Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The day I went turtle grocery shopping for things I'd hoped Chip would try I bought several items, turtle foods, general reptile foods, fruits, berries, veggies & I also bought a tiny pouch of an Iam's dog food I'd never seen before called Select Bites. It's a moist food but not canned.
Although I'd rather my turtles not eat dog food, I bought it thinking let's see if we can interest him in ANYTHING at all.
I want to get over the he won't eat anything on his own hump first, then worry about what he's eating later.
I saw this & thought if he won't try it maybe the dog next door can have it because my allergy dog cannot have it.
The first time I put this dog food & other foods in with him he ate nothng.
This morning I took Janie a plate of food & decided to try this Iam's Select Bites & some fruit on Chip again, just now I discovered that Chip at 4 of the 5 bites of dog food that I put on his plate! Again he didn't eat the fruit but OH MY GOSH HE ATE SOMETHING ON HIS OWN!!!
We still have to go to the vet this afternoon for another pet so I'll take him with me as planned & we'll see what the vet wants to do. Maybe today he's not getting a feeding tube after all.. I HOPE not!
He's down to 380 grams, he'd been up to 390 grams but that's still a huge improvement over the 342 or so where we started.

It'll be so wonderful if he'll eat by himself from now on I'm keeping my fingers crossed!
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PHRatz

Good luck at the vets.

I know how hard it is to get a turtle to eat sometimes! I used to have to make tiny cantaloupe sandwiches because one of my turtles refused to eat anything but cantaloupe! I hid meat and pieces of romaine lettuce between the cantaloupe slices. But he ate and after a few years of being a picky eater-he is now a piggy and will eat almost anything. It takes time and commitment-commitment not to give up and to try different foods and even foods over and over till they come around I can't tell you how much money I have wasted on food my turtles would not eat! Of course they love nightcrawlers, superworms and waxworms, but they can't live on those great foods alone.

If you have a very picky eater you may have luck with slightly cooked sweet potatoes, as well as romaine, red grapes, ripe strawberries, and corn. Sometimes getting them to eat anything is a step to getting them to eat a better diet.
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Tess
Kingsnake.com Forum Host

It's great chip is eating... that's step one.

Continue to offer a variety, and mix it in well with the dog food, but if he only eats dog food, don't try too hard to convert him until he's holding his weight well. If there ever was a herp that dog food would be suited for, it's a box turtle, so it should be fine for the interim

Ian

The vet did just as I expected, she did not replace the tube. She said out loud what I was thinking... that he's eating food at this point so who cares what kind of food it is, just as long as he ate something on his own.
I think too that once he gets used to eating on his own in a place where giant creatures are handling him & making him live in a place that's scary to him... then eventually he'll want to taste other foods that are offered, but for now I'm just thrilled to see him eat anything at all.
He was very active at the hospital yesterday too, more than I've ever seen him. He was trying to climb out of the carrier so I let him out to walk on the floor in the patient's room, he walked all over it & then tried to push the wall down. lol

I'm thinking based on how he behave yesterday that he's only just now beginning to feel normal again. That was a devastating injury for him, I'd feel horrible for a long time too if half of my body had been broken.
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PHRatz

I am so relieved!! I feared that his eating something yesterday would be a fluke but while I was online earlier today I'd already given him a plate of food. Just now an hour or so after feeding him I found that once again he ate!
Whooooooooo hoooooooo!

Out of the choices on the plate he went for the same Iam's dog food but I don't care about that right now because he ate again!
WTG Chip!
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PHRatz

>>Good luck at the vets.

Thank you I did have good luck.
This isn't really a matter of Chip being a picky eater, it's a matter of a horribly injured turtles who's never eaten anything for me at all until yesterday. As it stands right now I have no idea what foods he'll like, what his favorites will be but we're about to find out.
I'm just so happy that he ate anything at all, I was very proud of him yesterday for trying something.

