Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently hatched out four eastern box turtles. I need some help in caring for them. they hatched out about 3 days ago. and all they seem to do is bury themselves in the peat moss substtrate. They aren't feeding on the canned dog food i'm giving them. is this normal? Any help?

It's perfectly normal. It often takes up to a year before a baby box turtle will spend any significant amount of time "out and about". As far as feeding, they will often not take food for the first week or two of life. Then, it usually requires live insects to get them to eat. They may only eat live insects for the first 6 months or so.

Please read all you can about hatchling box turtle care. Plug those four words into a search engine, and you'll have plenty to read. Be cautious and use common sense, some information is downright wrong.

Here's a good series of articles. #11 has to do with hatchling care, but I'd suggest reading them all.

http://boxturtlesite.org/bxbook.html

Most baby box turtles will initially eat very small live earthworms. If they refuse those, try calciworms from Timberline fisheries. They'll be available at most Petco stores within a couple of weeks, and eventually online. Don't give up, some baby box turtles are stubborn and will refuse food for months. In that case, make sure that they have some small, live earthworms and a dozen or so pillbugs roaming free in the enclosure. Also try moist Reptomin.

Good luck with the babies. Hatchling box turtles are much more difficult than most people imagine, especially compared with adults.

one other thing if they refuse live food, what has worked for me in the past is soaked reptomin sticks.
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So, should i just place the live insects (i presume pin head crickets or small earthworms) in the tank or should i dig them out and try to feed them then after a week or two?

To some extent, I'd do both. Leaving small earthworms in the enclosure is both a good food source for the turtles, and also a good measure of your substrate moisture. If the worms dry out, your substrate needs to be more wet. If the worms stay near the top, it is too wet. Just keep in mind that if your turtles are eating freely in their enclosure, there is a chance that they'll ingest some of the substrate. For instance, I use aspen bedding for my young ornate box turtles. I would never throw a worm in there. If I did, wood chips would be stuck all over the thing, and the turtles would eat them. That is a gut impaction risk. Just something to think about.

I wouldn't put crickets in with the turtles, though. Crickets have a bad habit of chewing on the very herps that they're meant to feed. At the least, this will annoy your turtles.

Removing your turtles from the enclosure for feeding is a great way to track what they consume. For the first six months of life, I keep a detailed record of every single thing that a hatchling consumes. I'm looking for volume and variety. Plus, you'd be suprised how difficult it can be to remember when you last dusted the food with vitamins, etc.. It's a pain in the neck, but it has helped me identify problems before they get out of hand. The funny thing is, it really helps me feel as if I'm bonding with the turtle (as corny as that sounds). One poster stated that he just throws a handfull of bugs in the enclosure and walks away. He has had great success doing things this way. Baby box turtles are very secretive, and that could explain why he has such a high success rate. They may just enjoy not being disturbed. For me, that would drive me nuts. I guess I'm just controlling that way.

One last thing, a feeding schedule. When they're young, I choose the "feed as I go" approach. That way, I can assure the highest variety of food items. If I find some slugs in the garden, baby box food...if the slugs chew on a tomato in the garden, tomato is on the menu...and so on. Some people, on the other hand, set up a schedule. Worms on Monday, veggies on Tue., dusted mealworms on Wed.... Box turtles are creatures of habit. While they are opportunistic feeders, they seem to appreciate a schedule. Feed at the same time every day, in the same manner, and before you know it they'll be charging at you when it's feeding time. It's a great feeling. My adults are on a strict schedule.

Good luck with your little turtles! I'd love to see pics as they grow.

This is my "short-term" feeding method: I got a Rubbermaid divided container (like you'd pack in a lunch box). I sanded the bottom (for traction), then sanded and painted (black acrylic) the outside of the container (something about turtles --if they can see beyond their enclosure, they want to go there ...). After a nice soak, I put them in the container (one turtle in each side) and add their food (for now, they only go for mealworms & pill bugs, but I'm offering veggies, too). Then I put the container back in the tank for a little while (for warmth as the AC is set for human comfort...) to let them eat at their leisure. I can monitor their behavior and how much they eat. As they grow and as I learn more, I'm sure I'll modify this procedure, but it works for me now. See, I'm new at this, too, and learning how to care for my babies is 1/2 the fun!

Hey, I've been doing this for a while, and I'm still learning. That is a great idea to sand the plastic containers. I never thought of that. My poor turtles just slip and slide like crazy trying to catch their food.

It sounds like you're doing well. There's only one thing I need to say. You MUST dust the mealworms and pillbugs with vitamin and calcium powder. At this age, alternate vitamin powder and calcium powder at EVERY feeding. At the least, dust them every other feeding with a combination of calcium/D3 in one. If you can, purchase vitamin powder and plain calcium separately. Make sure that they're specifically made for herps. The multivitamin powder will provide the necessary D3 for calcium absorption.

Thanks! Actually, I have begun dusting their food with a Ca/D3 powder, but wasn't sure how often to do this. So far, have offered all live food "dusted," and feed them daily. I removed the glass cover that the light sits over so they would get the UV rays, but read somewhere about not giving vit. D if they're getting UV....?? What's the rule of thumb for that, or is there one?

If they're getting natural sunlight from being kept outdoors, they don't need excess Vitamin D3. Since the UV bulbs are much, much weaker than the sun it is recommended that you give supplemental D3.

You might find information on vitamins helpful in an earlier post I wrote at;

http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=1134191,1135194

Ric K.

Are their yolk sacs absorbed yet? The research I did when my 2 recently hatched said they wouldn't eat until the yolk sac was absorbed, and then maybe not for several weeks. I offered small meal worms, and hatchling #2 (Charger) started eating first. Hatchling #1 (Turbo) didn't eat for another week. I learned that warmth was important and several sites recommended tepid-water soaks. This helped Turbo "wake up" and he's eating (and hunting) like a pro! [I was happy, too, to note when each pooped for it's first time!]

Aww, so cute. As mine (4) are only 4 days old, they still have remanants of yolk sacs. And this warmth issue, what should the temp of the cage be set at? mine is at roughly 80F.

75 to 80, with a temperature gradient is good to shoot for.