BilJac?

[yagyujubei]

My box turtles are all hibernating right now, but last fall I got the idea in my head that BilJac dog food might be a good item to include in their feeding.I don't know if it would be palatable to them. My turtles are about 75% carnivorous, and all that live food can be an expense.Any ideas pro or con?

 

[Yvonne G]

I'm not familiar with that brand of dog food. You don't want something that's high in fat. I occasionally give my box turtles canned cat food or trout chow, but mostly they eat fruits, veggies and worms, etc.

 

[yagyujubei]

I wasn't sure if it was available everywhere or not. It comes frozen. Guaranteed Analysis: Crude Protein(min.)-18%, Crude Fat(min.)-8%, Crude Fiber(max)-25%, Moisture(max)-44%

Ingredients: Beef, meat by-products, cereal food fines, poultry, poultry meal, animal liver, fish meal, eggs, cane molasses, dried beet pulp, wheat germ meal, brewers dried yeast, phosphoric acid, vitamin a acetate, vitamin d3 supplement, vitamin e supplement, riboflavin supplement, salt, niacin, biotin, choline chloride, folic acid, thiamine mononitrate, pyridoxine hydrochloride(vitamin b6), dl-methionine, vitamin b12 supplement, d-calcium pantothenate, manganous oxide, inositol, ascorbic acid, ferrous sulfate, copper sulfate, zinc oxide, cobalt carbonate, potassium iodide, sodium selenite
Some of mine like fruit, several love tomatos, but they'll kill for superworms, love nightcrawlers and occasional balls of lean ground meat, and raw fish.

 

[Angi]

You should try raising your own worms. I really enjoy feeding my worms and watching them multiply. Or you could cook up a batch of cheap meat and hard boild eggs once a week. Those ingriedients have a lot of words that sound like unneeded chemicals to me.
How many Box Turtles do you have?

 

[terryo]

A few weeks before I stop feeding mine (before hibernation) I give them Wellness Venison and Sweet Potato forumula. It only has 5.0 % fat, with no by-products, and helps put on some before hibernation fat and weight. I also give this to some boxies mixed with greens who are fussy eaters. I never had one that didn't love it.

 

[Xilonen]

I wasn't sure if it was available everywhere or not. It comes frozen. Guaranteed Analysis: Crude Protein(min.)-18%, Crude Fat(min.)-8%, Crude Fiber(max)-25%, Moisture(max)-44%

Ingredients: Beef, meat by-products, cereal food fines, poultry, poultry meal, animal liver, fish meal, eggs, cane molasses, dried beet pulp, wheat germ meal, brewers dried yeast, phosphoric acid, vitamin a acetate, vitamin d3 supplement, vitamin e supplement, riboflavin supplement, salt, niacin, biotin, choline chloride, folic acid, thiamine mononitrate, pyridoxine hydrochloride(vitamin b6), dl-methionine, vitamin b12 supplement, d-calcium pantothenate, manganous oxide, inositol, ascorbic acid, ferrous sulfate, copper sulfate, zinc oxide, cobalt carbonate, potassium iodide, sodium selenite
Some of mine like fruit, several love tomatos, but they'll kill for superworms, love nightcrawlers and occasional balls of lean ground meat, and raw fish.

Two of your top 3 ingredients shouldn't be anything by-product or a grain. The info on cereal food fines is particularly disconcerting. The rest of it looks good nutritionally - lots of amino acids and metallic cofactors - I'm going to have to go with no. I wouldn't feed it to my pets, dog or otherwise. If you're looking for a good dog food (though I'm with the live worm camp) find something without by-products, sugars or things you can't pronounce listed in the top 5 ingredients. There are some awesome canned and dry foods out there (for dogs, anyway), though why not go with something that your turtle would actually eat in the wild? It probably wouldn't take down a cow or chicken. If you don't want to raise your own, check out Mulberry Farms for some very reasonably priced creepy crawlies!