Flash is gonna be the death of me..

[littleginsu]

ok, boxie peeps. flash outright refuses to eat anything but strawberries. i have tried pureeing the strawberries into a sauce and spreading it on the healthy greens she *should* eat.. cutting the strawberries and the food she should be eating really small... and she just either ignores the food or stomps through the food and spreads it all over the enclosure.

so my question is... are box turtles stubborn enough to starve themselves to death? will she eventually eat, something, if i refuse to give her strawberries (or fruits altogether)?

 

[Elohi]

I feed my boxie mostly proteins. The only other foods I've been able to get him to eat are strawberry and banana. If he had it his way he would eat nothing but superworms, rollie pollies, beetles of various species, crickets, and canned catfood. I give him canned super expensive canned catfood from time to time and you'd think it was boxie crack. He goes bananas for it.


Elohi(Earth)[TURTLE]

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Oh and in almost certain he gave the the stank eye earlier when I put a big piece of romaine into his enclosure. I laughed and said, it's just an option, chill out, I'll feed you the good stuff later.


Elohi(Earth)[TURTLE]

 

[Saleama]

Feed her wiggly proteins like worms, super worms, crickets...same as stated above. You can also try boiled egg, boiled chicken or a favorite of some of my older one, veggie omelets dry cooked with no oil and cooled down. I made one with sprouts, carrot, red bell pepper tomatoes and meal worms! Yummy!

 

[littleginsu]

I will try some eggs.. I have fresh eggs from my friend who has a couple chickens.

I tried super worms.. she literally hid from them! She pull herself into her shell and closed the doors!! I did not want to leave them in there with her because I have had a meal worm go astray and months later got the freaking shock of my life when a beetle came out from under the substrate!

She likes dried grasshoppers.. she used to eat dried grasshoppers, crickets, meal worms and red shrimp.. but lately, she just has been picking out the grasshoppers.

I purchased canned venison and made her a canned venison with strawberry treat and she totally turned her nose up at it!

 

[terryo]

LOL! That's what I was going to tell you to do. Ground venison, with some strawberries. Make a mix of strawberries, cooked sweet potato and some chopped up red lettuce, with some cantaloupe and some soaked turtle brittle with the ground venison. Have patience. Offer it every day and if she doesn't eat it take it away at night and the next day offer the same thing. Throw some worms, pill bugs and butter worms (mine love them the best) in her enclosure for her to hunt herself. Maybe she will see them and go after them.

 

[littleginsu]

I will give the worms and pill bugs ago. I do not think the worms would be able to get out of the enclosure and I am not too worried if the pill bugs do!

I will keep trying. I just wanted to make sure she will not starve herself to death out of spite!

Thanks!

 

[bouaboua]

LOL! That's what I was going to tell you to do. Ground venison, with some strawberries. Make a mix of strawberries, cooked sweet potato and some chopped up red lettuce, with some cantaloupe and some soaked turtle brittle with the ground venison. Have patience. Offer it every day and if she doesn't eat it take it away at night and the next day offer the same thing. Throw some worms, pill bugs and butter worms (mine love them the best) in her enclosure for her to hunt herself. Maybe she will see them and go after them.

Thank you for this super recipes..........................LOL! ! !

 

[terryo]

You are welcome. I make a big mix once a week and change the greens, veggies and fruit, but I always add the turtle brittle or mazuri or some kind of pellet. If you change things up you will know they are getting a verity in their meals.
This week the inside turtles got cooked carrots, sweet potato, dandelion, escarole, kale, mushrooms, strawberries, blueberries, turtle brittle, and ground venison. They are all too small to go out for the Winter, but they love the mix. I also have a little black Eastern that someone gave me this past Fall who was kept in a box with no light and not much food. He's not too great looking, and would eat nothing but lettuce, but now he's loving the mix each day. His shell was a little soft, and now it's hard and he's doing great. When I first got him he didn't eat for over two weeks. Just have patience. Eventually they all love this mix.

 

[Elohi]

Oh and I forgot to mention boiled egg, crushed shell and all. He LOVES egg. I bought him a new batch of crickets, superworms, and night crawlers this evening. He ate a huge night crawler and two crickets before slinking off and disappearing under the substrate. I dumped the whole dozen night crawlers and a few crickets into his enclosure. I also dropped in 3 superworms for him to hunt. He usually doesn't find the superworms until the pupate.
Superworms won't eat my rolly pollies will they? I just thought of that! Oops.


Elohi(Earth)[TURTLE]

 

[littleginsu]

Thanks again, Terryo, for all your invaluable wisdom, I truly appreciate it!

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I will order some mazuri this week and try to see where I can get butter worms.. I just looked it up and they turn into moths, so, not too worried if those get overlooked and mature either... They cats will have a blast. Lol

 

[lynnedit]

Not that you want to buy every food item there is , but you can also try TetraFauna ReptoMin Floating Food Sticks, which are sold at most pet stores. A few in a small pile or sprinkled on other foods can tempt them.

 

[littleginsu]

Lynne, I will try anything and everything... Whatever it takes to break her strawberry addiction! Lol

 

[lynnedit]

Worth a try. Be sure to presoak them briefly, pour off excess water.

 

[littleginsu]

Thank you Elohi, bouaboua and Stephen and Lynne for the fabulous ideas!

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Placing an order with carolinapetsupply.com right now:

Pill bugs 25 count
European Nightcrawlers 1/4lb (about 70 worms)
Organic Spineless Cactus 1 pound
Exo Terra Canned Snails
Exo Terra Canned Shrimp
Exo Terra Canned Grasshoppers (extra large)
NASCO's Turtle Brittle 1 pound
Aquamax Trout chow ground 1 pound

Here's hoping I can get her to get and enjoy some of these!

 

[littleginsu]

I don't want to jinx it, but we may have had a breakthrough this morning... I made her an omelette with mushrooms, escarole, strawberry, sweet potato, Zoo Med Natural Forest Tortoise Food and egg shell. It was pretty fragrant (i.e. stinky) but it seemed to get her attention and when I peeked in on her, I saw her take a bite.. so, I call that progress!

Thanks again!

 

[terryo]

Fantastic! A very balanced diet.

 

[Saleama]

I don't want to jinx it, but we may have had a breakthrough this morning... I made her an omelette with mushrooms, escarole, strawberry, sweet potato, Zoo Med Natural Forest Tortoise Food and egg shell. It was pretty fragrant (i.e. stinky) but it seemed to get her attention and when I peeked in on her, I saw her take a bite.. so, I call that progress!

Thanks again!

The omelet gets them every time! You can also add blood worms and dried meal worms etc.., You may also want to get a turtle omelet pan if you or your family is sqeemish, lol.

 

[littleginsu]

I am still waiting on my order of bugs and stuff.. but yesterday I went to PetSmart and picked up some canned grasshoppers and shrimp. Put a spoonful of each in her dish with a little bit of strawberry....

O
M
G

I have never seen Flash tear into food as quickly and vigorously as she did those grasshoppers! She devoured them and the shrimp.. leaving no room for her strawberry!

 

[lynnedit]

That is simply fantastic news!

It has taken a lot of work on your part, but once the gate opened, there will be no stopping her.