibly strong immune system.
The fact that this food is presented in the form of pellets works as an advantage to a certain degree. The pellets are designed to float on the surface of the water in the turtle’s tank, and this prompts them to forage for it as they would in their natural habitat. In addition, they make feeding for the turtles pretty easy, and wastage is minimized since they can be able to swallow the food whole.
In case your turtle does not prefer the pellets dry, you can actually add a bit of water to make them moist and more palatable. When feeding this food to your turtle, it is recommended that you do not add any supplements such as vitamin since the food already contains the recommended balance. Also, remember to clean your hands before handling to avoid contaminating the food.
Pros
- Makes feeding your pet quite easy
- It is a balanced diet
- Prompts the turtle to feed as it would in the wild
- Comes with added nutrients such as vitamins
- Can be fed to both turtles and tortoises
Cons
- It contains artificial flavors
Verdict
Much like human beings, turtles require a balanced diet to grow, develop and thrive, and this is exactly what this feed offers them. Being that it is quite easy to give, you will have no trouble ensuring that your turtle gets as much nutrition as it needs when it needs it.
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Fluker’s Buffet Blend Aquatic Turtle Food – Ideal for turtles of all ages
If your turtle has a better liking for food that have a higher concentration of protein based foods, this food right here will make an excellent meal for them.
Key ingredients
- River shrimp – freeze dried
- Meal worms – freeze dried
- Corn fish meal
- Poultry meal
- Brewer’s yeast
When you take a glance at the list of ingredients indicated above, you are going to notice that every one of them, save for corn and brewer’s yeast, is a protein based food. While this may seem and sound like it is a little too much, it actually works to make sure that your turtle stays healthy and that it enjoys optimal physiological functions at all times.
What stands out the most about this food is that the two main ingredients (which are river shrimp and meal worms) are actually freeze dried. What this does is that it allows for the organisms to be preserved whole while losing a minimal amount of nutrition, if any at all. Aside from a high amount of protein and a decent quantity of fiber, your turtle will also obtain Vitamin A, biotin, riboflavin, thiamine and trace elements such as zinc oxide, copper sulphate, folic acid and zinc sulphate which also play a major role in keeping your turtle’s physiological functions at their best.
Seeing as there are different ingredients in this food, you will notice that the presentation is quite unique. The river shrimp and meal worms are presented whole while the rest of the ingredients come pelletized. In this way, your turtle is allowed to forage for its food as naturally as it would if it had been in the wild. Since this formula is enriched with vitamins and minerals, it is recommended that you do not add any supplements without consulting your pet’s vet.
This is important since it will help you avoid overdosing your turtle with the said nutrients, even though the effect may not be as adverse as it would be with other medicinal compounds. This jar of food comes with a convenient weight of 7.5 Oz which allows you to make fewer purchases every now and then.
Pros
- Combines river shrimp, meal worms and pellets
- Comes as a completely balanced diet
- Allows for turtles to forage for their food
- Fortified with vitamins and minerals
- Comes in a decent quantity
Cons
- Contains artificial color
Verdict
With a clear balance between protein and other food material, the Fluker’s Buffet Blend Aquatic Turtle Food makes an ideal food for turtles of all ages, and it makes certain that they get the required nutritional balance which in turn makes for the ideal growth and development curve through out their lives.
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Tetra ReptoMin – Floating Food Sticks – Can be fed to turtles of all ages
This food that is specifically developed for aquatic animals such as turtles, frogs and newts features a unique formula put together by professionals in a bid to ensure that your pet gets as much nutritional support as they need.
Key ingredients
- Fish meal
- Wheat starch
- Corn flour
- Shrimp meal
- Potato protein
- Dried yeast
- Soy bean meal and oil
With a scientifically formulated recipe, this aquatic pet food makes for a balanced meal that allows for optimal growth and development of your animals. The ingredients used have been carefully selected, and they work together to allow for consistent nutrition with each feed.
If you are a pet lover that has more than one species of aquatic animals, aside from Yellow-bellied turtles, this food will prove pretty economical since you will have no need to buy different foods for each of your pets. What stands out about this food is the fact that it is made easy to digest, a characteristic that makes the nutrients readily available to your pets after ingestion.
Aside from being a nutritionally balanced meal, this food has been fortified with calcium and Vitamin C. calcium plays a crucial role in the development of healthy bones, while vitamin C improves immunity and cardiovascular functions in your pet’s body.
Unlike most turtle food that comes in the form of pellets, the Tetra ReptoMin – Floating Food Sticks comes in the form of edible sticks as captured in its title. These sticks are made in such a way that they float in the water, allowing for the Yellow-bellied turtles to forage for them which causes them to feed as they would in their natural habitat.
These sticks ought to be fed to the turtles once or twice a day depending on population, and on the quantity of food that your turtle consumes at a go. Make certain not to give excess food since the remaining bits will disintegrate and cause the water to cloud and get dirty, a characteristic that promotes unhealthy microbial growth in the water.
