# Box turtle won't eat veggies. Help!



## crissyshine (Nov 18, 2014)

i have a 4 year old boxie and he eats fruits, mealworms/crickets/grasshoppers but will not eat any veggies I put in his bowl.
I've tried tomatoes, romaine, and recently pumpkin. He just noses them out of the way and eats the meat, fruit or turtle pellets.

How do I make/trick him in to eating and liking vegetables?

Also, today was the first day he tried to bite me after I started moving some of his substrate around. Like, literally charged at my hand with his mouth open! I wasn't scared but it was just weird which is why I think he was mad.

I think he's mad at me because his tank is in a new spot (currently making room in my room for his new delux, two story, tortoise table!)


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## lisa127 (Nov 18, 2014)

Soak some reptomin pellets until you get them real soft. Mash them up and then smear that all over the veggies and greens. That's how I always got boxies to eat veggies and greens.


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## Yvonne G (Nov 18, 2014)

I chop up a great big bowl of weeds, grasses and leafy greens along with some grated zucchini for my baby tortoises. Every morning I put a spoonful of the tortoise mixture at the box turtle baby feeding station, then I put several fresh, wiggly worms on top of the pile of greens. The turtles eat the worms and get a taste of the veggies that adhere to the worms, and eventually I can leave off the worms and they eat the veggies. You can with hold food for a couple days and then offer chopped up greens and veggies. Hunger sometimes gets them eating.


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## leigti (Nov 18, 2014)

I know how frustrating that can be. My box turtle wouldn't eat anything but protein. And then only live wiggly protein sources  I tried just about everything that people suggested and it still did not work. So I got desperate and did the starvation method. I did not feed her for five days and then I gave her a mixture of venison and sweet potato canned dog food, weeds, veggies, spring mix, and a few pieces of Apple and grapes. I cut everything up really small and mixed it together. It was about 50% protein and 50% veggies etc. And then I took one small ringworm and cut it up into pieces, yuck, and put it on top. She finally ate. I could hear her crunching the vegetables and I was so excited. I now mix other kinds of protein rather than the dog food, and she still doesn't eat a lot of veggies but at least she's eating saw him. I will continue to cut back on the protein part and increase the veggies until she is eating them more readily. hang in there it takes a long time but it will happen.


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## Ciri (Nov 18, 2014)

Eating some veggies for box turtles is fine, but the majority of their diet in the wild is bugs and worms. Better that they are well-nourished with their natural diet, rather than trying to force them to eat more veggies when it's not what their body needs most. Humans need more veggies, but box turtles are quite healthy on little vegetable matter and lots of protein.


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## lisa127 (Nov 18, 2014)

Ciri said:


> Eating some veggies for box turtles is fine, but the majority of their diet in the wild is bugs and worms. Better that they are well-nourished with their natural diet, rather than trying to force them to eat more veggies when it's not what their body needs most. Humans need more veggies, but box turtles are quite healthy on little vegetable matter and lots of protein.


I tend to be somewhat in agreement with you. Everyone insists they need all these greens, but boxies need more protein even as adults than people think. In nature I believe they eat mostly bugs, worms, and fallen fruit. I feed more fruit to mine than people seem to think is good because they do eat a lot of berries in the wild. More than veggies and greens I'm sure.


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## crissyshine (Nov 18, 2014)

lisa127 said:


> Soak some reptomin pellets until you get them real soft. Mash them up and then smear that all over the veggies and greens. That's how I always got boxies to eat veggies and greens.


That sounds like a great idea, I will definitely try it!


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## crissyshine (Nov 18, 2014)

Yvonne G said:


> I chop up a great big bowl of weeds, grasses and leafy greens along with some grated zucchini for my baby tortoises. Every morning I put a spoonful of the tortoise mixture at the box turtle baby feeding station, then I put several fresh, wiggly worms on top of the pile of greens. The turtles eat the worms and get a taste of the veggies that adhere to the worms, and eventually I can leave off the worms and they eat the veggies. You can with hold food for a couple days and then offer chopped up greens and veggies. Hunger sometimes gets them eating.



I will try holding off food. The vet said the same thing but I always feel guilty when he doesn't eat for 2/3 days (even though I know he can go quite some time without food).


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## leigti (Nov 18, 2014)

According to what I have been told and what I have read adult box turtles eat about 50% protein and 50% vegetables fruits etc. I try to make sure that my turtle gets more than just bugs.


