While some turtle owners may worry about their pet being overweight your turtle may be underweight and you may be worried about this. A turtle being underweight is actually more common than many realize
This article is a look into why your turtle is underweight, and what to do about it.
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Why is my turtle underweight?
You may look at your pet and be able to tell that it is underweight, or, you may have weighed the animal, compared it to what turtles of its age and species should weigh, and realized that your pet is underweight.
How ever you figured this out here are the reasons why this happened and what to do about it:
Diet issues:
If your pet’s diet is lacking in calories, vitamins, or minerals then this deficient diet may be the reason behind your pet’s weight issues.
If you’ve recently bought your pet then the previous owners may have not been feeding it enough, and this could have caused the underweight issues.
If you’ve had your pet for a while, and it has been losing weight recently, then its current diet may be the issue.
What to do:
If your pet has been eating everything you give it then you may want to consider giving the animal a higher volume of food, also, make sure that your pet’s diet is supplemented with calcium and vitamins where need be.
A good guide on how much your turtle should eat is: one portion of food, per feeding, should be able to fit in your pet’s head if it were hollow
When it comes to pellets, one portion of live food that you give your pet should be larger than your pet’s head and your pet can be given as many leafy greens as the animal can eat in a day.
If you’re only feeding your pet a diet with a small variety of foods then consider giving the animal a larger variety of food.
Illness:
Just as in humans, turtles will stop wanting to eat when they are sick and this may lead to your pet losing weight and becoming underweight.
When the animal’s body realizes that it can’t use food as efficiently, when sick, the animal eats less and the animal loses its appetite.
The longer this goes on the more weight your pet loses.
What to do:
If this is happening with your pet then taking the animal to the vet is a step in the right direction.
By the time you notice the major weight loss in your pet, the animal’s condition may be advanced.
Take your pet to an exotic vet, if there is one you can access. This type of vet is more likely to accurately diagnose and treat your pet
A variety of illnesses can cause a loss of appetite in turtles so it isn’t recommended that you try to figure out what is wrong with your pet at home. Your pet may not have much time left and it may need immediate care.
In the meantime, if you can’t immediately get your pet to the vet, try to get your pet to eat by increasing the temperature in the encoure, providing more light, and trying to offer your pet more live food.