Pros
- Made using a scientifically formulated recipe
- It is a completely balanced food
- Fortified with Vitamin C and calcium
- Comes in the form of sticks which are easy to use
Cons
- Contains artificial color and preservative
Verdict
In case you are a pet keeper that has an assortment of aquatic animals in your home, this food will prove ideal since it is made to make sure that all small aquatic animals can consume and benefit from it. e certain not to add too much of it into the water, though. It may cause the water to get dirty in the long run.
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Zilla Reptile Food – Munchies River Shrimp – Ideal food for adult turtles
In case you are looking to feed your turtle food that is specifically formulated for an adult turtle, you can use the Zilla Reptile Food – Munchies River Shrimp that is specially developed for the growth and development of adult turtles.
Key ingredients
- Dehydrated shrimp
Unlike most other turtle food brands in the market currently, this particular brand presents a food that is devoid of fillers and other material in a bid to deliver food that is as natural and as instinctively recognizable as possible to your Yellow-belled turtle. The only ingredient used in this food is dehydrated shrimp.
Shrimp, being a fleshy food, contains a good deal of protein that is vital to most, if not all animals. It is also quite easy to eat, ad turtles especially like it because it is a food that they feel naturally inclined to feed on, even when they are out in the wild. However, since there are no other forms of food in this formula, pet owners get concerned that their pets will miss out on a number of nutrients, and this is where supplementation comes in.
On top of feeding your turtle this food, you can also give it small pieces of lettuce and other vegetables to feed on, as well as fruit and other vegetative material. In addition, you can consult your doctor on the safest and most effective way of including supplements such as vitamins and minerals into your pet’s diet for additional nutritional support.
In case you have another type of turtle food altogether, you can use the Zilla Reptile Food – Munchies River Shrimp as a snack to feed to your turtle during the day. The best thing about this food is its purity and the absence of fillers, artificial preservatives and colors.
Pros
- Does not contain artificial additives such as color and preservatives
- Contains a high level of protein
- Easy to administer
- Encourages foraging
Cons
- You may have to supplement your turtle’s food for a balanced diet
Verdict
Even though you are likely to get another type of food to supplement this one, you can be assured that you will be giving your turtle a pure form of food that has gone through little alterations ad that, therefore, comes with few undesirable additives if any.
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Zoo Med – Royal Pet Supplies Inc Gourmet Aquatic Turtle Food – Ideal for turtles of all ages
This food is formulated to cater for pet turtles of all ages especially those that are small bodied in nature. It contains high protein foods as well as fruit for added nutrition.
Key ingredients
- Soy bean meal
- Wheat flour
- Sun dried river shrimp
- Meal worms – dried
- Dried cranberries
- Spirulina
- Fish oil
This turtle food boasts a unique combination of protein, fat, fiber and moisture to make sure that your pet turtle attains as much nutritional support as it requires to grow, develop and thrive. You will notice that for this reason, the ingredients in this food are presented as a mixture of pellets and whole river shrimp and dried meal worms.
Once added into the water, the food is designed to float so that it prompts the turtles to forage for it on the surface. This allows the turtles to use their instinctive way of feeding, just like they would in the wild. Make certain that you add the correct quantities of food into the tank, and have in mind the number of turtles that you have in your tank.
Seeing as the food is pelletized, it tends to disintegrate once mixed with water. This causes the water to get cloudy pretty fast if the residue is not removed in time. Make certain to net it out so that you maintain cleanliness in the water at all times.
One of the main ingredients of the food is cranberry, and usually, some turtles will take a bit of time to develop a taste for it. When netting out the pelletized food, you can leave in the cranberry to allow the turtles time to develop a liking for it.
Pros
- Ideal for turtles of all ages
- Comes as a balanced diet
- Easy to administer
- Comes in a large quantity
Cons
- Some turtles do not have a liking for cranberries
Verdict
Made by one of the most seasoned manufacturers of aquatic pet foods, the Zoo Med – Royal Pet Supplies Inc Gourmet Aquatic Turtle Food features a combination of foods that makes certain that your pet receives crucial nutritional support for growth.
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Buying Food for Yellow-bellied Turtles – What to consider
Age of turtles
Some food formulas are made for younger turtles, while others are made for adults. Make sure that the chosen food is ideal for your pet turtle’s age.
Additives
Loads of foods are laden with fillers, preservatives and color. Make sure that the said additives are at a minimal, or absent altogether where possible.
Nutritional balance
Be sure to select a food that fully supports the turtle’s diet, especially if you do not want to have to buy supplements separately.
Final Verdict
Yellow-bellied turtles are aquatic animals that have a unique diet, but it is, thankfully, easy to capture. Make sure that the food you choose for your pet captures all its nutritional needs, and that it is safe for long term consumption. If you feel that purchased food may not be ideal for you and your pet, go on and speak to your vet for advise on home-prepared meals that will be of help to your Yellow-belly.
