Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i was curious if boxies enjoy pinkies ... im trying to find something that will catch my new boxies attention
i know they can last a long time with out eating .. but i would like to get her eating as soon as possible .. since im not sure but she might be a little skinny the skin on her legs looks loose

i have fresh veggies setting out all the time incase she decides to come out and munch and i have tried feeding earthworms.. she didint seem interested .. and i will be getting some mealworms to try as well .. crickets im not to sure about because live ones i have a tendency to lose some how * looks all innocent * and i hate the chirping and the nibbling .. of course im sure the cats would love the chase *lol*

A few of my boxies love pinkies. I only feed them pinkies once in a while though.

Are you housing your boxies indoors? When ever I'm housing a boxie indoors due to sickness or illness or what have you, they never seem to eat. That could be the reason there not eating.

Hmmmm .. she isnt sick .. just til we move and make an out door enclosure for her we have to house her inside .. but i would like her to eat a little something just to make me feel better *G*

Have you tried plopping a slug down in front of her, then stepping back out of her field of vision? I find it to be a fairly reliable choice: its moving food that doesn't move so fast as to get away before they go for it.
If you'd have asked me 20 years ago if I ever envisioned myself slug hunting of an evening, I would have said you were nuts.

we actually went worm hunting and when we couldnt find worms around our house we looked for slugs ( which usually there are a lot but there dont seem to be now Hmmmmm ) and we also were trying to catch grasshopers and we caught a frog and we also found some dandilion greens .. we tried putting all of that in her bucket and she didint even look at it she was like Ehhh Nahhhh of course that was the second night she was here too *lol* .. the first day i gave her a peice of mushroom and a pea .. i must admit at that time i hadnt had a lot of time yet to look up their diets as i wished .. because i wasnt quite sure the turtle was coming home because the kids had her out side most of the day carring her around

easiest way to catch slugs that I know of is to put out some cabbage leaves on the ground in areas you know slugs are likely to be. Check every day to harvest a couple slugs.

can you collect them into a jar and feed them something ?

sure I suppose. I just toss bugs that I find into the turtle pens all the time. My wife and I actually walk around collecting all the japanese beetles off our plants and toss them into the pens (pinched so they are wounded or dead). Just about anything that wanders into the yard is a candidate for turtle food at our place.

*lol*.. thats better than spraying for japanese beetles *lol*

Pinkies are great. I use them for my gravid females. Unless you have a VERY strong stomach, do NOT feed live ones. I never knew pinky mice could scream until I fed a live one to a box turtle. They steal them like bandits on a raid, run around with them, and almost invariably eat them from the rear end first. Listening to the screaming pinkies nearly put me to being sick. My wife had to leave. I must say... it's quite gruesome. Since then I feed only frozen then thawed pinkies. My gals get them as frequently as weekly when they are gravid if I have them and can do so.

Indoors your gal may eat less. Also, remember, gravid females typically eat less or nothing. Stress also lowers appetite. As well, one box turtle does not necessarily eat very much (30 of them eat a very lot, I must say).

* coughs * my fiance will run just because i bring a mouse in the house.. but i have a pretty strong tummy .. i think i will have to put the turtle in another container to eat it because it would be sort of grose to see all the guts and stuff all over the cage .. ( some people have told me their turtles get very messy )

also what size is good for the turtle .. just born? or a few days ? ( would like to know what to look for when i go to the pet sore and look at the pinkies )

They are quite good at tearing up and devouring anything they can. One of the posters here once had their boxie catch a frog and destroy it, another had theirs eat baby birds that fell into the yard. They are really opportunistic and tenacious enough to eat just about anything they can catch. You could even use whole adult rats that were killed, but that's a LOT of food and would make waste, not to mention be extremely messy, whereas pinkies are smaller, you can pick the amount you want, and they are more "bite sized" for less mess.

Hmmmm Thinks about the annoying little baby birds out side our bedroom window ... that the mama attacks you if you go out the front door .. Grrrrr

No ehhh .. that would be mean .. they are blue jay babies .. but if i see them fall from the nest Ohh ill be the first one there *lol*

* giggles* also this means if im going to feed live pinkies i HAVE to do it when the kids arent here because they felt pity for putting a live slug for the turtle to try and eat ... they hae yet to realize that there is a circle of life where animals eat other animals .. ( just like they eat chicken and beef)

It took my three-toed about 10 years to eat in front of me! I think that the main thing here may be stress, which is easily countered.

Find a large, comfortable feeding container and provide a place to hide. Place the turtle inside, and then place a ton of squirming things: a couple of worms, slugs, pinkies, crickets, and a variety of fruits and vegetables.

The turtle may bolt for the hiding place, and you may seem confident that you can "hover" and finally observe success, but resist this temptation! The turtle knows that you are in the room even if he or she can't quite see you, and may resist coming out to eat. Leave. Shut the door. Leave the turtle alone all day. I know this is hard because you want to see your little guy going to town, but you must stay out of the way.

If you take proper inventory of the feed, you will be confident hours later that the turtle ate or did not eat. If there is one or two worms, slugs, or whatever missing, count it as a success and repeat. Only work your presence into the feeding very gradually.

i actually did that today she spent several hours in the warmer space of the bathroom where its quite .. and i put a worm and a plate of veggies and a towel the she seems to like to burrow under .. and she didint eat anything that i could see .. but i placed the veggies in her cage tonight again .. she always has avalability to veggies and a weeee little bit of fruit to try and catch her attention with color and smells ... she seems to like mushrooms and peas the best because thats what she ate the day she came here but i bet she was STARVING .. because she was getting fed hotwings and bannanas by her 9 year old male owner