AboutMark Adkins Expertise I will be glad to help with your tortoise- and turtle-related questions. My specialty is Red-foot Tortoises, but I can help with many aspects of turtle care.
Understand- I am not a vet, and the more information you can give me, the more accurate my answer can be.
(Because of the number of questions I get, I reserve the right to direct you to a good website that will help rather than re-inventing the wheel.)
Experience Dealing with reptiles and turtles since 1964. Member of many organizations, author of several booklets and care articles.
Expert: Mark Adkins Date: 7/9/2008 Subject: Going away
Question Hello, since i am going away for a little more than a week, is there anyway to
feed my turtle without asking a someone else. Is it possible to put excess
food in the tank, without it overfeeding itself? And if it does eat more than
usual, can it use the excess food to last the week? My turtle is a red eared
slider, and is about 2 years old, at 4 inches lengthwise.
Thanks for your help!
Answer Thats a good size for this. The easiest plan is to overfeed by about 50% or so for about a week before, then release some fish and other live food items it is used to eating in the tank just before you leave.
A healthy turtle can go a month without food if it has to with no problems, and a couple months with very few problems.
If it is not already used to live food, this is a good time to start. Try the 'basic care' section of http://www.austinsturtlepage.com for great ideas.
