Just got a very sick Ornate Box turtle...

[Terry Allan Hall]

I'm telling you - nothing will get him eating like a big, fat, wriggling nightcrawler. They can't resist them.

Tried him on one this evening in his foot dish...no interest, so far.

Dampened the soil in his tank enough to keep some night crawlers alive and put the rest in there w/ him, so maybe he'll grow interested, eventually.

Pretty sick little dude.

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

If Quasi has never been around natural box turtle foods (bugs, worms, etc.), would he know they're food?

The girl who rescued him, and passed him onto me, thinks that possibly all he's even been fed was iceberg lettuce and some kind of catfood, but doesn't know for certain anything much about him...he was brought to the vet's office where she works, and the owner disappeared when she found out that vets don't give free care to turtles, apparently... and nobody at the clinic has ever worked on anything except dogs, cats, and farm stock.

 

[Kristina]

My advice is to put him in a tank with plain topsoil substrate, some plants, like pothos, spider plants, draecena, spathum peace lilly, etc. and cover the soil with damp sphagnum moss and/or clean leaf litter. I would put some worms, slugs, wood lice, etc. in there too. Continue to baby food soak him, but other than that leave him alone and let him hide and de-stress.

Get some mazuri, it has a strong smell, soak it prior to offering it and try just a pellet a day for now. You can start mixing in some finely chopped greens and bits of mushroom once he starts eating the mazuri.

 

[dmmj]

If Quasi has never been around natural box turtle foods (bugs, worms, etc.), would he know they're food?

The girl who rescued him, and passed him onto me, thinks that possibly all he's even been fed was iceberg lettuce and some kind of catfood, but doesn't know for certain anything much about him...he was brought to the vet's office where she works, and the owner disappeared when she found out that vets don't give free care to turtles, apparently... and nobody at the clinic has ever worked on anything except dogs, cats, and farm stock.

I can relate a funny story about boxies and natural food. U got a dog chewed 3 toed from the riverside animal shelter, and they had thought he had been raised on a non natural box turtle food all his life, even though besides his shell being chewed up he looked pretty good, so I got some home grown worms and plopped one in and the poor guy ran away from it, he seemed scared, but after about 10 or 15 minutes he must have either realized it was food or something because he started chowing down on them.

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

My advice is to put him in a tank with plain topsoil substrate, some plants, like pothos, spider plants, draecena, spathum peace lilly, etc. and cover the soil with damp sphagnum moss and/or clean leaf litter. I would put some worms, slugs, wood lice, etc. in there too. Continue to baby food soak him, but other than that leave him alone and let him hide and de-stress.

Get some mazuri, it has a strong smell, soak it prior to offering it and try just a pellet a day for now. You can start mixing in some finely chopped greens and bits of mushroom once he starts eating the mazuri.

Quazi is already in a tank w/ about 2" of damp soil, a nice hide-box, and a different daily food offering (today it's the bloodworms), along w/ night crawlers, sow bugs (what some call wood lice) and some grubworms I dug out of our mulch pile crawling about in the dirt. Will add some leaf litter tomorrow.

Had another baby-food soak today for about 5 hours.

So far, he has ignored the Mazuri.

If Quasi has never been around natural box turtle foods (bugs, worms, etc.), would he know they're food?

The girl who rescued him, and passed him onto me, thinks that possibly all he's even been fed was iceberg lettuce and some kind of catfood, but doesn't know for certain anything much about him...he was brought to the vet's office where she works, and the owner disappeared when she found out that vets don't give free care to turtles, apparently... and nobody at the clinic has ever worked on anything except dogs, cats, and farm stock.

I can relate a funny story about boxies and natural food. U got a dog chewed 3 toed from the riverside animal shelter, and they had thought he had been raised on a non natural box turtle food all his life, even though besides his shell being chewed up he looked pretty good, so I got some home grown worms and plopped one in and the poor guy ran away from it, he seemed scared, but after about 10 or 15 minutes he must have either realized it was food or something because he started chowing down on them.

Looking forward to the day the little dude does the same.

 

[Leebug]

Poor guy!! We just saved a dessert tort a few weeks ago, Franklin, we are on the right track now and hopefully soon he'll be walking again! Good luck w/ the lil guy!!!

---

Poor guy!! We just saved a dessert tort a few weeks ago, Franklin, we are on the right track now and hopefully soon he'll be walking again! Good luck w/ the lil guy!!!

LOL!! *desert
(I'm craving chocolate!!)

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

Poor guy!! We just saved a dessert tort a few weeks ago, Franklin, we are on the right track now and hopefully soon he'll be walking again! Good luck w/ the lil guy!!!

---

Poor guy!! We just saved a dessert tort a few weeks ago, Franklin, we are on the right track now and hopefully soon he'll be walking again! Good luck w/ the lil guy!!!

