I do not frequent this forum much so I may be repeating some comments other posters have already mentioned in the past. However i can say i have been breeding ornate and three toed for about 20 years. The first thing that jumps out at me is the weight of your particular boxy. A 50 gram box hatchling sounds rather healthy. Mine hatch out about 15-2o grams so 50 grams would have almost tripled in size so he is eating something. If he has food at all times I would have to guess he is eating while you are not looking. If you were not providing food at all times I would advise that you do. That way when he comes out when you are not around he might be more inclined to eat, as he feels more secure. You can imagine how small the stomach is on a hatchling box so a few very small mouthfuls from a small spoonful of food may go unnoticed. In fact i often think they get more on their face than they do in their mouth. I also feed mine small red worms that i dig out of the compost pile and I see the hatchling eat half of a worm while the other half crawls away and escapes. This scenario could also go unnoticed if I was just counting complete worms eating and overlooking several that are half eaten. I guess my point is I would be willing to bet he is eating something. If you are monitoring weight have you noticed that he has lost weight? Also not many on mine will eat with me hovering over them as you are nothing more than a predator to them at that point and they are certainly not going to eat if they feel they are your lunch. However in a few years this all changes and they end up chasing you around the back yard begging for a treat
I also would not tube feed this guy until he has lost a good amount of weight and you are sure there is no other alternative. This sounds very traumatic for the turtle and will probably set it back farther.
My two cents
Allen Sheehan

[ Reply To This Message ] [ Subscribe to this Thread ] [ Show Entire Thread ]