Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok I posted a few weeks ago about how much should my turtle weigh. It seems she is a bit under weigh and doesn't eat too often. I am finaly able to dig up some earth worms to feed her and she really enjoys them. I fed her 4 3" ones tonight and she seemed she could eat them all night. I'm wondering how mayn worms i should be feeding her(she also has veggies and fruit so i'm not only feeding her the worms). Is a couple a day ok? She hadn't eaten all week before she took the worms so i'm excited that somethign interests her. I jsut don't want to over feed the worms.

Thanks,
Val

My first response would be to feed it as much as it eats - but that would really apply to an outside box turtle, that has room to walk/explore/Exercise, with plenty of natural sunlight. Do you keep it inside? If you do, then you may want to feed it every couple of days.

The problem with keeping turtles inside is that you can overfeed them, creating a fat turtle. If you don't feed it the right foods, coupled with the correct lighting, then you get a fat turtle that could develop shell deformities.

Thanks. my turtle is still inside as it is not warm enough to keep it outside. She will be going outside when it is warm enough though.

I don't think i'm going to have a problem with my turlte getting too fat since she hasn't been eating enough. She only eats once or twice a week right now. That is why i'm trying to get her to eat more with the worms. I jsut wanted to see how much i should be feeding. I don't know how much normal boxies eat since my girl eats so little.

I will make sure that she is eating the other stuff like veggies along with the worms. My turtle only weighs about 230grams, when i asked my previous question some body said that was quite small and needed to feed her more(they said to try and feed low fat dog food and worms)

In nature, box turtles go through feast and famine. For example, one month berries and insects will be plentiful, the next month they wont be, etc. I am a firm believer that you should be safe, and feed too much rather than too little. I don't feed my box turtles dog or cat food - manly because of all of the additives and chemicals.