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## lisa127 (Nov 18, 2014)

leigti said:


> According to what I have been told and what I have read adult box turtles eat about 50% protein and 50% vegetables fruits etc. I try to make sure that my turtle gets more than just bugs.


yes....I usually follow a 50% protein, 25% veggies or greens, and 25% fruit diet.


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## leigti (Nov 18, 2014)

lisa127 said:


> yes....I usually follow a 50% protein, 25% veggies or greens, and 25% fruit diet.


That sounds about right from the research I have done. my my turtle however has not done that research and is not interested  I feel better that she is at least eating a more diverse diet now.


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## lisa127 (Nov 18, 2014)

leigti said:


> That sounds about right from the research I have done. my my turtle however has not done that research and is not interested  I feel better that she is at least eating a more diverse diet now.


with mine it depends on the time of year for some reason. in spring and summer she will eat it all, even the veggies and fruits. at this time of year she will only eat protein. she prefers live food but will also eat non living protein.


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## leigti (Nov 18, 2014)

lisa127 said:


> with mine it depends on the time of year for some reason. in spring and summer she will eat it all, even the veggies and fruits. at this time of year she will only eat protein. she prefers live food but will also eat non living protein.


Maybe it has something to do with the fact that in nature they would be trying to hibernate right now. I don't know just a thought.


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## Gillian M (Nov 18, 2014)

Welcome to the forum! My Greek tort has been giving me trouble and won't eat anything. I was told that when it gets hungry i'tll eat. I know that this is true but......like you said: it would make me feel guilty to "ignore" the poor little thing till it decides to eat alone,

Good luck to you and your tort.


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## lisa127 (Nov 19, 2014)

leigti said:


> That sounds about right from the research I have done. my my turtle however has not done that research and is not interested  I feel better that she is at least eating a more diverse diet now.


In nature it is a lot of insects, slugs, snails, earthworms, etc. The vegetation side of things tends to be things more like berries and fungi. That's why though I may offer all kinds of veggies and greens I don't worry if it's not eaten. It's not really natural box turtle food.


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## crissyshine (Nov 30, 2014)

lisa127 said:


> Soak some reptomin pellets until you get them real soft. Mash them up and then smear that all over the veggies and greens. That's how I always got boxies to eat veggies and greens.


So, just fyi.... It worked! I was really skeptical because my turtle sees right through facades, but I guess the new thing interested him enough to try it! 
He only ate one small piece of kale but hopefully he'll eat more. 
Thank you!


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## lisa127 (Nov 30, 2014)

crissyshine said:


> So, just fyi.... It worked! I was really skeptical because my turtle sees right through facades, but I guess the new thing interested him enough to try it!
> He only ate one small piece of kale but hopefully he'll eat more.
> Thank you!


I'm glad it worked. They tend to love reptomin.


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## fritz269 (Dec 1, 2014)

I have a young three toed and he will only eat live foods although today I did see him trying to eat a beatle(dead) but im guessing it was alive when he started going for it. I have tried a few grapes, some of that orange packaged box turtle food and no success. I would like to mix up his diet. Anyone have any ideas of what he might readily accept?


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## leigti (Dec 1, 2014)

fritz269 said:


> I have a young three toed and he will only eat live foods although today I did see him trying to eat a beatle(dead) but im guessing it was alive when he started going for it. I have tried a few grapes, some of that orange packaged box turtle food and no success. I would like to mix up his diet. Anyone have any ideas of what he might readily accept?


I think box turtles are much more carnivores when they are younger, and then they turned more into omnivores as they get older. So if your turtle is very young it will probably be hard to get them to eat as many things as you want. there are many threads on this in the box turtle section. And also check out the care sheets at the top of that section for some ideas. I finally got mine to eat a more varied diet when I mixed venison and sweet potato canned dog food with variety of greens, a little fruit, and one small live worm on top. I also had not fed her for five days prior to this. But this was in a desperate situation so I wouldn't try the starvation method with your young one.


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## fritz269 (Dec 2, 2014)

ok, I was worried because he/she had not eaten in a week or two..i was worried it was the cold weather but I changed the UV light and last night he ate like he had never eaten before. I am going to start mixing in some different things with live food and see if he goes for it. Thanks for the advice.


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## leigti (Dec 2, 2014)

I'm glad he's eating again. I guess your UV light did need changing. Keep him warm and keep the lights on 12 to 14 hours a day and that should keep him up all winter.


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