Soft hatchlings

[kimber_lee_314]

Tonight a man brought me some box turtle hatchlings that haven't been kept all that well. They are 5-6 months old (I think.) They have never had any calcium and have only been eating worms. I guess they had some cuttlebone but it doesn't appear like they've ever touched it. I felt their shells and they are soft, but not terribly bad. My question is, how should I go about getting them to eat more calcium if all they're eating is worms? Should I take them to the vet for some liquid calcium? Thanks for your advice!

 

[Tom]

I read somewhere that earthworms are pretty high in calcium. I'd get them eating other stuff by mixing it in with chopped earthworms and sprinkle on a little calcium powder. All the calcium in the world won't do any good if their bodies can't use it, so I'd get them out in the sun ASAP and under a UV bulb indoors.

Question: How does a man end up with three baby boxies and not know how to take care of them? They aren't cheap or easy to come by.

 

[Maggie Cummings]

On the West Coast they are cheap and easy to come by...Ask my sister who seems like she always has hatchlings. She recently had about 15 I believe. I have a small colony of Ornata and 3-toed and an Eastern, all for free. Well, I did pay for the Eastern but she was an adult with an eye problem, she was living on the East Coast at the MATTS facility. Katrina had heard about me being good with blind turtles or those with eye problems. So I paid for the shipping for Ginger.
They get turned in to my sister's rescue all the time. She also has a big colony of her own and a great set up for them. She loves to give tours and show off her animals, you should take a drive up there...
I roll my night crawlers around in calcium powder then offer them to my box turtles and it becomes a feeding frenzy, stand back and be aware of flying blood and worm parts!
Kimber...you can get liquid Calcionate but if you just roll the worms in calcium powder I think that would be good enough. Young box turtles like that are not as hard as tortoises so yours may not be too soft. But I'd just roll the worms and try to get the turtles on a more varied diet. You can feed super worms too and that would help...