Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have owned my eastern box for about three years and have been unsuccessful in getting him to eat anything but berries and worms. Now I'm having trouble getting him to eat his berries. I've tried everything from chopping everything up into small pieces in a salad like mixture to simply placing his food on top of something like a lettuce leaf. He won't eat anything unless it is whole. I once even placed mealworms in smashed banana, and the mealworms that were partially in the banana just got part of their body bit off to prevent him from getting any banana into his mouth. I was just wondering if anyone had any more ideas (waiting him out has been unsuccessful so far). Plus I finally convinced my parents to let me build an outdoor cage for him and was wondering if anyone knew any wire I could use for the cage other than chicken wire, and would a ten foot by ten foot be too large of a cage? Thanks for the help.

Have you ever had this little one tested by a vet for parasites?
I do that as soon as I take one in just to be on the safe side.
When they do not have parasites causing lack of appetite well.. I know how picky they can be about their food.

Do you have full spectrum reptile lighting? What is your set up like for the turtle? How often do you offer food?

As for wire look at one of your local home improvement hardware stores.. they tend to sell a fairly wide variety of different types of fencing material. If you have farm & ranch supply stores, they tend to sell a variety too.
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PHRatz

As far as the wire if you go to home depot they sell rolls of strong steel wire. It is composed of half inch squares and is very strong. I think you may find when you place your turtle outside his appetite will increase. I have a pair and they have always been difficult to feed while inside. Both will only eat insects when inside. When I place them outside they will basically eat anything. 10 by 10 is sufficient for a pair. I have found that box turtles are very finicky eaters, especially if wild caught. I wouldn't worry to much things should improve once he/she gets outside.

Look for hardware cloth a.k.a. rabbit wire. 10'x10' is a n ok size for a box turtle....I am a firm believe in bigger pens being better!

Try adding chopped up earthworms with your sliced berries and dust some calcium powder over the meal.

Bananas while relished by boxies, are not a good food for them.... Very low calcium to phosphorus ratio which inhibits available calcium via Calcium binding.

In moderation bananas are fine.

Food Variety is the key.

If constructing a new pen; I would opt for a larger pen. Over time you will have easier chores, happier boxies, healthier boxies thereby making it much more cost efficient to build one larger now, and not regret it later. Space permitting build the largest one you can! My smallest is 10' x 15'.

Ric K.

One "wire" option is that plastic mesh that looks just like the hardware cloth already described. There's a place, www.internetmesh.net that sells 500 foot rolls of the stuff, all different thicknesses. It's sturdy when anchored (via staple gun) to a wood (2x4) frame, and is easily cut with a regular pair of scissors.

Another (more scenic) option is wood only. You can make a simple above-ground frame out of 2x12 planks. It's cheaper to buy shorter 2x12 planks, say, 6 feet long instead of 10 feet long. You can nail them together end-to-end to get that 10 foot cage size. You can secure 12x12 inch squares over the cage corners to keep the critter from climging out.

Unless you have a problem getting earthworms, don't worry about your turtle being picky for them. Those plus some fruit is great food. Mealworms are not a good food source.

If he's a wild box turtle,I don't remember if you said that he was or not, then wood or brick is probably a better choise than wire. Wild turtles are more likely to pace along the outside edge of their enclosure if they can see out of it. also keep in mind that some talented turtles can climb up the corners of their enclosure, this can be prevented by laying a baord across the corners at the top of the walls. Some may also try to dig under, usually when getting ready to hibernate.
If you feed him in a hidey place, he may feel more comfortable with eating other foods.

He has been tested for parasites and doesn't have any, so no worries there. I usually feed him earthworms, but I have more trouble finding them in the winter so mealworms and berries are usually what he gets stuck with in the wintertime. I am not completely sure if he is wild caught or not (I got him when I was 13 and never bothered to ask) but if I had to guess I would say wild caught just on the fact of how picky he is when it comes to things. Thanks for the suggestions of wire. I was planning on putting planks along the bottom so he couldn't see out, but wanted something that was a bit taller so my dogs wouldn't bother him.

This is good that he does not have parasites.
So he's picky... that can be a huge pain right there.
About all you can do is to keep offering different foods that are good for him & hope he'll take a bite.
If you feed him every day he won't try anything new but if you can skip a meal here & there, let him get hungry he may try something different.
Sometimes with a picky eater it helps for them to see competition. Shell E wouldn't eat berries until she saw someone else do it. Then it was like heeey you have something I don't have? I don't THINK SO! Now she loves berries.
They teach one another that this or that food is ok but if you don't have another.. well it's difficult so you just keep trying.
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PHRatz

with wire they do not need corners to climb up, they can dig their nails into the mesh an go up verticle, I believe Golfdiva has posted pics of her turtle climbing up one of the walls in her enclosure.