Eastern Snake-necked Turtle – nutrition and water

Water

Turtles must be provided with clean, conditioned drinking and swimming water at all times.

Nutrition

Eastern Snake-necked Turtles are carnivorous and can be fed a variety of meat/fish/insect products to achieve a high level of health. A diet consisting of a range of unprocessed, protein rich natural foods is preferable to a diet consisting solely of pre-prepared turtle blocks or pellets.

Image: Turtle underwater looking for food.

Turtles can be fed a mix of:

  • Bait prawns
  • Crickets
  • White bait
  • Mealworms
  • Earthworms
  • Turtle mix
  • Turtle pellets.

Adult turtles should be offered a meal no more than 3 times a week and young turtles can be offered a meal 4-5 times per week.

Feeding long-necked turtles

Watch Feeding long-necked turtles. (0:45)

A Taronga Zoo keeper explains the components of a balanced diet for captive long necked turtles

Narrator: Taronga Zoo keeper

So when keeping these guys we like to feed them a variety of different items. In captivity we feed them on fresh prawns, small fish like whitebait, insects like crickets. They are carnivorous so they do like to eat more meatier foods and if you just chop it up and place it into the water the turtles will smell it and come and eat it.

A turtle like this we’d offer food every second to third day. The more you feed them, the quicker they grow. And there’s times of the year depending on the size of your turtle that you wouldn’t bother feeding them at all. So, during the cooler months if it’s a large turtle you can let them hibernate and they won’t eat for six months of the year. A little guy in a tank like this I’d recommend feed every second to third day.

[End of transcript]

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