Reptile & Amphibian Forums

which garden vegetable plants would do well in a turtle pen? i need stuff that the turtles will eat and will be nutritious for them. zucchini?, strawberries?, let me know the best ones please.
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"If we are good only because we fear punishment and hope for reward, then we are a sorry lot indeed."
-Albert Einstein

I finally got my outdoor pen built this past weekend. I'll post the pictures as soon as I take some.

Anywho, I had some extra zucchini plants that I didn't need and decided to put them in the pen. Figured if they don't like the zucchini that the leaves would give them some nice shady spots.

I'm going to add some marigolds and perhaps some other veggie seed to the pen. Anything that'll taste good to them. I'd love to do strawberries but since I rent, I need something that won't interfere with replanted grass should I move.

Lemme tell you, within about an hour of being in the pen, they were all dug into the freshly turned soil/compost mix. The most I've seen so far is 6. I don't think any escaped as my two Houdinis are still there. There where 7 placed in there.

My fiance brought me a new one this weekend. A little girl that has some severe shell damage. Had to have been a car. She's very active and eating very well. I've watched her dig in and out a couple of times since Saturday.

Any berries are good, and tomatoes, and squashes. Birds will go after the berries, too. I planted collards one year: while the turtles didn't appear to be interested in the plants themselves, they sure enjoyed the caterpillars and that fed on the leaves!

I've found that leaf piles and rotting logs are enjoyed because they provide cover for worms, pill bugs, slugs and snails, all of which are savored by turtles. Occasionally the logs grow mushrooms, which are also eaten. And of course the leaves also cool the soil, so turtles will nestle in on hot days.

As time passes and the enclosure here gets more overgrown, I think that the turtles find more goodies to eat on their own, they have more places to hide, and they seem to be utilizing more of their habitat.

a member here way back when had a volunteer squash plant that took over the box turtle enclosure, the thing went nuts over the wall and everything, but if I remember correctly the boxies loved it.

depending on where you live if you want anything productive this year you might want to plant now, our starting season is pretty much over here in new england, unless it's cold weather crop, most of the strawberries have passed aswell.
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