Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Today when I was cleaning my Box Turtle enclosure, I had the turtles walking around and when I was done I saw one trying to eat some of my dogs poop. Is this O.K?

What should I do?

Thanks
-Tony C

No feed him other things, a dog or any animal can carry other problems (worms, Parisites, etc.) harmful to your turtle. Give your turtle a well balanced diet and keep him away from the dog poop!

Dog poop is an absolute no no especially if your dog takes any type of medication.
Ivermectin in heart worm preventative is something a lot of people don't think about. There are several brands of dog heart worm preventatives used by responsible dog owners soooo...
We never use a heart worm preventative that contains ivermectin.

We don't use it because it can and will kill a chelonian who eats the poop.. ivermectin taken by dogs is excreted from the body through feces.
I can't express strongly enough how important it is that your turtles and tortoises are not exposed to dog poop when the dog takes an ivermectin medication.

There are so many other medications that dogs might be taking.. it's best to use the pooper scooper daily.
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PHRatz

Usually I do pick up his terds she just found a very small one while she was wondering around but she didn't eat any of it, she tried but could'nt because it was to hard.
I feed them what is reccommended- Collards, Endive, Escrole, Mustard Greens, Nightcrawlers, Red Worms, Mealworms and Crickets.

-Thanks for the replies both of you.
-Tony C

Good deal Tony

Yeah it will happen now & then when we have dogs but you do try to avoid it, that's great.
One day I found my Hobo eating a dead dove that had fallen on the ground.
Besides the YUCK factor.. what killed the bird? That was a scary day for me.
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PHRatz

First let me just say that I am not, nor did read anything to suggest feeding box turles dog poop, but I did read somewhere that in the wild it not uncommon for box turtles to eat mammal feeces, so your turtle wasn't behaving "crazy" or "weird, but rather being an opportunistic feeder, which is what box turltes are.

>>First let me just say that I am not, nor did read anything to suggest feeding box turles dog poop, but I did read somewhere that in the wild it not uncommon for box turtles to eat mammal feeces, so your turtle wasn't behaving "crazy" or "weird, but rather being an opportunistic feeder, which is what box turltes are.

This is why I pooper scoop so often. Our sulcata is an herbivore but they are known to eat mammal poop in the wild too. They will eat dog poop if they find it.
Speculation is they get some sort of nutritional benefit from it, but who knows? If herbivores do it then my guess is that most of the land dwelling chelonions will do that because they opportunistic like you say.
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PHRatz