Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i just purchased a baby eastern box turtle, i tried feeding it lettuce and grapes and it will not eat so i need help please.

In general, young box turtles are more geared toward feeding on live insects and not fruits or veggies. Have you tried to feed worms, such as eartworms, crickets, mealworms, superworms, fish, such as smelt, shrimp, salmon (all fresh or thawed), etc.?

How are you keeping your turtle? Sometimes habitat plays a huge role with the turtle and appetite. My thought though is, foods feed as a newly hatched box turtle in general usually goes after live food first, prior to taking any vegetable or fruit.

Even adult Eastern box turtles often refuse any greens, but in my experience and observation over the last 15 years of keeping this species, a varied diet can still occur even minus the greens.

My suggestion would be to try blood worms (can find them easily in any pet store frozen) and most hatchling go right into this, even though its not live food. If this doesn't work, I would try something live. If live doesn't work, often it can take a month or so for a newly hatched turtle to eat. The latter is OK, usually, because in the wild a turtle after it hatches has to find its territory and will not eat during this time. It can survive on the contents provided by the abosrption of the yolk sac during this period. My first recommendation is to try and attempt how old this turtle is, what it might have been eating at the 'breeders' or from the point of purchase, enusre fresh water is provided daily and the turtle does enter the water, and go from there. If all else fails please seek veterinary care. Young turtles don't have too much leverage in survival without attentive care.