I think he's beginning to feel a bit more comfortable around us, the giant scary creatures because yesterday afternoon when he got home he had a bath. I peeked in on him while he was soaking, I saw him sitting in the warm water with all his legs stretched out & looking very content. yay
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PHRatz

>>I'm just so happy that he ate anything at all, I was very proud of him yesterday for trying something.
>>

Congrats. Nice to see them eating on their own isn't it? I have that one baby black rat snake from the clutch I hatched who is finally taking food on his own after refusing to eat for 3 solid months. amazing how long a newly hatched snake can go without food when there are no other concerns to worry about (like illness or injury). He's taken two meals in a row and scarfed them down LOL. I don't know if he didn't like the idea of me starting to force feed him (I finally broke down and forced a mouse tail) or maybe it was the lizard maker liquid that finally did the trick when nothing else worked (I had gotten the lizard maker for a picky corn snake hatchling and figured what the heck.. put it on the black rat's pinky too lol). He has a long way to go to catch up on size to his siblings, but oh well.
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PHWyvern

Congrats on getting the baby rat to eat! It's so scary when they won't eat food by themselves isn't it?

Chip looks happier since he ate food on his own & he's got more energy now...he seems to want to walk around more. I think that's just because he's starting to feel better.
This afternoon he's going to have a trip to the turtle proofed area of the house.

One of the young women who brought him to me told me that the woman who brought Chip to her was so happy when she found out Chip's not dead that she hugged everyone at the clinic. lol
Then she wanted to see photos of him, hopefully she has a computer so she can look at his pics that are in the KS photo gallery.
I'm glad to know that this person who's dogs chewed him up is that concerned about him. When this happened she just didn't know that there is a reptile vet here that she could've taken him to. She didn't know what to do with him, but she did try to help him.
I'm glad to know she cares this much just because I meet too many people who don't care at all.
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PHRatz

Congrats to Chip! Sounds like he is almost there. I'm curious, what are the long term plans for Chip? Can he return to the wild? Are you planning on keeping him? Or what?
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0.1.0 ornate box turtle
1.0.0 eastern box turtle
0.1.0 Australian shepard
2.2.0 chickens
3.2.0 children (do I still count the married ones?)
1.0.0 husband

>>Congrats to Chip! Sounds like he is almost there. I'm curious, what are the long term plans for Chip? Can he return to the wild? Are you planning on keeping him? Or what?

Long term plans are based on the fact that it's going to take at least 2 years for him to heal, his vet says she thinks it will be longer than 2, she says minimum 3.
It took 2 full years for Shell E to heal from her dog chewing injuries but she wasn't hurt as severely as Chip is. She was never returned to the wild because she cannot completely close up. Too much of her carapace is missing.. she can't protect herself from predators.
We've had our sulcata tortoise for 3 & 1/2 years now, she came to us with bullet holes & they are not yet fully healed although they are close to being healed..so I can't even imagine how long it'll take for Chip's shell to heal. He is missing part of his shell, the sulcata wasn't missing any shell it just had holes in it. Can you believe somebody could be so cruel they'd shoot her with a gun? I'll be forever angry about that & I'll never know who did it.
If it's taking this long for her & it took that long for Shell E I can't even guess how long it's going to take for Chip.

He won't be able to return to the wild by the time he's healed in 3 years, like the others he'll be too spoiled rotten.
After that long period of time, like the others here there is no way I could give him up! He's home at least for as long as I am breathing. My vet is in my will btw... just in case.
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PHRatz

Lol! Chip is one lucky dude!
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0.1.0 ornate box turtle
1.0.0 eastern box turtle
0.1.0 Australian shepard
2.2.0 chickens
3.2.0 children (do I still count the married ones?)
1.0.0 husband

>>Lol! Chip is one lucky dude!

He is that. I really wasn't sure if he was going to make it or not at first but he has the will to live. I think wanting to live makes a difference for them.
I feel privileged to be Chip's slave... er uh.... I mean nurse lol.
It feels so good to me when they don't die but get better instead.
He's getting used to walking around now & he's walking better than he used to which is also a good sign.
It's official now, he's part of the family.
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PHRatz