Food for DBT?
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Hello everyont – I was hoping to get aa little advice for my DBT (Leo) …I have a very healthy adult (1 1/2 years?) DBT…at least I believe he is healthy because a) he has LOADS of energy b) he can eat like a horse c) I have never noticed ANY shell problems anywhere d) he basks in his basking lamp as if he were on the beach 🙂 Anyhow, I strictly feed him reptomin sticks, although I have read that other foods are also very good for him (frozen shrimp?). Just the other day, I bought some cheap feeder fish from the pet store (8 to be exact), and he gobbled them up like he hadn’t eaten for weeks! It was actually pretty amusing watching him chase fish through his tank! I have never fed him fish before, and I was actually surprised he knew what they were considering how tiny he was when I found him. I talked to a friend who happens to be a huge fish aquarium guy (not a turtle expert mind you), and he told me that live food is best, then frozen, then sticks. As if what I had been feeding him for the past year was the worst of the bunch. Should I believe him? Since my DBT appears to want to eat ANYTHING I throw in there, what exactly should I be looking for in order to feed the little guy? Thanks alot for the help – this is a great group…even though I don’t post much, I get all the emails. 🙂 Happy DBT’ing… Bob
BOB…I have been breeding diamondbacks for years..and a good friend who is one of the foremost authorities on Diamondbacks and a Veterinarian tells me that JUMBOMIN (The Live Food Alternative) is the most nutritionally balanced food they can eat. I have been using the JUMOBOMIN now for five years as a staple in their diet and they are doing wonderfully well. I also implement their diet with dried Krille, Aquamax, Live Gambrusia (Mosquito FISH), and occassionally live crickets dusted with REPCAL. I stay away from the Reptomin since it consists of some Vegetable matter which are not indiginous to the Diamondback diet. In the wild they eat Fish, Shrimp, Clams, etc mainly high protein type foods found in tidal marshes. The Jumbomin incidentally can be purchased at WALMART and is also high in protein which I believe is a better food specifically for Diamondback Terrapins. RCFTX
I’ve never even heard of Jumbomin. 🙁 I’ll check for it in stores though. Is it like a gel tablet or stick or pellet or actual live food? Also, would live feeder fish be ok for him? he really seemed to love it. I would think that they would be a nice part of his diet as well. Also, It would be nice to have food that isn’t too difficult to keep at home. Thanks for the advice!rcftx
I’m not a DBT expert, but I work with a lot of different species of tutles and lizards. The best advice I have found is that a wide variety is always better than one or two foods. I am currently using Mazuri aquatic turtle food. I have some other foods, but can’t remember the names. Only got my DBT’s in the last 2 weeks and the food came with them. So right now, they are getting three different kinds of food. I have found that in the other species, live was not always better. Mostly for the fact that live can transmit bacteria and parasites much easier than dry or frozen foods. Bonitabdanka50
I actually thought about the bacteria problems myself….maybe I’ll look into getting some frozen stuff, and feed him the live and frozen periodically, but stick with the dry reptomin for most of his diets. Like I said, he seems to have tons of energy, has grown to a nice large size, and eats like a champ – after nearly 2 years of strictly reptomin. 🙂 Thanks to allReptile Design
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