Pet Turtle : Non-Vegetarian Food

Animal protein also forms a regular part of your turtles' diet. Meat, chicken, fish, prawns, shrimp and boiled egg whites are all rich in animal proteins and trace elements. Your turtle will absolutely adore most of them, and it will be hard not giving him these as a dominant food in its diet.

But, non-vegetarian foods should not form more than 25-35% of mature turtles' diet.

This amount might be as high as 60-70% in young turtles, but should be decreased to the recommended levels over a period of time.

Never feed any raw non-vegetarian foods to your turtles - the risks are too great! All non-vegetarian food should always be served cooked (boiled without any salt and spices). While red meats (goat, beef, etc.) can be given once in a while as a treat these have a very high fat content, and should be avoided.

The best choice therefore is cooked chicken. Cooked fish can also be given, but it is preferable to restrict it to fresh-water fish and avoid ocean fish. Frozen fish is to be strictly avoided. (Hard) Boiled egg whites can also be given, but again as an occasional treat because they have an extremely high protein content.

Fresh liver is an excellent source of vitamin A, and should be given frequently as part of the non-vegetarian diet. For convenience, fresh liver can be chopped it into small pieces and frozen with a little bit of water in an ice-tray. This keeps it fresh, and all you need to do is drop a cube into the water when feeding.

Dog & Cat food can also be occasionally given, but these tend to have extremely high protein/ fat levels and should not form the staple non-vegetarian component of the diet.