new owner

[cordell]

Hello,
We are proud owners of 2 new box turtles, 3 towed. One is a female (named Myrtle) about 8 and the other a hatching. The older we got from the pet store a month ago, she is healthy judging by pictures I have seen. She gets all the proper husbandry. I am concerned about her eating habits though. Mustard greens she will eat, strawberries are eaten anytime offered. I have placed cuttle-bone bits with her and no luck. I have placed a small pincher-less crayfish no luck. I have tried a cricket, no luck. Tomato, cucumber, earth worm, banana, apple, all no luck. It seems all she wants is the mustard greens and strawberries! Oh I even bought some box turtle chow, a can food from petco that is veggies and fruit all mixed together.

Now the baby. We have had the baby for 3 days now. Shelly is its name. Shelly has not eaten much yet. The breeder had it eating earthworms but I have had no luck. Shellys area has all the proper lighting, humidity and all. We soak her in the AM in warm water, place some food and run! I did catch it chomping on a piece of the cuttle-bone today though. Is there anything I can do to help this baby eat? Shelly is not lame and is full of life and energy. I have offered everything I offered Myrtle beside the cray-fish.

I have read and read countless web sites over the past week. I see the sad stories of neglected turtles and dont want either of mine to end up messed up due to a bad diet. One needs to eat and the other needs to expand taste buds, any help is much appreciated!

thanks
cordell

 

[Laura]

check your temps. if they are too cold they wont eat. also, if the lighting isnt on long enough, they will think its winter and start slowing down.
sometimes it just takes time for them to adjust to a new home.

 

[Yvonne G]

Hi Cordell:

to the forum!!

It really isn't a good idea to let your box turtle run around on the floor of the house, or sleep in the bath tub. They need a nice moist and warm environment to be healthy. In the wild their territory is covered in leaf litter and they burrow down in this to hide. They can't digest their food unless they can get their body temperature up to at least 80 degrees, so being on the cold floor is detrimental to them.

Getting a recalcitrant box turtle to eat isn't as hard as you might think. Put down a small leaf of the dreaded mustard greens, then pile some really stinky, fishy-smelling canned cat food on it. You can top dress with the strawberry if you want. Over time you can chop up the good box turtle veggies and fruit and mix it in with the canned cat food, eventually decreasing the amount of cat food and ending up with only good veggies and fruits.

To get the baby to eat, I place them in a small tub of shallow water and put some black worms (buy them for aquarium fish) in the water. Of if you can find a store that sells the really small red worms, they will work too. Here are a couple recipes for box turtle food that my turtles eat well (I got these from people on the internet, and neglected to write their names by their recipe, so I'm sorry I can't give them the credit they deserve):

BOX TURTLE JELLO


Yams (slightly cooked, then mashed Pedigree can puppy food (not too much)
Thawed peas & carrots Meat*
Fruit*

Put in food processor & mix until it forms a very thick paste. They eat it voraciously, as do the adults. I also feed soaked Reptomin and live foods.

*Meat – beef liver, chicken parts
*Fruit – strawberry, peach, banana, mango, etc.








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BOX TURTLE BRITTLE

1 Ripe canteloup or honeydew 1 cup mashed fruit/berries*
1 can low cal dog food or cooked 2 cans snails thoroughly rinsed
ground turkey 1 ½ cups chopped leafy greens*
2 tsp RepCal calcium with Vit. D3 2 tsp RepCal Herptivite multivitamin

Mash the banana and/or berries and add chopped melon. Add low cal dog food or ground turkey and mix thoroughly. Add snails, chopped greens, calcium powder and vitamins. Mix thoroughly and freeze in individual meal-sized portions.

*Greens – dandelion, endive, escarole, collard, swiss chard, bok choy, romaine lettuce
*Fruits/berries – banana, pear, apple, strawberry, blue berry, raspberry, mango, kiwi

I alternate making the recipes and freeze them in plastic ice cube trays.

