Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I use to have box turtles when I was younger I had up to 16 at one point in an outdoor enclosure I made for them, but that was years ago. Well recetnly I was doing some yard work out back and I found a baby turtle that is just a little bigger then a half dollar! I was going to let it go but where I live there are a lot of animals that will kill it. So I decieded to keep her and add her to my collection of animals: ) I was just curious though... what should I be feeding her? I know when I had my other ones they would pretty much eat antyhing I put in front of them. But with babies I didn't know what I should feed her? I have the proper lighting and everything, I have her in a 20 gal long right now. Could you guys give me any insight on how I should take care of her, I want to do it right!!! Thank you in advance!!!

D

They eat anything that moves. Try earthworms, wax worms, doodle bugs, meal worms, slugs etc... just make sure the prey is small enough to fit in the turtles mouth! Also, canned low-fat dog food, meat/veggie/fruit baby food. Also get a calcium supplement. Good luck, baby box turtles are wonderful!

"I was going to let it go but where I live there are a lot of animals that will kill it."

If we collected everything that faced dangerous animals in the wild, there would be nothing left! RELEASE IT! I bet there is a 99.9% chance that it will survive just fine and if not, that is nature. Maybe you are telling yourself that it won't survive unless you keep it in your collection away from predators as a means of justifying why you should keep it. Once again, RELEASE IT! If you love the animal and you love nature, then it could be the one box turtle that makes it to an adult to add more strong, successful box turtles into the gene pool in your area.

I realize box turtles are cute (esp. babies) and I'm not expert on them but I think that people doing exactly what you did will surely do more harm than any cats, dogs, birds or other predators. Box turtles got along just find before humans.

I don't want to fight with you about it but I felt great releasing a box turtle (as indicated in my below thread) and when I read yours, I felt it negated my whole effort of keeping a wild box turtle in the wild. Besides, they do not always acclimate well to life in captivity.

Good luck with whatever you do, I just hope its the right thing!
~Jason