need help fast for box turtle (not able to digest worm)

[Agne]

my box turtle is ha ving trouble digesting superworms please reply

 

[johnsonnboswell]

What do you mean?

For a quick fix, feed your turtle something else and stop feeding super worms altogether. A good diet should contain a great deal of variety.

 

[lismar79]

Please give us some more info.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Agne, and welcome to the Forum!

Here's a list of foods to help you get some variety into your box turtle from the California Turtle & Tortoise club:

"FOODS AND FEEDING

Box turtles tend to like early morning feedings. They are omnivorous in the wild, and eat a substantial amount of insects and other invertebrates as well as fruit and some vegetable matter. They should be offered animal matter (night crawlers, snails, slugs, worms, crickets, Purina trout chow or low fat cat food) at least twice a week. They enjoy fruits such as tomatoes, apples, cantaloupe, strawberries, and blackberries. Some box turtles will take greens, leafy weeds, grape leaves and mixed vegetables. Sprinkle the food with a calcium source such as calcium carbonate or calcium lactate once a week, and with a vitamin preparation such as Superpreen® or Reptovite® once a month. Snails are a particularly nutritious food favored by most box turtles. However, you must not offer snails that may have come from an area where snail bait has been spread. If in doubt, purge the snails by maintaining them for one week on a diet of romaine lettuce or weeds from your yard before feeding them to your turtle. NEVER use snail bait or other pesticides in or near areas where box turtles are kept. "

 

[Agne]

my box turtle is from the wild my dad found her just in time or the truck that was coming would have crushed her. I had my turtle for about a year now and this was my first winter owning her she sometimes stopped eating for a month but now I got the proper substrate and lighting. I use to feed her only nightcrawlers tomatoes strawberries and blueberries so superworms now are her favorite. so it's pretty good for a handicap turtle I actualy had her last summer I a large dog kennel she loved it but this summer i'm planning to build her a 18 feet 4 feet outdoor enclosure

 

[Agne]

i tried again feeding her today a mix of apples strawberies and carrots with a little bit of calcium last summer when i had her in my ooutdoor dog kennel she ate alot of slugs

 

[ALDABRAMAN]

Welcome!

 

[Grandpa Turtle 144]

Hello and welcome to the TFO from AZ. Boxys rule !

 

[leigti]

Will your box turtle still eat the worm if you cut it in half or even smaller? What do you mean your turtle is handicapped?

 

[Agne]

Please give us some more info.

ok so my box turtle is handicap female and this winter i had trouble keeping her appetite up so now i found these superworms and she loves them i dip the worms in calcium but she doesnt digest them very well in her feces in see that the suerworms skeleton is not digested

 

[Agne]

Hi Agne, and welcome to the Forum!

Here's a list of foods to help you get some variety into your box turtle from the California Turtle & Tortoise club:

"FOODS AND FEEDING

Box turtles tend to like early morning feedings. They are omnivorous in the wild, and eat a substantial amount of insects and other invertebrates as well as fruit and some vegetable matter. They should be offered animal matter (night crawlers, snails, slugs, worms, crickets, Purina trout chow or low fat cat food) at least twice a week. They enjoy fruits such as tomatoes, apples, cantaloupe, strawberries, and blackberries. Some box turtles will take greens, leafy weeds, grape leaves and mixed vegetables. Sprinkle the food with a calcium source such as calcium carbonate or calcium lactate once a week, and with a vitamin preparation such as Superpreen® or Reptovite® once a month. Snails are a particularly nutritious food favored by most box turtles. However, you must not offer snails that may have come from an area where snail bait has been spread. If in doubt, purge the snails by maintaining them for one week on a diet of romaine lettuce or weeds from your yard before feeding them to your turtle. NEVER use snail bait or other pesticides in or near areas where box turtles are kept. "

Agne
Thank you but um do you soak the cat food
and i had trouble feeeding her vegetebles when i got my box turtle at first she only ate slugs that she found outside or tomatoes and stawberries
i would hide blueberries in the tomatoes so she ate that too
the only snails we got are lancetooth snails and they are carnivourus they can eat throu your skin

 

[Agne]

Will your box turtle still eat the worm if you cut it in half or even smaller? What do you mean your turtle is handicapped?

probably not because it will be dead and wont move but i can try it thank you

 

[TortsNTurtles]

Welcome! I love box turtles and would love to see pictures.

 

[Agne]

Welcome! I love box turtles and would love to see pictures.

I took this picture couple days ago

 

[TortsNTurtles]

What a beautiful turtle !!!! I love the eyes.

 

[Agne]

What a beautiful turtle !!!! I love the eyes.

at first because the eyes are reddish orange i thought it was a male so i named her sparky but closer to the end of summer when it was cool she layed 3 eggs in the outdoor habitat so we changed it to Ms.Sparky she layed eggs again about 2 months later non of what she layed hathed because she is the only turtle i have

 

[TortsNTurtles]

Ms. Sparky is a beauty. You need to make that picture your profile picture!

 

[HLogic]

The exoskeleton of superworms (and meal worms, wire worms, etc.) is keratin and will not be digested. The same is true for most insects; wing covers, thorax segments, legs, heads, etc. will not be digested and will pass through the digestive tract intact. Try earthworms! I've not encountered a box turtle that would pass them up (and I have 'met' several hundred box turtles over the years...).

 

[Agne]

The exoskeleton of superworms (and meal worms, wire worms, etc.) is keratin and will not be digested. The same is true for most insects; wing covers, thorax segments, legs, heads, etc. will not be digested and will pass through the digestive tract intact. Try earthworms! I've not encountered a box turtle that would pass them up (and I have 'met' several hundred box turtles over the years...).

i tried the earth worms but she stopped eating them
and will the exoskeleton of superworms gonna damage the digestive track

 

[Agne]

Will your box turtle still eat the worm if you cut it in half or even smaller? What do you mean your turtle is handicapped?

in july 2014 my father found it just in time he had to run 400 feet to get it off the road or the truck that was ahead would have crushed it when i saw it i noticed that the back right foot was missing but heald it looks like stump maybe a racoon bit it or it got cought in bob wire but now she is very healthy and happy.