Yvonne

 

[cordell]

Thanks!
I guess I shouldve been a little more clear about the bath tub area. It is what they call a Garden Tub, made of plastic and Large! Myrtle has a thick layer of coconut fiber down. We keep that moist through out the day. Most of her time is either outside or in the tub area. It has heat lights, the correct kind from pet store. She isnt just tossed in the tub, lol. She eats like crazy and takes a dip in her pie plate, releasing solid stools. I need to expand her diet, must she eat bugs? I will try the mixing and such to trick her into eating more of a variety. Thanks for the recipes! The baby is also on coconut fiber, the baby has a UVB bulb as well. It hasnt been in the sun yet and is a bit small to keep track of unlike Myrtle. Maybe next summer it will get to see the great outdoors. Both areas are kept warm and have the water for wading, a cool spot too. I do not have a hide spot for the baby though the breeder says it will stay hidden and never get the UVB from the light, makes sense.
So bigger turtle, a must to have bugs or not?
Baby turtle, it should eat soon right? I do have the small earth worms. I have tried cutting them, whole, in the water, outside of the water, just about every way imaginable. The chomp of cuttle-bone I seen it take this afternoon has to be a good sign right?
Both turtles get lighting from about 5 AM to 10 PM. The warmth is 24/7 as our home is kept relatively comfortable and humid by location, South Texas.

Thanks
cordell
The canned cat food, i have read good about feeding it to turtles and read bad things about it as well.....what brand would i use, high dollar or cheap stuff??????

 

[tortoisenerd]

Welcome to the group! Congrats on the new addition. I do not keep box turtles but I have never heard to not provide a turtle or tort with a hide area. I'm very interested to come back later and read the discussion on this. If the breeder had her eating earthworms I could call and ask what type and how. Maybe you are feeding a different type or feeding them dead when the turtle wants them live, etc? I have heard they go for the wriggling prey as hatchlings. I recommend starting with what she will eat and adding in more from there, a little at a time. Less of the favorites and more of the new additions over time. Best of luck.

 

[cordell]

copy N paste from email I received....

Make sure the enclosure is about 90 degrees at the hot end. I also do not put hides in with babies because they will hide all day and then they are not being exposed to UVB.

 

[terryo]

I never put hides in any of my boxie's indoor enclosures either. I have a lot of plants in the viv. and on one side under the heat emitter I keep the soil very loose, and add a lot of dried leaves or green reptile moss. They usually dig under the pile and that's their "hide". Outside they have hides.

 

[cordell]

So NO hides for the baby. This morning I again warmed the baby up, dropped in the worms, nothing. This thing is just not eating. I am seriously starting to worry now. It has been 4 days, well 5 if you count the day he spent in the mail! How much longer can he go with no food? I know they hibernate with no food, but he is not in that mode it is to warm in my home, and his.


cordell

 

[terryo]

I just got a little three toed too, and it is about the size of a quarter. She didn't eat the first two days that I had her. Now every day I take her and put her in a little tub of warm water and put some blood worms in and a few pill bugs, which are small enough for her to eat. She eats very little...maybe 1 pill bug and a little bit of the blood worms. Today she ate a very tiny meal worm. This is Bindi and I keep her in a little plastic shoe box with damp moss. I put that shoe box into a bigger tank and have a low wt heat emitter on top. Hatchlings are so cute, but a lot of worry. If she is a hatchling, don't expect her to eat any greens or veggies just yet. Start out with very small wiggley things. Hope this helps.

 

[cordell]

Thanks! Yes he is a hatchling. I do try the little worms. I have not tried feeding it out of his home though. When I feed I warm him up via warm water and light and drop little earth worm bites all around his dish of water. This way he sees food upon exit. I have twice now caught him take a chomp of cuttle-bone. I know he was eating these worms before I got him too! I seen video, lol. So I am doing exactly like the breeder did, it just wont eat for me!

cordel

 

[cordell]

I tried the separate feeding container and he freaked out!!! It was straight to the sides and trying to climb out non stop! That didnt work to well lol


cordell

 

[terryo]

Don't give up...just keep doing what the breeder did. Maybe he needs to rest for a day. When I got mine I let him dig under for a day to rest up a bit.

