Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I recently bought a hatchling Eastern for my nephew and I have a few questions. The turtle seems to be doing great. It eats well on earthworms with Rep-cal Vitamin and calcium added and is actually a lot more active than I was expecting. Have you guys had any luck getting them to eat the Rep-cal box turtle food? So far he seems totally uninterested in it. I soak it for a few minutes prior to offering but he just ignores it. Do they usually start taking this as they get older? He seems to only be stimulated to eat by movement. I am also wondering if it would be ok to have another hatchling in with him or are the best kept solitary? I was thinking about buying another if they can be housed together. The first one is currently in a 10 gal tank until he gets a little larger with bed-a-beast and dried leaf litter for substrate. He is currently only about 1.5" so I think another could easily fit in there with him but I just do not know if they prefer to be solitary. Thanks for any help
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John Vandegrift

Hatchlings do indeed respond best to 'moving food' i.e. live prey such as the worms that you've been offering, so it's not unusual at all for your little guy to ignore the pelleted food.
I would just offer it a variety of live foods, such as worms, meal worms, wax worms, pillbugs, small slugs, small crickets, etc. Definitely moisten any commercial food prior to feeding it to your hatchling, and consider using commercial food only as a supplement.

If it were me, I wouldn't bother with getting your little guy a companion: they are fairly solitary animals, and even the little ones can be agressive toward eachother: by adding another you could well find yourself in a situation where one or both won't eat in the presence of the new competition.

Your experience is quite typical. Hatchlings usually respond better to living prey. On average, my Easterns begin accepting non-living food at 3 months. Some earlier, some much later. Their favorites include squash, cucumber, and tomato. I haven't had much luck with the food you mentioned with either hatchlings or adults. It's smells sickeningly sweet to me. They may have grown to like it if I had offered it more than twice. I just couldn't deal with the odor.

I've noticed that some of my turtles eat better when they're kept with others of their kind. For instance, the competitive nature of my juvenile NA Wood turtles seems to increase the volume of food that they'll eat in a sitting. I haven't noticed this with Box turtles. In fact, I've noticed the opposite. They just don't seem to feel as secure with another hatchling present. Of course, as they age, they'll eat just about anytime and anywhere.

I keep two or three together in enclosures roughly the size of a 10 gallon tank, but I always feed them individually. It's a real pain, but I yield better results. Cohabitation is rarely a problem for me, provided that one doesn't outcompete another for food. At 3 inches or so, they go outdoors. In the pens, like species live together based on size.

There's always a risk with adding a new herp to a collection. Quarantine is never a bad idea.

If you can post a picture, we'd love to see your hatchling.

I have the best luck with the repcal box turtle food
with my older babies. Babies that are closer to a year
old and up really seem to like it.

Occasionally I'll soak hatchlings and put some of the
pellets along with some reptimin in the water, but that
is kind of hit and miss.

I've only had one adult box turtle show any interest
in the pellets.

In any case, I only use it as a relatively small part of
a varied diet. But I feel its a way to make sure they
are getting vitamins and other nutrients.

I was thinking of the wrong food product. I've never used the pelleted Repcal food. I was thinking of the Zoomed gelatinous "rootie tootie fresh and fruitie" stuff. I have two other pelleted products that I moisten and mix with greens. I'll try the Repcal sometime, though.

I've tried so many prepared and fresh foods for near 20 years and have found most prepared foods were never readily accepted. Most I wound up throwing away.

Slowly the trusted brand names started making foods that some boxies would eat!

Reptomin for sure is well liked by most boxies and if not in time they seem to accept it.

Mazuri Fresh water turtle food is another. 99% of my boxies love it.

Nutrifin complete fresh water turtle diet made from fresh water shrimp with D3 is accepted around a month. However my 3 week old T.C bauri love it! They also get lots of worms, tiny dusted crickets, baby roaches, pillbugs, mealworms, tiny superworms, and bits of colored veggies like squash and tomato.

Now I have used Rep Cal products and liked them over their competitors; so with some reservations I purchased a jug of the tan and green REP Cal Box Turtle Food; made just for Boxies. I also did a bit of research and found these guys were serious about making a product that was good for this species and yet palatable and added a apple berry scent.

It is formulated for the older boxie whose diet is more vegetable matter yet they eat some insect protein, true omnivores. It's a low protein food that won't cause pyramiding with the scent of apples, strawberries and papaya........... because that's what's in it along with soy and some meat vitamins and D3. It smells fruity..Yeah most boxes are fond of ripe apples, and strawberries. Now most of my boxies were already being fed some of the other prepared diets listed above so they were used to prepared foods along with live foods. I skipped their normal feeding prior to trying a new food and introduced the REP Cal box turtle food. I moistened it with warm water. Astonishingly on the first try 80% ate all that was offered. By three weeks 98% loved this new food and offered me more variety. Now I don't work for Rep Cal or receive any financial benefit. But this is one food that is geared for older boxies and mine love it.

Ric K.

These pictured boxies feed on all the above prepared foods and live foods.....as do my adult Ornates( below) .. male Eastern pictured just below, and the newborn 3 week old T.c bauri ( late hatch)