LOL!! *desert
(I'm craving chocolate!!)

---

Craving chocolates, ya say? Have you seen this, in the 2011 calendar?

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

Latest Quasimodo news...both eyes stay open w/o eye-wash, he's boogieing around his tank, and the dozen earthworms I "stocked" the dirt in his tank with were all missing last night...no great interest is any other food, thus far, but when I put 25 more nightcrawlers in his tank today, he started digging away after one.

 

[Edna]

That's awsome news! I'm glad to hear he's doing better and eating what he should eat. I wonder if his poor little shell will grow to look more normal one day.

 

[Torty Mom]

Yay!! Awesome news!!! When I rescued my ornate boxie Rusty, he refused to eat. Took him about 3 weeks. He was fed raw hamburger meat, prior to my care. I had to do a huge tough love feeding schedule. He finally started eating meal worms, but would not eat if anyone was within eyesight. Now he will eat night crawlers also, fresh from the garden!! He will also eat in front of us now, but that took about 1 year! Glad things are looking up for the little guy!!

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

That's awsome news! I'm glad to hear he's doing better and eating what he should eat. I wonder if his poor little shell will grow to look more normal one day.

Probably not much, if any improvement, but at least it's not soft.

Yay!! Awesome news!!! When I rescued my ornate boxie Rusty, he refused to eat. Took him about 3 weeks. He was fed raw hamburger meat, prior to my care. I had to do a huge tough love feeding schedule. He finally started eating meal worms, but would not eat if anyone was within eyesight. Now he will eat night crawlers also, fresh from the garden!! He will also eat in front of us now, but that took about 1 year! Glad things are looking up for the little guy!!

Bought a package of 30 "Trout worms" (whatever they might be...look like small - 6-8" long - nightcrawlers), dumped 'em in one pile in the corner of his tank and he come a-running, and literally dived into the pile of worms...in the course of 10 minutes he scarfed down six...and then took a breath! Didn't seem to care where we were, he was totally focused on those worms, who were totally focused on getting out of his sight...

Snoozing under his basking light at the moment.

His eyes have been completely clear for the last few days and we're supposed to be in the low 60s Saturday, so all the torts get to go out onto the front porch and catch some rays!

 

[african cake queen]

This is what happens when you take a baby box turtle, keep it in a dry environment, and only give it artificial light and iceberg lettuce...

Amazingly enough, the little dude has survived for 4 years like this!

Besides the deformed shell, his rear legs are very weak, one eye only opens part way, the other not at all, and he won't eat.

Got him some unfiltered sunshine today (only about 30 minutes, but he'll get more tomorrow), he's gotten some Vitamin A shots and we're tempting him w/ everything we can think of to get him to eat..soon as we get him to eat, he's going to get plenty of calcium flour mixed in his food!

The sunlight perked him up for a few hours, but not enough to eat, yet...tomorrow he'll hopefully get 3-4 hours and I'm going to put everything I can think of for a box-turtle to eat in easy access...blackberries, strawberries, meal worms, cantaloupe, earthworms, cooked white chicken, a variety of carefully chopped veggies...

Prayers and suggestions are welcome!

heart breaking , good luck. momo

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

This is what happens when you take a baby box turtle, keep it in a dry environment, and only give it artificial light and iceberg lettuce...

Amazingly enough, the little dude has survived for 4 years like this!

Besides the deformed shell, his rear legs are very weak, one eye only opens part way, the other not at all, and he won't eat.

Got him some unfiltered sunshine today (only about 30 minutes, but he'll get more tomorrow), he's gotten some Vitamin A shots and we're tempting him w/ everything we can think of to get him to eat..soon as we get him to eat, he's going to get plenty of calcium flour mixed in his food!

The sunlight perked him up for a few hours, but not enough to eat, yet...tomorrow he'll hopefully get 3-4 hours and I'm going to put everything I can think of for a box-turtle to eat in easy access...blackberries, strawberries, meal worms, cantaloupe, earthworms, cooked white chicken, a variety of carefully chopped veggies...

Prayers and suggestions are welcome!

heart breaking , good luck. momo

The little dude is doing MUCH better...his eyes have been completely clear for the last several days and he's hunting the worms I released into his tank's dirt...

 

[Shelly]

Good job, Terry.

 

[terryo]

I'm so happy to hear this. You did a wonderful job helping him. He was a sad little dude until YOU found him.

 

[Terry Allan Hall]

Good job, Terry.

I'm so happy to hear this. You did a wonderful job helping him. He was a sad little dude until YOU found him.

Thanks, but the credit should really go to this tough little dude and all of you good folks offering so many excellent suggestions in getting him well!