Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey, I work at a pet store, and we have a VERY poorly acclimated male ornate box who has steadily been losing weight this winter, there's no meat to him at all anymore. I've developed a diet that I've had some success assist feedig him with (basically gently poking at him till he opens his mouth and then stuffing a little bit in... He attacks it like he's hungry at first but quickly gets sick of it, and he won't eat any other way). Slowly but surely I think he's gaining a little more weight and energy... hopefully it's not too late.

Can anyone tell me what a good target weight (I stole my dig. gram scale from home for this little guy) for a 5.5-6 inch ornate box would be? I want to see how far I've got to go. Thanks!
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1.0 RES, Spunky
1.0 African mud turtle (P. castaneus), "Francois the Tortois"
1.0.1 Mali Uromastyx, Ajani, Guban(Goober)
1.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa, Nico
0.0.1 Northern Blue Tongue Skink, Owajabi(Jabi)
3.1 Cats
1/2.0 rabbit (friend and I went 50/50)
0.1 Gerbils
1.0 Betta, Nigel

>>Can anyone tell me what a good target weight (I stole my dig. gram scale from home for this little guy) for a 5.5-6 inch ornate box would be? I want to see how far I've got to go. Thanks!

I have one about that size, Chip the injured one who has evened out in weight at 380grams.
His weight was up to nearly 400 when he was being tube fed. After he pulled out the tube on his own & began eating on his own, he lost some weight but he's holding steady at 380, I just now checked to make sure.

Have you tried feeding any live insects? Ornates LOVE live bugs, waxworms, mealworms, grubworms, night crawlers, dusted crickets & roaches are all favorites with my ornates.
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PHRatz

I know you said this is an ornate at the store where you work. Is there any way the store will pay to send him to a vet? There's always the possibility that he has parasites or some other infection that's causing him to not want to eat.
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PHRatz

I really don't know if this would be of any help to you, but I'll pass it along anyway.
I have several male Eastern Box turtles who are in the size range that you mentioned, and they weigh anywhere from 450g to 600g. What's healthy for one may be underweight for another, similarly sized one, so each individual will vary.

By the way, the 600g guy is the largest male here, and he's still growing!! Yikes!

FWIW I have a female ornate boxie that is 400 grams.
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0.1.0 ornate box turtle
1.0.0 eastern box turtle
0.1.0 Australian shepard
1.9.0 chickens
3.2.0 children (do I still count the married ones?)
1.0.0 husband