Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just had a couple of more questions I was hoping you could
help with.

I live in a very small town and none of the 'local' (about an hour away) pet shops carry the small worms etc. They have just
med sized worms and then crickets. I would like to offer them
more choices.
Do any of you buy your feed on line? If so could you give
me a link to one you like and trust.

Also, having never had babies before, I am trying to find
information about their growth rate. I have looked on the net
but I can't find anything that tells me the average size
to months and years. Can anyone give me a link, or suggest
a book that might have this information. Thanks~Nikki
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Man is the only animal that blushes ~ or NEEDS to!

We Survive together ~ or not at all.

I don't know that much about growth rates.. I've found with the tortoise that it really varies by apparently not just conditions but genetics too.
As for buying food online I've dealt with Carolina Pet Suppy before, bought live foods with no problems. Let me see if I can find that link..
I can't seem to find it but I think if you'd just google the name you could find it.
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PHRatz

I feed mine cut up nightcrawlers, they love it but I don't. Yuck!
Mealworms are easy to breed, and if you have no problem buying things online you can order crickets, mealworms, superworms, and wax worms in all sizes.
I do suggest that you use a supplier that has overnight or second day shipping and a live delivery guarantee. Living in a small town myself and an hour away from any city, shippers like DHL cannot deliver anything alive.

I use reptilefood.com at the moment. The shipping is high but everything gets here alive. Only complaint small superworms aren't as small as they advertise.
I've heard good things about grubco.com, nyworms.com, and superwormfarm.com

Thank you both for the links.
lol at cutting up the worms, being a vegetarian
I have trouble too, lucky for me my husband doesn't mind.
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Man is the only animal that blushes ~ or NEEDS to!

We Survive together ~ or not at all.

Here is a link about turtle food.
Box Turtle food

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Jack

Hm, OSU study. I didn't know they bothered to study turtles.

"Bowser says they tried several commercial foods, but the turtles were not too crazy about them."

Well that's the problem, the commercial foods smell bland and usually have ground up and a main ingredient. There's really no way around providing fresh veggies, greens, and live insects. These animals are not dogs and cats, a person can't just shake some food out of a bag.
Veggies are easy, and it doesn't hurt if we eat a bit more ourselves Anyone with other insect eating reptiles will know you just have to bite the bullet and put up with the things, no matter how icky they seem to some people. lol

Lol, very true. When I got some crickets my sister went ewwwww
She acted like I was going to feed them to her lol
Where Mazie never ate live foods, I am finding it very comical
watching these little ones go after it. Just cracks me up.
As for the veggies, I agree, I buy the organics, my uro just loves them, and I find I eat more too just having a fresh stock
in the house all the time.
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Man is the only animal that blushes ~ or NEEDS to!

We Survive together ~ or not at all.

A wafer to feed turtles? What's up with that??

A processed wafer will be better than fresh collard greens, kale, carrots, apples?? The convenience of growing primary producers in the food chain, in your garden, for maximum freshness, isn't as good as processed "wafers??" Or going to your local supermarket and picking out fresh bunches of herbs and vegetables isn't good enough?

Get your retirement income elsewhere...

Wanda

May I add, that the main goal is to produce a dry feed that keeps in storage for up to a year (YUK!), and has "80% digestibility!!" Oh goody! Bring on the poop for composting...

Not a moist meal, dry everything: worms, and I bet anything, they threw corn in too, as a filler.

...Bloody!

Wanda

That is a great article! Thanks! Do you have any contact info? I know I would love to buy there turtle food. How great would it be to have food for my boxies, that is not only easy, but they like it AND it has been so well researched!?
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0.1.0 ornate box turtle
1.0.0 eastern box turtle
1.0.0 Yellow belly slider
0.1.0 Red belly cooter
0.1.0 Australian shepard
1.11.0 chickens
1.0.0 Dutch(rabbit)
3.2.0 children (do I still count the married ones?)
1.0.0 husband

This is a company that sells box turtle food. I have never bought any of there food but it looks good. It goes with the other link.
Grannys Hillside turtle farm

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Jack

Thanks , I'll look into it
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Man is the only animal that blushes ~ or NEEDS to!

We Survive together ~ or not at all.

Oops! heehee sorry, guess I should have read the whole thread before asking for contact info! I just got so excited I forgot to continue reading! lol!

I do believe boxies need fresh food also. Mine live outside most of the year and are able to forage for bugs and worms, so they don't eat much turtle food. But I still think it would be great to have a well balanced prepared food to supplement their foraging. That way I know they are getting enough to eat and getting enough vitamins, etc.

Thanks again for the link.
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0.1.0 ornate box turtle
1.0.0 eastern box turtle
1.0.0 Yellow belly slider
0.1.0 Red belly cooter
0.1.0 Australian shepard
1.11.0 chickens
1.0.0 Dutch(rabbit)
3.2.0 children (do I still count the married ones?)
1.0.0 husband

I know that you've probably visited this website before, but I'm including a link anyway.
The online book contains alot of good information that would answer alot of the questions that you ask.
I'm not a big fan of commercial 'turtle food'. While it's not a bad idea to keep some around for emergencies, it really shouldn't make up a significant part of a box turtle's diet.
You're turtles will be better off if you provide them with a varied diet that includes fresh vegetables, some greens, and fruit as well as various source of animal protein.
Link

I agree, I wasn't looking for prepared foods, but live foods.
Problem soved today tho, a local bait shop is going to keep
a supply of small worms etc for me. Will save me a ton of
money on shipping too
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Man is the only animal that blushes ~ or NEEDS to!

We Survive together ~ or not at all.

I gues when you used the word "feed", my mind jumped to pellets or other processed-type foods.

ahhh sorry, I should have been clearer.
No I was looking for live foods as our local pet store is
lacking, but now the bait shop will order for me.
Was really happy about that as not only was the shipping high
but wow you had to order alot! lol no way they could have
eaten it all. Thanks~Nikki
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Man is the only animal that blushes ~ or NEEDS to!

We Survive together ~ or not at all.

>>I agree, I wasn't looking for prepared foods, but live foods.
>>Problem soved today tho, a local bait shop is going to keep
>>a supply of small worms etc for me. Will save me a ton of
>>money on shipping too

Oh I am so jealous! We don't have bodies of water here so we don't have bait shops.
Walmart sells bait in their sporting goods dept. but the only thing they sell for bait is nightcrawlers.
I have to either buy from the pet store, breed my own, or mail order.
I do all 3 things.
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PHRatz

I guess i have taken for granted living within a 5 min walk to the water. We don't have any dept stores within a 45 - 60
minute drive, but we have 3 local bait shops. lol
I went with the one the locals said had the best bait,
they were just great about ordering what I need.
Have you asked walmart, or your pet store, if they would
keep other things in stock? Just an idea, best of luck~Nikki
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Man is the only animal that blushes ~ or NEEDS to!

We Survive together ~ or not at all.

>>Have you asked walmart, or your pet store, if they would
>>keep other things in stock? Just an idea, best of luck~Nikki

I have but at Walmart they don't do their own ordering so they say. I've asked before can you get this or that. Do you know when this or that is coming in & the reply I always get is. I don't know.
LOL
The pet store here.. basically the same story. We can't special order for you never mind that when a friend of mine was once the reptile manager there, she would do that for a lot of people.
I figure mail ordering on my own works out better because I know I can get what I want from reliable online sellers.

Ok I am not so jealous of you now.. you said it's a 45-60 minute drive to a dept. store.. I can get to many in 5- 10 minutes.
For every pro there is a con.
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PHRatz