 

[tortoisenerd]

I consider plants as hides. I took what you said to mean no hides, plants, or other furnishings that provide places unexposed. Sounds great to me.

 

[cordell]

The same as every day. No food eaten! I took some pics...

---

I am really beginning to get discouraged. I read and read, forums, website, everything I can get my eyes on. They all say pretty much the same thing. I have done all of these things! I read that sometimes they refuse to eat and will starve themselves to death. I dont want this to happen. If he dont eat by a certain number of days what do I do, let him go? He is not wild caught but captive bread, would he make it? I would rather lose him to life and be out $100 than lose him to death and be out the $100.

cordell

Let me add that he is not lame yet, he still has energy!!

 

[terryo]

I can understand your frustration. Boxies that small don't like bright lights. He will never go under that light you have in there. He needs at least 80 degrees in that tank...low light....plants to hide and provide humidity. If he is not warm enough he will never eat and start slowing down. In the wild, you never would see a hatchling that small as they would be burried under leaf litter eating any very little tiny bug that comes by. The temp. where I keep my little Three Toed hatchling is 85 degrees. He stays burried under moss all the time. I have a UVB...5.0 on him that is on top of a screen to filter out the light. I take him out every day and put him in a little round tub with some chopped up red wigglers then I put the little tub in his vivarium so he is still warm. I just leave him like that for about 1/2 hour. When I come back some of the chopped up worms are eatten, but not all of them. He then goes back into his viv. and digs under. This is the little tub that I feed him in and put in his viv where it is very warm to eat. I threw in a little wax worm to see what he would do. It looks light in there because of the flash on the camera, but it is really much darker. Believe me, I am very nervous about this little guy myself. I don't like to get them when they are this small. I'd rather have one that is well started but he was a gift.

 

[cordell]

I was just looking at your thread with your baby eating. Cool! I have a question then, if he dont like the light how will it stay warm in there? I have the UVB 12 on him but that doesn't put off heat, hence the light. The light is a reptile light made for warmth. I dont know, I have him in a container right now with worms and he just seems to want out! He is seriously driving my crazy!!! Maybe the aquarium is a bad thing as he can see all around? My big turtle will eat every single day if I let him, this one wont eat to save his life.

cordell

 

[egyptiandan]

I never give my hatchling box turtles any bright lights until after they start to eat. You can use either a ceramic heat emitter or a red light bulb to heat the enclosure. This will give you heat, but not bright light which hatchling box turtles want to hid from.

Danny

 

[cordell]

OK the breeder has said some things about his living quarters. They dont like aquariums as they can see me. Here are changes she recommended, I made changes so we shall report this evening!

cordell



The main points to change:

- use a shorter plastic tub instead of an aquarium. The UVB light is too far away and the turtle can see through the glass.

- make sure the bulb is 60 watt or 75 watt.

- keep the water dish at the opposite end of the tub from the heat.

- cut the worms into smaller pieces and place them directly on the cocoa-peat.

 

[cordell]

I just bought him some meal worms. Today is 24 hours out of the aquarium and in the plastic box. I fed him looked and nothing, he was dug into the cocofiber again! GRRRRR I dug him out and warmed him up again and BAM I caught the little devil with a meal worm hanging out of his mouth!!! YEA..........

I wonder if he has been catching food and diving down into the substrate to eat??

thanks for all the help everyone

 

[Yvonne G]

One other thing to remember: baby turtles are prey...they KNOW that they are prey. So they like to stay within the confines of the bushes and leaf litter. Your habitat is too wide-open for him to feel safe. Even if you have to buy a bunch of plastic plants, you need to fill up the empty spaces to make him feel more secure.

Yvonne