Overeating 6-month old ornate box turtle hatchling?

[Kcir]

Dear all,

I got an ornate hatchling a bit before last Christmas, and it should be about 6 month old now. Though I am really glad it eats happily and eagerly, I am a bit concerned that it overeats, as some people say fast-growth and overeating can be pretty bad for turtle's health. I tried to search up guidelines but there is little information regarding the exact quantity of food fed to hatchlings.

For the past two weeks, I feed my baby about 20 small/medium BSFL and a lump of ground beef mixed with some greens, carrot & calcium powder w/o D3 (multivitamins once a week) as big as its head everyday. It used to left some of the food behind, but recently it finishes almost every bit, and still roaming around the enclosure possibly forging for more. So I sometimes gave it 10 more BSFL or a bit more of ground beef in the afternoon, which it gladly finished most of the time.

Its plastron is a little bit less than 2'' length, and I can totally see the sign of growth from the carapace. Hard for me to imagine how does it manages to stuff so much food into its tiny body... So I am wondering if I should cut back on providing food or it is completely normal for turtles of this age being vicious eaters.

Below is a picture I got from a remote camera for reference. Thanks!

 

[ColleenT]

They can become obese, so i would cut back to every few days.

 

[Yvonne G]

You're lucky it eats. Most people have the opposite problem with baby box turtles. I'm going to give a different opinion from Colleen - doesn't mean one of us is wrong and one of us is right - just a different opinion. In my opinion, rather than have a starvation day, simply feed him mixed greens and fruit on odd days and omit the beef. I've never offered beef to my babies due to the high fat content. Rather, I feed them blood worms OR pin head crickets OR cut up night crawlers OR bits of raw chicken OR scrambled eggs, etc. on the animal protein days. And I offer greens/veggies/fruit 5 days out of 7 with the animal protein on the other two days.

that's a very nice-looking young box turtle. Evidently the diet and living conditions are agreeing with him.

 

[lisa127]

Im more in agreement with Yvonne on this one. A baby that young should be fed daily. Maybe more variety though.

 

[Kcir]

You're lucky it eats. Most people have the opposite problem with baby box turtles. I'm going to give a different opinion from Colleen - doesn't mean one of us is wrong and one of us is right - just a different opinion. In my opinion, rather than have a starvation day, simply feed him mixed greens and fruit on odd days and omit the beef. I've never offered beef to my babies due to the high fat content. Rather, I feed them blood worms OR pin head crickets OR cut up night crawlers OR bits of raw chicken OR scrambled eggs, etc. on the animal protein days. And I offer greens/veggies/fruit 5 days out of 7 with the animal protein on the other two days.

that's a very nice-looking young box turtle. Evidently the diet and living conditions are agreeing with him.

Thanks for the advice! I'll definitely try out other protein sources. Unfortunately, I think he is still too young to like veggies. He won't touch anything without enough bits of worms or meat mixed in.

For the amount wise, would you suggest me to cut back for a bit if I feed him daily?

 

[Kcir]

Im more in agreement with Yvonne on this one. A baby that young should be fed daily. Maybe more variety though.

He is a picky eater, but I'll definitely try to add more variety to his diet. But do you think 20+ BSFL plus ground beef for a daily feed is too much?

 

[Kcir]

They can become obese, so i would cut back to every few days.

Aren't baby turtles supposed to be fed daily though?

 

[lisa127]

He is a picky eater, but I'll definitely try to add more variety to his diet. But do you think 20+ BSFL plus ground beef for a daily feed is too much?

Those bsfl can be small so hard to say. Ever tried nightcrawlers?

 

[ColleenT]

Aren't baby turtles supposed to be fed daily though?

Read thru this article. it is very good. babies are at the bottom, there is a lot of info.

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

 

[Yvonne G]

Thanks, Colleen. That's a nice article. I've saved it for future reference.