can't get baby eastern box turtle to eat

S

Silipino7

New Member
Joined
May 27, 2026
Messages
2
Location (City and/or State)
new Gretna new jersey
I have had this baby eastern box turtle a little bigger than a quarter since May 22nd, so two weeks now and it bit a red wiggler day one and it never ate again. A customer brought it in to my job and said he found it and couldn't take care of it. I have had plenty of box turtles in my life and never had an issues with them eatting even that small...I have tried fruit and pellets and meal worm, wigglers and blood worms. I can't find cricket small enough. I tried cat food. I havent tried and ground meat yet honestly because this turtle has broke the bank after making the enclosure and lights and food and all the jazz .... bloodworms are so expensive. I really thought it would eat that. idk.....it has to eat soon. I need advice please.
 
M

mark1

Well-Known Member
10 Year Member!
Joined
Dec 31, 2015
Messages
2,380
Location (City and/or State)
ohio
try live maggots from a bait store..... you put him in a container of shallow water when you try and feed him? a container with water just high enough to cover his plastron, and some leaves or fake plants for cover....... a baby turtle should be kept in a small container until they are big enough and established enough to be put in a large area where they are harder to keep track of......
 
R

Rob1985

New Member
5 Year Member
Joined
Oct 29, 2017
Messages
20
Location (City and/or State)
Northeast US
You are cutting the red wrigglers up, right?

When my babies were very small, I usually cut the red wrigglers in thirds, and gave them the moving end pieces and threw the centerthird away. They were intimidated by the full-sized/intact red wrigglers.

You can also dig in the dirt and find even smaller worms than red wrigglers, although this time of the year it's hard.

I also used the "water method" to raise them and found that the babies were much more eager to eat when their water was between 80-85 degrees.

 
Yvonne G

Yvonne G

Old Timer
10 Year Member!
Platinum Tortoise Club
Joined
Jan 23, 2008
Messages
95,388
Location (City and/or State)
Clovis, CA
I've had good luck getting baby box turtles to eat by putting them into a shallow bowl of water and adding a pinch of black worms (for aquarium fish).
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

M
  • Locked
baby eastern box turtle won't eat
Replies
8
Views
21K
diaboliqueturtle
diaboliqueturtle
EasternBoxTurtleLover
My box turtle won’t eat red wigglers
Replies
13
Views
13K
Loohan
Loohan
atuck34
  • Locked
Baby eastern box turtle
Replies
8
Views
6K
pryncesssc
pryncesssc
M
Baby eastern box turtle not eating!
Replies
5
Views
6K
jeff kushner
J
R
Eastern box turtle
Replies
16
Views
4K
Ricky j
R

New Posts

Top