Reptile & Amphibian Forums

OK, this new FL boxie is definitely a picky eater! So far she will eat a bite of watermelon and peach if it's really old. I think I saw some grass/greens in her poo. Mostly she wants crickets and worms to exclusion. I have yet to find a commercial diet she will touch, same with any cat food or baby food.

I'm concerned about her Ca ration, although she is getting natural sunlight. We're still working on her outdoor enclosure, so she's in a portable cage, nights in the garage, days in the yard in a temporary enclosure. It's the same thing she's lived in for the past four years, so no new stress there.

I want to try the chopping up an earthworm thing, but how exactly do you chop up an earthworm? I can tell you that's it's not going through my food processor (husband limitation), so I have to do it by hand. I'm imagining worm guts and dirt all over me!

Oops, one more thing...how much food (quantity) should an adult boxie eat in a day?

Your husband should really get over the food processor thing; what difference does it make after you've washed it, and really, what's the difference between running a worm through compared to a raw piece of beef? If he still doesn't let you use it, get a mini one, that's what I use and it works great and was like 10 bucks.

Blending your boxies' food up in a food precessor is the best way to get a picky eater to eat, in my opinion.

Thats a great hint Curtis. I think I picked it up from an earlier post of yours. I had a bunch of various meat, chicken, fish and put them frozen thru and worked great.They are in a bag in the freezer.
I don't chop up for my adult fl.

I do for the hatchlings. I put the worm on a towel and either use two tweezers, a dissecting tool, my fingers, or ...

Patsy

>>Your husband should really get over the food processor thing; what difference does it make after you've washed it, and really, what's the difference between running a worm through compared to a raw piece of beef? If he still doesn't let you use it, get a mini one, that's what I use and it works great and was like 10 bucks.
>>
>>Blending your boxies' food up in a food precessor is the best way to get a picky eater to eat, in my opinion.
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Patsy

Wow, no nightcrawlers, huh? That's a shock. Many of my turtles won't take European red wigglers, but they go bonkers for nightcrawlers...all of them.

Good news, superworms are a great food item for a turtle! If she eats them, you can accomplish a favorable Ca ratio simply by dusting them before feeding about once weekly. Luckily, the Ca ratio is much less critical in adult turtles. You are right to be thinking about it, though. It can certainly affect breeding and also overall health in extreme cases.

Supplemented superworms and crickets, combined with whatever fruit matter she will take is actually not a terrible staple diet for a Florida box turtle. If you gut load the insects with greens as well as weekly dusting, the turtle should thrive. It will, however, cost more money in the long run. Your best option at this point seems to be fortifying what she will eat and encouraging her to take additional items. You can feed her in the same manner every time in order to get her conditioned. Then, she may learn to immediately take whatever you offer in that same manner. No matter how picky my aquatics are, if I offer something to them from forceps, they take it without question. It takes me roughly six months to train them as hatchlings, but it is worth it.

My Florida box turtles are all captive produced, but it has still been difficult for me to get them to take anything but living prey or meat due to their carnivorous nature. Here are some items that mine relish...
Whole minnows, skinned mice, raw chicken breast, chicken livers/gizzards/hearts, beef heart/kidney/liver, shrimp, and crayfish.
Cooked sweet potatoes, tomoatoes, cucumbers (sweet ones, not bitter ones), cooked carrots, peas, and fresh green beans.

Some of my box turtles won't take plain reptomin or other prepared foods. But, I've noticed that if I soften it and combine it in a 1:1 ratio with some type of vegetable, especially cooked sweet potatoes, they go crazy for it! Softened reptomin and mazuri aquatic turtle food have been fantastic for allowing me to "sneak" non-preferred food items into my turtles' diets.

Sorry for the long post. Hope it helps.

Thanks for the list, that really does help and your post does ease my mind. This is my first boxie, although I've kept a host of other herps for years and years. I believe she was a wild caught hatchling about the size of a half dollar and raised in captivity for the past four years. Seems like she ate some soft reptomin smoodge a couple of days ago.

I use sharp scissors. It's pretty repulsive and no fun for the worm or me, but a turtle's beak is a crueler and more clumsy instrument of death anyway, so there's no happy end in sight for the worm, one way or the other. You'll want to wash your hands afterwards...in a big way.

Sorry to be pain, but she won't eat night crawlers, either. She takes a bite, then spits it back out. Forget even eating veggies/fruits mixed with chopped up night crawlers. I guess chopping up superworms is next?

Here is yet another repeat of my two cents!

Baby food.

Mine LOVE beef. I can then chop up veggies and mix it in, or mix in softened turtle food, vitimins, or whatever else I want them to eat. You can then slowly put in less and less baby food until they are eating just the food.
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0.1.0 ornate box turtle
2.2.0 eastern box turtles
1.0.0 Yellow belly slider
0.1.0 Red belly cooter
0.1.0 Australian shepard
1.9.0 chickens
1.0.0 Dutch(rabbit)
3.2.0 adult children
1.0.0 husband

Yes, I read that in a previous post and it was a no go as well. Well, beef and chicken seem to be...eeewy...right up there with nightcrawlers.