Notes on Foods

[Todd Stockwell]

I was just re-checking my links for bulk food prices and thought I would re-note a few of the better prices and sources. I agree with Chun that Reptomin must be highly palatable to turtles as I have never had a hatchling of any species turn down Baby Reptomin once they start eating any non-live food. I still continue to use both Baby Reptomin and Zoo Med hatchling pellets for hatchlings. I experiment with Cichlid Gold and some other soft carnivore pellets, but the Baby Reptomin and Zoo Med pellets are the most popular with my guys. I feed in separate tubs and never in the tanks anymore, so the ooey-gooey Reptomin sludge isn’t as much of a problem. http://www.herpsupplies.com sells Baby Reptomin for $2.00 a bottle and Zoo Med hatchling diet for $1.75 a bottle. LLLReptile sells bulk Zoo Med hatchling up to 50 lbs. for $99.00 for all of you high-volume breeders (ha, ha). I switch my young guys over to T-Rex juvenile pellets as soon as they will start taking them in addition to the Baby Reptomin and Zoo Med. I put them on T-Rex exclusively as soon as possible. T-Rex is available in bulk from on-line sources for very reasonable prices. Go to http://www.t-rexproducts.com and click on the links to find on-line sellers. The one with the best bulk prices is Creative Aquatics & Pets in California at http://www.pohina.com The name really doesn’t match the site and the site is a little weird to follow. I was really skeptical at first, but I finally found their 800 number and called in my first order. That worked fine. They sell T-Rex Juvenile and Adult pellets in 10 lb and even 40 lb sizes. It gets down to less than $3.00 a pound in bulk. The green and red T-Rex pellets are highly attractive to turtles and the product doesn’t seem to foul the water. The same place http://www.pohina.com also sells Mazuri aquatic turtle diet in the half pound canisters and now the 25 lb bag. They also sell Aquamax Grower 500 (good old trout chow) in bulk sacks and note that it is the older prefered staple of turtle raisers. So, there IS a source for bulk trout chow on line! I have had excellent results with Flukers aquatic turtle pellets for older juveniles and adults. These are red and tan, semi-soft pellets with a fruity smell. All species seem to love them and they don’t foul the water or smell. Go to the Fluker Farms website or call their 800 number to order 25 lb sacks for around $2.00 a pound. Many retailers also sell a 4 lb jar which would be a good buy for the keeper with only a couple of turtles. LLLReptile sells Zoo Med aquatic pellets in 50 lb sacks. These dark grey, hard pellets aren’t nearly as attractive to most of my turtles but they learn to take them. http://www.enasco.com sells their famous Turtle Brittle in bulk sizes. This is the only pellet that sinks. Mud and musk turtles go crazy for this stuff. Some diamondbacks seem to get addicted to it, too. A new product is Aquatic Turtle Yummies from http://www.ectotherm.com. I got sample jars of their new Carnivore, Tortoise and Dragon Yummies at the Chicago expo and tried them at home. Aquatic Turtle wasn’t available yet at that show, but it is now on their web site. It is supposed to be higher in fish than Carnivore Yummies. This is a moist cube diet somewhat along Jason’s homemade “turtle brownies” gello recipe. Our tortoises love this stuff. The aquatic turtles have been luke warm on the red carnivore cubes, so I want to try the turtle diet next. I bought the Carnivore Yummies with an experiment in mind and it has worked. I put some of the red Yummie cubes into a bag of popcorn shrimp over night. My wc female dbts went nuts for the Yummies with the shrimp smell! Yummies are available in 1 gallon and 5 gallon sizes now with reasonable shipping charges. It’s about a $1.50 a pound and looks very promising. The Yummies don’t dissolves in water, but they do get shredded by the turtles. The Carnivore Yummies are bright red and that dyed my tank water pink and the lips of some of my females red (a nice red lipstick look!). The aquatic turtle yummies don’t look quiet as red in the web photo, so hopefully this problem will be eliminated. ToddDo you Yahoo!? Y! Web Hosting – Let the expert host your web site

[Tom & Sharon Paquette]

Just to put in my two cents worth – I know the people that own Creative Pets and they are really nice! They belong to the California Turtle and Tortoise Club and although I have not been to their place of business yet – all the comments from the many people that have – just rave about it! They do a great volume of business from my understanding and so the turn over in their stock is very good. I wouldn’t be afraid of ordering from them – they are an established business. Todd Stockwell wrote:

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