Box Turtle Food and Habitat

[carina.chen]

so my box turtle hasn’t been eating anything but bananas and a little bit of bread but i’ve tried to feed it dried meal worms and this turtle treat that is supposed to be healthy but he wouldn’t eat it is there anyway get him to eat what he needs to? In the daytime i put him in my balcony but like what would i need there it’s just plain with a chair and i don’t know if he gets sunlight cause the roof covers the balcony to where he just has shade,in the nighttime i take it in so it doesn’t get too cold for him. Would i need anything when he’s in? please help me

 

[Millerlite]

Hello, Where did you get your box turtle? how old is your turtle? Also how long have you had the box turtle? other info like housing and enclosure details helps us a ton to help accurately help you. With that said I can tell you your box turtle is being hard headed most likely. They get picky. They also get stressed meaning New enclosure, new home, wrong set up can cause them to go on a hunger strike. He like bananas cuz they are delicious and pretty much like cake for a turtle which is why you should avoid feeding to much of it. Bread.... I would not feed it bread. not sure why you feed it bred but that needs to stop. Dried meal worm and to many meal worms are not "healthy" meal worms are actually one of the more treat type of worm out there.

If you want him to start eating get some night crawlers. LIVE. Pill bugs live. Even meal worms LIVE. Box turtles really get stimulated by movement and should go far things moving. Also rain. Spray down the turtle enclosure and make a fake rain storm. Its harder to do in an indoor enclosure but if you have your set up right than you should be able to fake rain using a mister easy. Outdoors just hit sprinklers or the hose on. This will also stimulate eating behavior. Without anymore info can't really say exactly why hes not eating, but I could say the diet your providing is not favorable and you need to change that.

I also suggest posting a photo of your turtle so we can identify it. Also google Box turtle Care sheet. Many out there I can link you in a bit. Box turtles can be easy easy to keep when done right. They can be very hard and expensive to keep if set up and done wrong just like any reptile. Hope we hear back from you! keep us updated

Kyle

 

[ColleenT]

PLEASE read this article.

http://www.boxturtlefacts.org/Feeding_North_American_Box_Turtles.pdf

 

[carina.chen]

Hello, Where did you get your box turtle? how old is your turtle? Also how long have you had the box turtle? other info like housing and enclosure details helps us a ton to help accurately help you. With that said I can tell you your box turtle is being hard headed most likely. They get picky. They also get stressed meaning New enclosure, new home, wrong set up can cause them to go on a hunger strike. He like bananas cuz they are delicious and pretty much like cake for a turtle which is why you should avoid feeding to much of it. Bread.... I would not feed it bread. not sure why you feed it bred but that needs to stop. Dried meal worm and to many meal worms are not "healthy" meal worms are actually one of the more treat type of worm out there.

If you want him to start eating get some night crawlers. LIVE. Pill bugs live. Even meal worms LIVE. Box turtles really get stimulated by movement and should go far things moving. Also rain. Spray down the turtle enclosure and make a fake rain storm. Its harder to do in an indoor enclosure but if you have your set up right than you should be able to fake rain using a mister easy. Outdoors just hit sprinklers or the hose on. This will also stimulate eating behavior. Without anymore info can't really say exactly why hes not eating, but I could say the diet your providing is not favorable and you need to change that.

I also suggest posting a photo of your turtle so we can identify it. Also google Box turtle Care sheet. Many out there I can link you in a bit. Box turtles can be easy easy to keep when done right. They can be very hard and expensive to keep if set up and done wrong just like any reptile. Hope we hear back from you! keep us updated

Kyle

well i’ve had him for a week now and i got it from my cousin cause she couldn’t take care of it anymore. He’s an adult but thanks for all this info i’ll try my best to use it

 

[PJay]

The Tortoise Forum Box Turtle Care Sheet has some good ideas in it. Check it out: https://tortoiseforum.org/threads/box-turtle-care-sheet.93937/