my RES is eating at her basking dock

Question
QUESTION: We have a RES and she is about 2yrs old, when we got her from a relative almost a year ago she was about 3 inches long ...we got her a nice tank, dock, light of about 100 watt UV lamp and was feeding her once a day of turtle gamuas pellets, or the frozen turtle cubes which she loves or some Ruby Red feeders. She started thriving and growing, her skin shedding and shell plates as it looked like she should. She loves her dock and gets all stretched out on it when shes on it. I now have to feed her at least 2 times a day because I noticed wierd waste floating in her tank..it was parts of her dock, and she has nibbled off parts of it. I feed her pellets in morning and maybe cubes or she has Rubys in her tank to eat later, but if i dont feed her at dinner and she cant catch the fish she will start on the dock again. I think I am overfeeding her but if I dont feed her she eats the dock and I am afraid it will make her sick, I had to take her rocks out of the tank to because she was going after those to..she is now about 8 inches long.

ANSWER: Hi Tiffany, sorry it took me so long to reply.

I'm not sure what gamuas pellets are, but here is a link so you can read about what to feed her.

http://exoticpets.about.com/od/aquaticturtles/f/feedingturtles.htm

I think you may be overfeeding her.  You may have to use something besides a commercially made dock... perhaps you can stack some bricks up to make a sturdier basking area?

As for why she is eating her dock, here are some theories:

She is angry because she wants food
She knows you will feed her if she does it
She needs some vitamins or minerals she is not getting

I would make a non-edible dock, then re-assess her diet to make sure she is getting enough of everything she needs.  Perhaps she was growing so fast her body needed more of a certain mineral that she wasn't getting?

I would also cut down to feeding her once a day at the most, perhaps every other day.  She is hungry a lot now, but I imagine animals aren't too different than people in that the more they eat, the hungrier they get when the next mealtime comes.  That's why it's difficult to get started dieting, but once you get used to eating less it becomes easier... so I would GRADUALLY reduce her food because otherwise she is going to feel really hungry.

Anyway, I think you will find most of the answers you were looking for in the link I provided.  (It will probably say cut down on the protein...)

Thanks,
Amanda


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: thanks for the answers..I have read that site..thats where i learned about how to take care of her. She was only eating every other day when i got her, then when she got a bit to big for the tank she was in we put her in a bigger one and then we noticed a total of about 15 little rocks total that she had passed that were from the smaller tank, they appeared within time frame of about 4 days ..I figured now that she was in a bigger tank she can swim around and then they all worked out of her, and then she grew like crazy and was eating everything that was in the tank, so I took everything out except her dock. I do give her a mixture of all the things listed and she loves the frozen cubes sold for her..they have greens in them, blood worms, stuff like that. I try to not give her as many pellets because I see her get fatter when she eats them. also, is there anything you can do if they are constipated? not sure if she is but she usually goes right when shes eating or right after..and she threw up a couple of days ago, the greens she had...she ate them in morning and threw them up late at night...so I kind of been watching her to see if she is not going to the bathroom just in case. She seems ok , not sick, she still gets on her dock and stretches out and looks ok. I will start wiening her off the food and feed her once a day, and only leave 3 or 4 feeder fish in her tank for excersize, she chases them but cant really catch them when theres only a few in there, and will look for a diff sorce of dock for her...I may even have to get a bigger tank for that so she will have room to swim around. sorry so long but glad there is someone who knows thier stuff to ask...
thanks again

Answer
That is a good idea to give her fish for exercise.

I am worried about her throwing up her food at night, when she ate in the morning.  That is scary!  If she doesn't go to the bathroom today I would take her to the vet.  If she has an intestinal blockage the only way you might know is if she doesn't poop; I don't think she'd necessarily have to act sick.

I'm glad you've been watching her so closely, it sounds like she has a good mommy!

Take care,
Amanda