Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My baby three-toed has again put himself on a "diet". I kept giving him food every few days, and he would not be interested init. The critter I think ate nothing for about 2 weeks. Finally, a few days ago, I remembered how "he" used to eat wax worms in water when I first got "him", so I put him in shallow water with a wax worm, and he ate a little bit. But this is a far cry from how much the little guy ate when I first got him. He used to eat every day, and a LOT every day, especially for how big "he" was.... he would eat one medium-sized earthworm per day back then

He may have finished a growth spurt and his appetite will probably pick up again. Make sure the temps as still good. (Air conditioning might be interfering here.) Try getting him in some real sunlight if he is inside. Real sunlight is great for stimulating the appetite. Make sure your UVA/B light isn't too old. It might not be putting out enough rays if it is over 6 months.

If the above is all okay he might just be tired of the type of worm you are offering. Try some other live insects crickets, superworms, waxworms, roly-poly bugs, etc...

Finally my little 3 toe did something similar last month. One day she gorged herself on 4 giant nightcrawlers. She hardly ate anything for the next few weeks. I was starting to worry too, but then one day I saw her sampling the salad I had just put in there. (She NEVER ate that before.) I thought it was amazing or just a fluke, but the next morning she was sitting in her salad dish waiting for me to put more in. After driving me nearly crazy with worry she decides to eat her veggies!

Well, "he" ate 3 wax worms yesterday - I consider that an improvement.

Ditto to Steffke's recommendations on lighting and temperature. Keep an eye on humidity also. Daily soaks and humid substrate are tremendously important. A baby box turtle will lose its appetite very quickly if it becomes dehydrated.

If I feed my baby turtles mainly earthworms (sometimes, they're all I have on hand), I have noticed that they don't put on weight or grow very much. I think that higher fat items need to be a regular part of their diet, when they're very young, to keep them pleasantly plump and growing. I decrease the frequency of high fat food items as they get larger. I only mention this because you stated that the turtle was eating one worm per day. If it were me, I'd feed dusted waxworms at least once per week. I hope this helps. Good luck with the little one.

Three-toe at a few months

"Ditto to Steffke's recommendations on lighting and temperature. Keep an eye on humidity also. Daily soaks and humid substrate are tremendously important. A baby box turtle will lose its appetite very quickly if it becomes dehydrated.

"If I feed my baby turtles mainly earthworms (sometimes, they're all I have on hand), I have noticed that they don't put on weight or grow very much. I think that higher fat items need to be a regular part of their diet, when they're very young, to keep them pleasantly plump and growing. I decrease the frequency of high fat food items as they get larger. I only mention this because you stated that the turtle was eating one worm per day. If it were me, I'd feed dusted waxworms at least once per week. I hope this helps. Good luck with the little one."

I USED to feed "him" one earthworm per day when the little one was very young. "He" won't take 'em anymore. The most common food item now is wax worms, which I dust with calcium.

A/C is on in my home on the rather warm days, but the wall A/C unit is quite some distance from the box turtle tank. Temperaures where he is are higher now than they are in winter. I did stop spraying the Sphagnum, but no from what you say, I probably ought to. Seemed like he needed moisture less, since when I happened to let the Sphagnum dry out, I figured if dehydrated, he would spend more time in the soakk - but even with dry Sphagnum, soaks are far shorter these days than when I first got "him".

You baby three-toed looks cuter than mine.